Okay, so Raina from the Marketing Department told me that his supervisor has heaped all her work on him pretending it’s to evaluate him for a promotion.
Ryan wouldn’t fall for the trick, would he? He’s a clever guy.
A clever asshole, and despite what I told Riddick about how deep in my heart I think he is a good person, I’m in doubt.
Anyway, he’s acting weird, stalking up and down the corridor or hanging around the coffee machine where his schedule never takes him because he doesn’t drink coffee.
And he drank coffee!
And gave the guy I was talking to, can’t even remember his name or anything else about him, the stink-eye. I wonder if they fought over a client.
He’s also been clumsier. He spilled coffee all over himself the other day, and today he’s sporting a black eye.
I mean… that’s Ryan! The guy who never gets into arguments, never gets physical with his colleagues. At the gym he’s friends with Rafe, the guy who runs the self-defense course, but never once did he join them. He doesn’t do fights.
He likes doing things on his own. He’s a quiet, careful person. I know him.
Or I thought I did.
He passes in front of the watercooler again, where I’m getting a glass of water, and ouch, his jaw is swollen, like somebody punched him.
It can’t be. Maybe he walked into something. Or fell.
I’m getting worried about him. This isn’t like him at all. He does look tired, I realize, turning away quickly when he pauses at the door of his office. It makes sense. He’s overworked. I wish we were friends so that he could tell me if there was anything else.
Friends. Ha. As if he’d want that.
As if I would.
I choke on my water.
Okay, be honest with yourself for once, Bry.
Fine. I don’t want to be friends and go out with him for a unicorn rainbow latte to discuss the latest Fifty Shades movie. No, what I want is for him to kiss me again. To touch me. He can’t be my pretend brother and do these things to me.
It’d be awkward.
As if it wasn’t already…
***
Trying not to think about Ryan is harder than I’d hoped. I arrange with Simone to meet at the gym in the afternoon, and otherwise keep my mind on work as much as possible.
I have a piece of the caramel cake I baked beside me. I tried eating it, but it’s hard.
Everything is hard today. The cake actually crunches.
Hm. I don’t remember anything crunchy in the recipe. Or salty.
Anyway.
I don’t see Ryan around, but I do spot Jamie from IT, the guy I was talking to the other day about a bug on my computer. When he turns to say hi, I see he’s sporting a black eye to match Ryan’s.
Curiouser and curiouser.
I open my mouth to ask what happened to him, but he shoots me an apprehensive look and hurries away.
Huh.