Falling for my fake boyfriend

8 - By the elevator

I'm sure I gave my best friend quite the scare by fainting like a mid century damsel in distress.

In reality, not sleeping well, the strong emotions regarding my project and the talk about dating Davies, not to mention kissing him, all paired with the much too strong coffee proved to be fatal.

OK, maybe not fatal, but I did go down like timber, and Jessie, not being the knight in shining armour that one always sees in movies, failed to catch me.

Oh, and did I mention how small my apartment really is? Because it’s small enough that while on my way down to meet the rug, face down of course, I first bumped my forehead on the sharp edge of the coffee table. All that because Murphy's law dictates that even if I was sitting on the sofa when I fainted, I couldn't fall back and into the pillows, but rather forward.

It was a great Christmas dinner at Jessie’s house while sporting a nice goose egg that not even fake bangs could help. Though it did make me less appealing in her creepy cousin’s eyes, so I count it as a win. No pain, no gain and all that.

It’s now been three days since the Christmas holiday ended, and thankfully for me, work has been busy for everyone in all departments, which meant that I haven't seen Jessie and we didn’t get to finish that talk as she put it.

My luck also seems to have extended to my employment status, because so far, no letter has been received from Vauxhall’s HR department either in physical format or on my email. Trust me, I have checked.

But like all good things, my luck also might come to an end. Just as the click clack of heels echoes in the big room where my team is testing a prototype of the new wiper system for Vauxhall’s best selling sedan, I turn my head knowing exactly who I will see.

I was not wrong.

“Hi bestie. What are you doing here?” Jessie asks, inspecting the half car we put the wipers and the little motor on.

“Testing.” I snap.

“Cool. I came to take you to lunch.” She blinks, her eyes full of mischief.

“I’m busy Jess.” I whisper.

“I’m sure four pairs of eyes are the same as five when watching wipers do their swish, swish. Come on, you need a break and we need to talk.” s**t! History has proven that nothing good ever comes out if we need to talk.

The disapproving glares flow past her as Jessie takes my hand, dragging me to lunch.

We go and park ourselves in front of the elevators, planning to go down to the small coffee shop on the ground floor of the Vauxhall building to get some food.

I fall in line with my arms crossed over my chest and lip pouting. Jessie just huffs and settles in front of me, waiting for the lift.

"You know, I gave you time, but I want to talk about what happened at the Christmas party." Jessie breaks the silence.

"OK... I drag the word out.

"And about that.. whatever that was with Davies." She snaps, her back still turned to me. I nod reluctantly, even though I'm aware Jessie can't see me, but she'll take my silence as an agreement. I have no idea how that conversation is going to go, but history doesn't make me too optimistic.

“Hey.” The voice, deep and even, comes from somewhere behind me, but the truth is I don’t have to turn around to know that it is Davies. Just like I don’t need to turn around to know that the large, warm weight that’s suddenly steadying me, a firm yet barely there pressure applied to the centre of my lower back, is his hand.

I’m trying not to think that his palm is barely two inches above my ass. Holy s**t!

I turn just the slightest, twisting my neck while looking up like a child in front of the tallest skyscraper. And I'm not tiny, as I mentioned, but Adam Davies is just big. Tall and broad, his suit barely able to hide his incredible build. Delicious.

Delicious?

“Oh. Umhm… hi.” I squeak like a mouse.

“Is everything OK?” He asks while looking into my eyes, his voice set in a low, intimate tone.

Like we are alone. Like Jessie is not here. Like a zillion other people aren’t in this building and one of them could come this way any second.

He said it in such a way that should make me uncomfortable but strangely it doesn’t. For some odd reason his presence next to me proves soothing, even though until a second ago I was freaking out. And because of something that involves him, nonetheless.

Perhaps two different types of uneasiness neutralise each other?

Yeah, that makes sense, I’ll go with that, because there is nothing else that can explain my current feelings.

And because the floor refuses to open up and swallow me whole, or the lift to stop at our floor, I take a deep breath assessing the shitty situation I am now in. The shitty situation I put myself in.

“Yes, yes. Everything is great. Jessie and I were just… On our way to grab some lunch. Catching up. After the holidays. You know.” I stutter worse than someone with a brain injury.

But wait, I did hit my head, maybe I’m just now seeing the effects. I should go to the hospital, anywhere where Davies is not, really.

Davies looks at Jessie, as though realising for the first time that she is standing right next to me. He acknowledges her presence with one of those brief nods that men use to greet others. At the same time, his hand slides lower and lower on my back, leaving a trail of fire in its wake and causing my body to jerk forward a little while my eyes go wide as saucers and a blush is sure to decorate my cheeks.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Jessie. I’ve heard a lot about you.” He says with a casual smile on his lips.

I have to give it to him, he’s good at this, very good, for I’m sure what this little gesture looked like to Jessie. From her angle it must look like Davies just groped me, though he wasn’t really… not quite even though my body is now leaning more into his touch.

“Uhm, yeah. It’s nice to meet you, too.” Jessie looks thunderstruck. Like she might pass out, which is unlike her, and more up my alley, as we all know.

“So yeah, I just remembered that I left my computer… that I have to leave. Lily, I’m going to text you when… OK bye.” She jumps in the elevator and attacks the button that closes the doors before I can say anything.

I stare at the lift and watch the number at the top change. She’s not even going down anymore.

So Jessie left, which is good, because now I don’t need to come up with more lies. But also slightly less good, because now it's just me and Davies awkwardly hanging out in front of the elevators. Standing way too close.

I would've liked to say that I was the first one to put some distance between Davies and I, but the embarrassing truth is that it was him who stepped away first. He moves enough to give me the space I needed, and then some. Auch.

"Is everything really OK?” I

I hear him take a breath and ask again, though his tone Is still soft. To be honest, the genuine concern is not something I would have expected from him.

“Yeah, of course. I just… ” Waving my hand towards the closed elevator door where Jessie disappeared into earlier, I sigh. “Thank you.” I say, not knowing what else I could, considering.

“You’re welcome.” Is all he sais before the elevator doors open again and he dissapears the same way Jessie did.

I'm not entirely sure what just happened.

To be honest, I'm not 100 percent convinced that the last 10 minutes really did happen. I did hit my head, after all.