Be Alright

Sixteen

Sixteen: The Day We Met

"That's not good enough!" Tom shouts from across his desk at me, making me wince. "You've had a week and this is all you've got for me?"

"You're lucky I even got that. He's very secretive," I defend myself.

"I don't care what he is. I gave you a job and I want it to be done," Tom huffs.

"If you want it done then why don't you use an actual cop who actually does this kind of stuff? I don't know what I'm doing at all," I confess.

"Clearly."

It is Monday morning and I had just told Tom what I had learned about Tyler. I felt like it was a good start, but Tom went on a rampage saying it isn't good enough.

"The loner it takes you to obtain information, the longer it takes me to have this murder investigation solved. I'm sorry if I'm putting too much pressure on you, but it needs to happen."

He wasn't wrong. I took on a huge responsibility when I agreed to doing this. I just didn't think it would be this complicated. I thought Tyler would have told me more. Breaking down these walls were harder than I thought.

"I'll get more," I assure him, though I wasn't so sure I would.

"You better, Octavia. We're depending on you," He says before dismissing me.

Sighing, I stand from my chair and walk out the office, leaving Tom behind. I never took confrontation from higher authority well and having Tom yell at me over my own failures put a damper in my mood.

It wasn't like I had a good morning to start with, either.

I managed to sleep through my alarm, making me late to work and my morning frantic. Because of my weekend being spent with Tyler, I hadn't had a chance to do laundry yet, so I ended up wearing dirty clothes. Then, on my way to work I got stuck behind a wreck that took a good while to get straightened out. On top of all that, it's a complete downpour outside and I chose to straighten my hair of all choices.

Maybe I am just being dramatic, but it feels like today just isn't my day.

I push the negative thoughts out of my mind, determined to attack the rest of the day with a positive outlook.

I press my body up against the large door that leads to the stairs and use my body's force to push it open. I always hated how heavy the doors were. As if taking the stairs wasn't enough work they added an extra workout by having heavy doors.

"Are you avoiding me?" I hear, causing me to nearly jump out my skin.

"Dammit, Jace!" I shout, trying to calm myself down.

Jace leans off the concrete wall and laughs, stepping closer to me.

"You get scared so easily. I had to do it," he says, lifting his arms up in defense.

I lean my back against the wall, feeling the cold concrete on my bare arms. It surprisingly felt refreshing on my skin.

"But seriously," he says, the laughing seizing, "have you been avoiding me?"

"No, I have just been busy lately with Tyler and work," I explain.

Jace rubs his thumb over his bottom lip as he stares at me. I didn't like the way he was looking at me. It was like he didn't believe me.