Page 13 of Isn't It Obvious?

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To:Kevin Kissoon

RE:Not Work Thread

I probably should have just said “thank you.” I wasn’t fishing, I promise. I’m just bad at taking compliments.

To:Elle Rex

RE:Not Work Thread

Don’t compliment Elle—noted.

To:Kevin Kissoon

RE:Not Work Thread

I’m not saying to not compliment me! Just, you know, forgive me if my first instinct is to make a bad joke instead of accepting it graciously.

To:Elle Rex

RE:Not Work Thread

Do compliment Elle—noted.

To:Kevin Kissoon

RE:Not Work Thread

This might constitute bullying.

To:Elle Rex

RE:Not Work Thread

Might? I need to step up my game.

To:Kevin Kissoon

RE:Not Work Thread

Wow, and just when I was starting to think I liked talking to you.

To:Elle Rex

RE:Not Work Thread

That’s on you.

To:Elle Rex

RE:Not Work Thread

I just realized how late it is. I’ll let you go to bed. But talk soon?

The second message arrives, and Yael holds down the backspace until what she was drafting disappears. It’s 9:27 here; well after midnight in New York.Wow, yeah, she types.Good night! Talk soon.

Yael sets her phone down on the bed beside her, and then comes a touch of that pricking shame. She must’ve seemed a little desperate, starting that new thread instead of taking the out he’d given her. And the quip about him not needing to flatter her! So embarrassing. She’s tempted to press her face into one of her many throw pillows until she runs out of air.He kept the conversation going, she reminds herself. It’s fine. Probably.

She stretches her arms above her head, then swings her legs over the side of the bed. Better go wash up before the cycle of thoughts repeats itself.

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