"Pizza's here! In the break room," Helena's beaming face peaked into my office to see me at my desk with my phone in one hand and my coffee in another, sending an email. "Ended up getting like five because it turns out, we're not the only ones who prefer to stay in today."
"Perfect, I'll be there in a sec," I threw my empty coffee cup in the trash and prepared to stand up to make my way to the break room. The slight scent of pizza was already coercing my stomach to start digesting.
'Damn these heels,' I thought as I stood up. My ankles were beginning to ache. Definitely should've thought twice before wearing something so steep without platforms.
The break room was filled with laughter when I made my way in it. Co-workers from different floors had even come up to partake in the pizza fest. It was a nice atmosphere, and it reminded me of why I loved to work here.
"Amaria, here's yours!" Helena handed me a pizza box, where I could feel the heat radiating from inside. The expression of gratitude was about to leave my mouth when a condescending tone made its way into my cochleae.
"Oh my, a whole pizza?" Of course it was that witch Delilah stalking her way towards us like a joy magnet. 'She sucks the life out of everything, I swear.' "Are you going to be able to eat all that, Amaria?"
"Well we're not all experts at hating our image," Delilah's smile shrunk. "Honestly Delilah, I don't know how you do it! Even supermodels eat more," I gave her a megawatt smile and patted her arm, turning to choose a seat at the large lunch table, where many of my co-workers were seated.
My stomach growled when the pizza box opened and the scent wafted up my nostrils. Whoever invented this gooey goodness needed to be canonised. I picked a plate from the stack that had been placed on the table, and put two slices on it.
The happiness in my heart was about to make me burst as the first bite was taken. It wasn't so much the food, as the fact that I was eating in the first place. The feeling of chewing coupled with the taste was heavenly.
The break room was alive with happy people eating happy foods and speaking of happy things. Well, except for Delilah, but that's probably because she was doing her usual routine of eating toothpicks. Calorie counting was a cruel mistress.
"I'll be right back," I told Helena when the need to use the bathroom started creeping up on me. It was unfortunate that I hadn't even gotten through half of my pizza before I started to feel full, but it was also an advantage because I'd have something to snack on later.
The walk to the restroom was brief, and my usage of the facilities would have been just as brief if I hadn't stopped to blot my nose. The curse of having deep fryers for pores.
I took a moment to lean against the sink, breathing in deeply to calm myself. I felt my nerves fire up all of a sudden, and it was very unpleasant. The feeling of butterflies in my stomach hadn't been present since my college days, and I hadn't missed it since it died out.
One deep exhale later, I perked myself up to floor my hair. I opened the door and stepped out, getting ready to turn the corner and head back to the break room when I ran into someone. And I mean straight up crashed into them, with my arms wrapped around their torso and everything.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking," I pulled back my arms, ready to create distance and continue on my way, but hands on my waist stopped me.
"How's the marketing going, Amaria?" A dashing smile graced his face, reaching up to his eyes as he stared at me. I was speechless, but the nervous feeling came rushing back and hit me like a bullet train.
Of course it was him. Just my luck, the fates decided to torture me today, didn't they? Worst part? I could do nothing but stare. I stared like a complete idiot with my mouth opening and closing. What a compromising position to be in with my boss!
"Well? Aren't you going to say anything? No 'it's going well' or anything?" His hands weren't letting go of me. In fact, he seemed to be pulling me even closer.
"Uh, yes! Yes, it's going well. If you could just—" I smiled awkwardly at him and moved my hands down to his so I could try and push them away. My fingers went numb and my hands felt cold, kind of like when my limbs would fall asleep, but the difference was that this time it felt good. It felt warm.
'What the hell?'
"If I could just what?" Jason was looking at me with an innocent look on his face, but his eyes concealed a devilish glint that exposed his true intentions. "We're having an innocent conversation."
"Yes but you're-you're too close," pushing against his chest was no use, and it only served to make him hold me even more strongly. "Let go."
"Oh, you're blushing. Are you nervous?" His innocent smile diminished into a smirk, and a severe shiver ran down my spine. "You are nervous."
'You're slipping. Snap out of it.'
I was indeed slipping. Into what exactly, I didn't know, but I was slipping. My lungs weren't even working properly.
Jason's breath hit my ear, and I almost jumped out of my skin. "I want those marketing proposals on my desk when you're done. Bring them yourself."
He finally let go of me and walked away, leaving me against the wall, breathless, speechless, and unable to think properly. It wasn't so much what had happened that left me dumbstruck, it was the way my subconscious reacted.
My body was on fire, the area where his hands had been, tingling like hell, even though he's touched me through my blouse. "Fuck, not again."
This feeling had plagued me constantly when I was younger. Jason was my addiction, and that made him toxic to me. Every time he touched me, I'd crave him until I had him, and once I had him, I would be insatiable until it broke me. There was no way I'd me willing to head down that road again.
Straightening up, I fixed my blazer so I could regain the remaining singular shred of my dignity, or at least feel like it. There was nothing left to do except ignore the feeling in my depths of my womanhood and carry on like a normal person should.
Or at least that's what I wanted. We both knew that wouldn't last.