Page 46 of All of Him
“Amanda, please. You know plenty ofmyshit.”
My words seemed to convince her to talk because she locked her computer right back up and leaned toward me. At first, I thought she was going to kiss me with how close she got, but she stopped a few inches short. Though that didn’t keep my heartbeat from kicking up a notch.
“Apparently,” she whispered back, “that’s my reputation.”
“And why do you think that?” I asked, leaning away from her slightly to force my body to calm down.
“I hooked up with a guy Saturday, and when I rejected his offer for an actual date, he informed me of it.”
I sighed and leaned closer to her again, making sure I got my point across. Hearing that she’d been with someone shook me, but calming her down remained my focus.
“Amanda,” I assured her, “not wanting a commitment does not make you a slut. You are a beautiful, confident, slightly awkward woman. Your number is your business.” I watched a tear slide down her cheek, tempted to wipe it away, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t a good idea after the thoughts I’d had about her on Friday. I had no business even touching that girl. “Now, will youpleasehang out with me on Saturday?”
“Fine.” She gave in. “But you have to share a story withmethis time.”
“Promise,” I lied.
I had no idea what I evencouldshare with her. I just knew I needed to make her feel better—and that terrified me.
The rest of the week went by relatively smoothly. Amanda cheered up a little more each day, though she spent a lot of time in meetings with Claude. Penny informed me that the meetings were for the promotion in the new year, which was probably the source of her better mood. I continually tried to shake the residual thoughts about what had happened Friday, but in reality, nothinghadhappened. It was all in my head.
“You should get her a stuffed animal or something to cheer her up,” Penny said quietly to me in the break room on Friday. It was just the two of us, but she was still trying to be secretive for some reason. “That’ll show her that you care.”
“Penny”—I laughed—“that’s solid advice, but she knows I care. I pretty much told her that.”
“So then, just ask her out on another date! The suspense is killing me!”
I opened my mouth to argue, but didn’t really know what to say. “Everyone knows you went out last weekend. Brayden told some of us. He said she stood him up for you.”
Again, I had no idea what to say, so I nearly spat out my coffee, laughing. It was so pathetic that I wasn’t evenmad.
“Penny, Brayden stoodAmandaup weeks ago. He saw us out together on Friday, but we were just hanging out. We’re just friends.” Penny looked suspicious, so I continued, “I promise you, Amanda and I aren’t dating.”
“Well, I’ll be. Gosh darn it,” she said, throwing roughly ten sugars in her coffee. “I should have known he was lying. Sorry, Noah.”
“It’s okay.” I laughed, still just amused at Brayden’s attempt at starting a rumor.
Penny made a move to leave the break room but turned around before closing the door.
“You might want to talk to Oscar,” she said cautiously. “He also heard about it and really likes Amanda, so you could end up on his poop list!”
I sighed and leaned back against the counter, feeling anger finally set in over the rumor. Oscar did not seem to like anyone, so I was pretty sure any guy who tried to date the one person hedidlike would have it rough.
I finished washing my coffee mug and made my way to the dark corner of the office. Only a small desk lamp was on aside from Oscar’s seven-million-watt computer screen. His face was so close that he seemed like he was going to try and climb in. I paused, awkwardly shoving my hands in my pockets, and waited for him to notice me.
“What?” he scoffed, not even looking in my general direction.
“I just wanted to set the record straight about a rumor,” I said, my voice shaking for no reason. “I’m not dating Amanda. We’re just friends, and I care about her. I won’t hurt her.”
Oscar shook his head and sat back, folding his arms over a sweater that looked like it was from the set ofThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
“I just didn’t want you to dislike me for something that wasn’t true.”
“I don’t believe anything that Brayden kid says, young man,” he clarified.
I let out a sigh of relief and nodded.
“Besides, it wouldn’t be the worst thing for her to find someone. If it ever comes to that, I won’t hunt you down. Just as long as her heart doesn’t get broken.”
