Order 73 ~DNF~

𝟛𝟛

I'm sorry for being late omg! Enjoy!

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𝒟𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂 𝒫𝒪𝒱

The clatter of forks against ceramic fills the labored silence.

George's hand drums nervously on the table, slowly poking at the garden salad that's been laying mournfully on his plate for the past ten minutes. I want to force myself to say something, to ask him about everything I spent last night thinking about. But my train of thoughts seems to stop its steady chug whenever I look at him, short circuiting with yesterday's events.

I had followed him to his bedroom after prying myself off the couch, warily getting over the initial shock. A moment of listening to shaky whispers and Wilbur's placating voice later, I retreated back to my own room, running my fingers through my sweaty hair, effectively pushing the waves back for maybe two seconds.

I pulled my laptop out and scanned my messages, realizing that I had been staring at the same sentence for the past fifteen minutes. I had my Board to deal with, Daniel to annoy, interns to guide and a million other things to do. But for once, my head was completely blank.

All it took was one moment; chilly fingers and a chocolate-kissed gaze.

Afternoon faded into dusk, and dusk into night. I couldn't bring myself to move, feathering the tips of my fingers to my lips every once in a while, trying to figure out when the hell I decided that kissing George was something I wanted.

I didn't. Or maybe I did and I put a mental block over it because I fell for the illusion of Cameron and George's perfect relationship. I even met the guy; he was nice and genuine and everything that George deserved.

He also never really talked about Cameron unprompted. Nowadays, George would tell me everything and it wasn't any less the other way around. Even when I asked about their date, he described everything other than his boyfriend. He always denied the title of boyfriend too...so maybe–

I shake my head, my mind full of delusional noise. I almost preferred the silence. George pulled away. Whatever he was thinking, he looked like he regretted it. His body shook with fear, his eyes grew panicky, and his hands began to tremble with no mercy. I could picture it perfectly, along with my stupidly shocked expression that only grew his worry, lingering on my face after he left.

I wish I had pulled him back. Held him close. Asked him what he wanted. At least then I could have dealt with it. Now, I had to wait, wondering what he's thinking. How he's going to approach this tomorrow morning. How I'm going to.

I started with texting Leia, taking the day off.

But the morning only brought disappointment. George skipped breakfast as well. The only reason he came out of the stifling silence of his room was a mumbled message, informing me we had a meeting with Phil and Techno to discuss merger stuff early this evening.

His voice was dull, embarrassment and confusion flushing his cheeks, eyes focused on the floor with every forced word. It was almost as if he couldn't bring himself to face a reality where I hated him.

But I could never hate him, or be mad at him like he's so afraid of. At least not right now. If he continued to avoid me, then maybe a little. He can't just do something like that, and expect it to go away with an unhealthy dose of silence.

The yearn to get out of my sight radiated off of him, and he tried as soon as I gave him a short nod, swiftly turning on his heels. I forced my clenched jaw to work, calling his name before he got out of earshot. I watch as he braces himself, slowly turning back around. Glistening eyes avert to the floor, pretty pink settling on his cheeks.