Ch. 16
Haley woke up to a semi-damp pillow. She must have cried herself to sleep and continued to do so as she slept. Suddenly all the memories from the previously night flooded back to her like a ton of bricks. Groaning, she threw her face onto the pillow. She wanted to weep but couldn't because she utilized all her tears. How was she suppose to complete the project with Lucas when she placed her heart on the line for it to be trampled upon? The need to sneak out of the house became more appealing each fleeting moment. As she quickly changed into the clothes she wore yesterday, she grabbed her purse and slowly opened the door. Looking out, she was relieved when no signs of Lucas was present. Quietly heading towards the front door, she tiptoed out.
As she saw the exit within reach, her eyes laid upon the project notes that were lying on the coffee table, taunting her. %#$! She remembered carelessly leaving the pieces of paper there the day before. It's punishment for not taking more care in keeping all the materials organized. Then she recalled that she didn't finish the project with Lucas. As much as she wanted to leave him there to do all the work himself, she couldn't since her conscience nagged her. Why couldn't she be like most people and live her life without thinking about others? Why couldn't she be like her parents? They obviously didn't have any concerns for anyone but themselves and their other children. Argh...she revealed her problems to Lucas. Her and her big mouth! Feeling like an idiot in more ways then one, she slapped her forehead.
Drawing in a long, slow breath, she tried to think of the best solution. She could either take the coward way out and leave, which she desperately wanted to do, or she could work on the project with Lucas. Striding towards the office, she turned on the computer and sat down. It was six in the morning. She decided instead of the two previous options, she would finish the project on her own and leave afterwards. As soon as she was able to open the slide show program, she got to work, not wanting to lose any time. Retrieving the program, she began entering the information using the other set of notes she had. Preoccupied with her work, she didn't hear the quiet footsteps.
Lucas leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, attentively watching Haley. Her hair was in a messy state, sticking to her face and pointing in all directions. Her unnerved hands were moving at a maniac pace. Focusing on the computer screen, she bit her bottom lip, squinting every so often.
Sensing his gaze on her, she froze for a brief moment before regaining her composure. She was not going to give him the satisfaction of thinking she felt anything for him or experience any emotions about the night before. Releasing a shaky breath, she turned towards him, staring him straight in the eye as she plastered a fake smile.
"Oh hi Lucas," Haley managed to say naturally, "I didn't realize you were standing there until a moment ago."
Lucas would have easily believed her if he didn't know any better. "I think we need to talk." The deep hurt in her eyes vanished as quickly as it appeared."Yeah, I think we should." Haley continued holding her tough woman facade.
Surprised and elated, Lucas slowly walked over to the chair and sat down. "About last night..."
"Don't worry about that. I was emotional and luckily, you were the rational one who stopped us before we made a tragic mistake and regretted it afterwards. I wanted to thank you for doing that."
Mistake. Haley saw the obvious connection they shared as something that wasn't worth exploring. Unwilling to believe that, he hedged on. "I didn't see it as a mistake. It was just bad timing. You were hurt and I didn't want to take advantage of the situation. Hales, don't you know how irresistible..." He placed his hands on top of hers, only to feel her hands yanked out from under him as if his touch was smoldering her.
Why was he doing this to her? He was playing her heart like it was a fiddle and he was the musician. "Look Mr. Scott," Lucas furrowed his eyebrows, not liking where he thought this might be headed, "I think that you are reading way too much into this. I don't know where you think we stand, but I want to make it clear to you that you are my boss and I'm your assistant. That's all. End of discussion."
"I thought you said that we're friends." He hoped he didn't destroy the relationship he worked so hard to build.
"I never said we were. I agreed to start over. Besides, I was right about it not being a good idea for us to be friends. Developing a relationship outside of boss-employee causes complications," she rambled on. "Complications that I'm not willing to deal with. So let's just drop this conversation and continue the work on the assignment."
"Complications as in I'm developing feelings for my boss," giving her a hopeful look, he felt his heart thump against his chest.
She ran a hand through her hair, hoping she looked as put together as she tried to act. "Please, I was 'emotional' as you delicately put it."
Cutting to the chase, he asked, "Do you always run away from your feelings?" He wrapped his arms around her.
Not moving away, her wit answered back. "Are you always this annoying?" Then she wiggled free from his grasp and stood up.
