Page 43 of Aftersome
I was on my way out the front door of the building when someone had stopped me.
“Hey, Wren, wait up.”
Immediately I knew it was Trevor, the nice guy from the other day who introduced himself as the team's physical trainer.
“Can I talk to you for a sec?” He stopped a few feet in front of me where I had my hand on the door.
I scanned the area for any sign of Mal, and once I realized he wasn’t around, I nodded.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I was wondering if you were busy tonight? I have some cool ideas for content and thought maybe we could discuss it over dinner?”
Dinner?
Shit.
I couldn’t remember the last time a guy asked me out. One time, almost five years ago, I had agreed to go out on a date with a man I met at the grocery store. I was apprehensive at first, but I agreed later on that it would be good for me.
Unfortunately, I was wrong.
More than wrong, I was delusional for believing that I could move on.
“If you’re comfortable with that, of course.” His face went red as if he could sense my apprehension.
The last thing I wanted to do was get involved with someone who worked closely with Mal. Better yet, I had no intentions of ever moving on in the near future, so it would be best if I just let him down easy.
If he really was asking me out, that is.
“It’ll… It’ll just be dinner as colleagues, right? I just don’t want you to get the wrong impression.”
There.
That was easy and straightforward.
“Yeah, of course.” He smiled. Seeming unfazed by my admission. “Just two coworkers getting together.”
I thought about it for a moment. I had no plans, and maybe I could get some more insight on Mal.
This wouldn’t be a date.
Nothing romantic and finally on a soft chuckle, I nodded.
“Okay, yeah. That’s fine with me.”
About an hour later, we were deep in conversation, while I was finishing off my double cheeseburger.
“So, you’re close with Mal, huh?” He switched the topic completely, catching me off guard as I dropped a fry in my lap.
“Hardly.”
I picked up the fry and tossed it on my plate.
“Hardly?” He laughed. “The man had death in his eyes when he caught us talking together.”
Sighing, I knew I had said earlier that I wanted to talk about Mal. But I more so meant I wanted to talk about him in general and what he was like to be around. Instead, he wanted to know about our nonexistent relationship.
It felt strange putting our names in the same sentence.
