Spectrum

12

Stay focused, Natalia. Stay focused.

When I look down in the corner of my laptop, I see that hardly any time at all has passed since encountering the two in the hallway. The way Grayson looked at her made my blood boil. He never looked at me that way. Hell, I didn't even think he was capable of feeling certain emotions at times.

"Natalia?" You're in pretty late." I hear Shane say as he passes my office. When I look up, he's leaning against my door and looking at me with curiosity in his eyes.

"Oh, is it? I hadn't noticed." I lie.

"You were only scheduled until five, yeah?" He asks, looking down at his watch.

"Yeah, I was. I was just trying to make up for being late earlier." I explain.

Actually, I'm waiting for Little Miss Sunshine to walk back into this office.

He lets out a soft chuckle, and walks into my office, sitting at one of the chairs by my desk.

"You know Grayson hadn't even noticed you were late, right? Even if he did, it's not like he would really care. He's pretty lenient with stuff like that." He tells me.

"I know, I just don't want it to seem like I'm taking advantage of Grayson." I tell him.

"I would hope you wouldn't do something like that." He says, giving me a quizzical look. When I don't say anything in reply, he continues by clearing his throat. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure." I answer, shutting my laptop quietly.

"Is there...something going on between you and Grayson?" Shane asks.

I feel my eyes nearly bulging out of my head at his question.

"What? No! Absolutely not!" I answer quickly and rather defensively.

He holds his hands up in surrender and lets out a nervous laugh.

"Hey, I was just wondering. I was just wondering because you two were gone for quite some time earlier for lunch." He reminds me. We were gone for awhile, but nothing that was too out of the ordinary. We were gone for no longer than two hours, I'm sure.

"Well, we stopped at my parent's restaurant to eat. My parents like to drag things on for longer than originally intended." I say, not completely lying.

"Grayson doesn't really go to lunch with people." He tells me.

"Well, he became pretty preoccupied the second that we came back." I mutter, standing up and beginning to pack up my stuff for the end of the day.

"What?" Shane laughs.

"You don't have to worry about me and Grayson. I'm pretty sure he's already preoccupied with someone else." I say, grabbing my bag and heading towards the door. "Anyways, you're right. It's getting late and I should probably get home." I say.

Shane nods and stands up from his seat, walking out of the door with me.

"Well, i'll see you tomorrow." He says, turning the opposite way down the hall.

As I walk towards the elevator, I see it open and hear high pitched laughter fill my ears. I look up and see Grayson and his blonde escort walking towards me.

I want to run and hide. I want to be anywhere else but here. I consider running right before Grayson looks up to see me walking towards them and the elevator.

"Natalia." Grayson says, halting his steps only momentarily.

When I look at him, I see his face of confusion at me and then down at his watch.