Pursuing her closely, he inched towards her as she backed into the wall. "Only when I want something. And I want you. Remember what I said about getting what I want?"
How could she forget? It was engraved in her memory. "If there is one thing you should know about me, it's that when I want something, I don't stop until I get it."
Placing his hands on each side of her shoulders, he blocked her escape. She braced herself from his closeness by putting her hands on the wall as she leaned back. She laughed a little, the sound broken and bitter. "Well that's too bad because I'm not available. Not that it's any of your business. I almost forgot to mention that I'm giving you my two weeks notice and it starts today."
"I'm not accepting it." She felt his hot breath on hers, causing her to almost lose her cool.
"What? You can't do that," she huffed. "I can quit as easily as you can fire me."
"Sorry to break this to you but under the contract you signed, you agreed to work for the company for one year. If you quit, you'll be breaking the contract and there are detrimental consequences that you must face as a result."
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" She spat, "You take some sick pleasure in making me squirm."
"How can I not? You look so adorable when you squirm. And when you blush, it makes me want you even more." Pausing, he added, "Look Haley, I'm being honest with you here. I tried to deny what I felt for you ever since you walked into my office. But I can't control my feelings for you just as much as I can't help how I make you feel. And if you really didn't feel the same way, you could have easily escaped earlier."
"My conscience wouldn't let me. I didn't want to leave you in a dilemma, especially when you're not as knowledgeable as you need to be in making a slideshow. You know, slideshows aren't hard to make. You should get someone to show you how to make one."
"Great. Thanks for volunteering."
"How did I not see that coming?" she asked herself out loud. "Fine. I might as well since we need to finish this project. Now would you kindly let me go?"
Moving towards her, she naturally closed her eyes and licked her lips. He whispered into her ears, "For now," and sat back down on the chair. Closing her eyes and then reopened them, she didn't know how she felt about the answer. No, that wasn't true. She did not like it one bit. Plopping down on her seat, she began explaining how to create a slideshow.
Afterwards, Lucas thanked Haley. He told her she could take a break while he checked his e-mail. Seeing that he had three new messages, he opened the first one. He clicked on the attachment. Suddenly the computer screen turned black.
"What the %#$!" Lucas exclaimed in shock. After repeatedly trying to push the power button and every single key on the keyboard for several minutes, he gave up.
Haley came back in, finding Lucas' head on the desk. "What happened?"
Lifting his head up, he explained, "Nothing. Just that this damn computer isn't working."
"What!" Scrambling towards it, she tried various strategies to get the computer to work. The screen remained dimly black. "What happened?"
"I opened an attachment and the screen went black."
Upset that they lost all their hard work, she spoke without thinking. "Don't you know that you should be careful about opening attachments?" Seeing him shake his head no, she continued, "So many kooks out there live such a pathetic life that they have nothing better to do than create viruses and send them out to people."
Feeling horrible about making Haley redo the entire slideshow, he looked at her, waiting for what she would say next. "Look, it's not your fault. Mistakes are bound to occur and there are new viruses being created all the time. Next time you open an attachment, make you trust the person who sent you the e-mail and scan it to make sure there are no virus threats. This is partially my fault. I should have remembered to save the file onto a zip drive or a compact flash card."
"I'll just pretend I know what you mean by zip drive and compact what-cha-ma-call-it."
"It's..." Haley began before Lucas cut her off, "Let's save that lesson for another time. Right now we're talking about how computers majorly suck ninety percent of the time," Lucas tried to lighten the situation with a true statement.
"Exactly. It's a conspiracy I tell you. They're plotting against us. Watch your computers. It's up to no good."
"It's evil. EVIL!" Haley resisted the urge to crack a smile. How can he make her mad one moment and want to laugh the next? Although she didn't want to say this to him, she offered, "Seeing how your hard drive is probably fried, we need to use another computer. I guess we can work on this at my house."
Lucas walked towards the door before turning around, "I need to pack a change of clothes just in case we stay up all night working and I don't have time to come back here and change."
"Okay," she replied indifferently. "I'll meet you in the living room when you're done. I'll bring all the notes."
Smiling, Lucas responded, "Thanks for saving this project," and continued walking to his bedroom.
"You're welcome." Frowning, she asked herself why she was always ending up in situations where they were sleeping in the same area. But it didn't matter because she had her mind set on sticking to her promise of conducting their relationship in a professional manner. And she always kept her promises, no matter what.