Early Morning, Late Night

Gen is trying to move on with her life and beyond the regretful ex she shares with her best friend, Vic.

Gen saw men watch her as she walked down the street and rolled her eyes inwardly, not wanting to be seen. She had to get to work early that morning, and who knew how late she would be there that night? But when she got there, she was not expecting to see Kent. The sound of her heels slowed as she walked into her office and saw him working on her computer.

“Hey,” he said, and she smiled as she threw her things down on her couch.

“Isn’t it kind of early for you?” she said as she put down her cup of coffee and wrapped savory pastry. She looked at him and he nodded.

“I just did not want to have to bother you later in the day because you seem so busy lately.”

His words hurt her because it was true. She had deleted her dating apps because she had not wanted to see anyone since Kevin ghosted her so she worked all of the time. When she was in the office, her door was always closed and she was monosyllabic for messages that were not work-related.

“Yeah, I have been really busy as you can see, I am already here and the sun is not even up yet!” she smiled nervously.

The tension between them was different than it had been months ago. This was not the easy camaraderie they had had as co-workers topped with the undercurrent of something more between them. This tension was her having isolated him and him not knowing how to be around her anymore.

“Yeah, you have made it clear that you have a lot of work to do and you want to be left alone,” he said, walking past her and she touched his arm. He tensed like she was hot oil touching his skin, but stopped in his tracks.

“I am sorry,” she said. “I just have been through a lot and I need time to just be.”

“I thought we were friends,” he said, not turning to face her. “I thought I was your friend.”

“You are, I’m sorry. But there was that…I just did not want you to listen to me talking about what happened with me and someone else after…”

Kent touched her shoulders and looked at her.

“Gen, I am your friend, I want to be your friend and that is it. Let’s have dinner tonight — I will bring takeout here because I have been working a ton too and you can tell me everything that is going on. I’ve been worried about you.”

“Thank you, sure. I’ll be here, let’s have dinner.”

When Kent arrived at her door with the takeout, Gen had been working so hard that she did not notice that the sun had set. She looked up at him with a smile because she knew if she did not, he would look the way he had looked at her that morning when she saw him working on her computer.

“Have you come up for air?” he laughed as he put the bag down on her desk. “I have not seen you since this morning!”

Gen shook her head.

“Not really,” she stood up and walked over to him. She smiled at him because he did not miss a thing about her. “Just several deadlines and I just got promoted and…”

He put his hand on her shoulders.

“Take a breath Gen, take a deep breath.”

She looked into his eyes and took a deep breath as she placed her hands over his. They looked at each other for a long time before he squeezed her shoulders and walked over to remove the staples from the takeout bag with his fingers. He pulled out miso dumpling soup — hers had extra scallions and she saw them floating like minute fish in the clear container he handed to her. Then he pulled out the combination sushi platters — all spicy — and handed her chopsticks and several tiny cups of spicy mayo and sriracha.

She licked her lips. He knew her so well. Kent started to like sushi because of her. They went to this sushi place together because she had wanted to. He had never had it before, but he was open to trying it so they went and now it was their place. He actually brought her order to her just as she would have liked it in the restaurant sitting across from him.

Sitting across from him moments later, it was like nothing had happened between them.

“I missed you, Gen,” Kent said and she looked at him.

Silence. She was not trying to hurt him as he fiddled with his chopsticks. He had learned to use them with her because he had never used them before. Gen remembered reaching across the table to show him how to use them, and him being clumsy but getting it over time after multiple visits to the restaurant. He was clumsy now with the chopsticks, but she knew it had nothing to do with his facility with the utensils and more to do with the awkwardness she had created again between them.

“I do not want to ruin what we have, Kent. I do not want to ruin this. You have always taken care of me and I do not want to lose you.”

He put the chopsticks down at looked at her. She was near tears and looked at him while her lip quivered.

“I do not want to lose you either, Gen. I can live with all of this. Whatever it is that you do not want to tell me. But just do not shut me out anymore because I really care about you.”

“I know, and I am a mess.”

“You are not a mess,” he said, reaching over to still her quivering lips and she kissed his finger. He closed his eyes and the look on his face…

She did not want to mess this up.

Later on the way home, Gen stared out of the car window as they approached the bridge. Kent was sullen beside her with leftover popcorn shrimp that he always got at the end of their meal without telling her. Of course, he got the delivery for it later after they were done eating, when they were trying to figure out how to get home.

“I can get a car home and we are going the same way,” she said tapping her desk, and retrieving a car voucher from her drawer.

“I can get us a car home Gen. It is not a big thing. Save your voucher for another late night…” he said.

“I know you are trying to be a gentleman, but I have a whole pack of them Kent, it is not a big deal.” He brought her dinner and she did not complain. Now he wanted to pay for their way home even though she had a voucher. “This is not a date — you do not have to do everything!”

Kent stared at her and Gen swallowed. It was meant to be a light statement, but she was afraid that it came out harsher than she had meant it to.

“I know. I just like being nice to you.”

She swallowed again, took a deep breath like he had told her to earlier and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. He was not expecting it and their lips touched. Her eyes flew open and she saw his eyes closed at close range as he kissed her.

There was no more pretending that she did not want his kiss, that she had not been looking at his lips all night. So desperate to kiss him that she had kissed his finger when he wiped her tears away. Kent clearly had wanted to kiss her as well because his hands moved quickly to her waist and explored her incrementally.

Gen gasped when he touched her, she craved his touch so much. Her own hands moved along his body, wanting to touch every part of him.

He pulled away from her and there was nothing for her to say to him because she wanted him but she was not going to beg for him to be with her. Maybe this was his way of getting back at her for being distant these past few weeks?

“What?” Gen questioned softly and when she touched him, he flinched. “What, are you trying to get back at me?”

He looked at her and shook his head.

“I just don’t want to disappoint you,” he said. “I know you have been disappointed by guys, and I do not want to be another disappointment.”

Gen nodded and got ready to leave after that. She ordered a car and Kent did not say a word. They walked out of her office and headed to the lobby together to wait for their car to come. He opened the door for her and she got in, leaving space for him pressing her face close to the window.

So she could see where they were going…

This is one story in a series, you can read the beginning here.

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Loving Annie's Story by JD Pernoste and Anneliese Dahl