More Than Friends (2 page)

“Yes.”

“And thanks for helping with Brent.”

“Glad to.” He hesitated as if searching for
something to say.

She waited, hopeful, but then he said, “Good
night. See you Monday.”

All weekend Carrie felt foolish.

She relived the evening and her
conversations with Josh. In many ways it had felt like a first
date, but technically it hadn’t been. They were nothing more than
co-workers, spending two hours together.

Josh seemed to like her, but after Brent,
she didn’t trust her man decoding skills.

Sometimes she wished she’d studied
Psychology rather than Accounting. Numbers were consistent, people
never were.

She didn’t want to misjudge the situation
and make it worse.

Did Josh think she was flirting with
him?

Probably.

She groaned. What was she going to do on
Monday? There was no way to avoid him completely – not when he
worked two cubicles down from hers.

Monday morning, Carrie came to work early
and hid in her cubicle, busy with work. She ran errands instead of
joining Lisa for lunch. Miraculously, she was able to avoid bumping
into Josh in the hallways.

Around three o’clock, she heard Eric talking
to Josh over the cubicle wall. “So, how was Friday?” he asked.

Carrie couldn’t hear Josh’s reply, so she
scooted her chair closer to her cubicle wall so she could
eavesdrop.

Eric continued, “Just you and Carrie? Oh no.
What did you do – sit around staring at each other?”

Carrie knew she tended to be quiet in
crowds, but she hadn’t realized Eric thought she was so boring. But
then, not everyone could be the life of the party.

“No, it was fine,” Josh said.

Damning with faint praise?

Eric laughed. “Well, don’t worry. We’ll have
more fun this Friday. There’s a new restaurant on Mockingbird
–”

“Count me out,” Josh said clearly.

“Why?”

“I’ve got other plans.”

Carrie felt sick inside. It sounded as if
Josh wanted to avoid her, too.

That evening as she was in the elevator,
getting to go home, she saw Josh run up to the doors. She was
tempted not to push the “door open” button, but that would be
unkind.

“Thanks,” Josh said as he joined her.

Carrie looked at her shoes.

They were both quiet for a minute.

He said, “I guess you were working hard
today. I didn’t see you in the lunch room.”

Had he been looking for her? But that didn’t
make sense, because if he had wanted to talk to her, he could have
walked over to her cubicle and say ‘hi.’ It’s not like she was on
another floor.

“I had a great time Friday.”

She looked up, stunned. “Really?”

Josh smiled. “Yes.”

It gave her hope. “So did I.”

The elevator doors opened and they both
stepped out into the parking garage. Carrie didn’t want their
conversation to end. “Do you think it will snow?”

“Probably not.”

She mentally searched for something else to
say, then blurted out what was foremost on her mind. “If you had
such a great time, why did you tell Eric you weren’t coming this
Friday?”

The moment the words were out, she winced.
She didn’t want to sound like a nag.

Josh looked embarrassed. “You heard
that?”

Carrie nodded.

He shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong. I like
going out with the crowd, but it’s not the best way to get to know
someone. And if you like someone, it can get weird. Fast.”

Did he like her? “How so?”

“Office gossip. Dave making jokes.”

“You’re right.” Dave was funny, but
ruthless. She remembered the things he’d said when Lisa was dating
a guy from Marketing.

Josh continued. “I was hoping we could go
out by ourselves again - just the two of us.”

Carrie’s heart warmed, but she didn’t want
to have any misunderstandings this time. “Like a real date?”

Josh’s blue eyes sparkled. “Absolutely. A
one hundred percent real date.”

Carrie liked his precise answer. “That
sounds great, but--.”

“But what? You’re not still hung up on that
guy?”

“Brent? No. Absolutely not. What I meant to
say is ‘that sounds great, but we don’t have to wait until Friday.’
Unless you want to, of course.” She watched his face closely for
his reaction. Was she assuming too much? Moving too fast?

Josh smiled and Carrie knew it was time to
stop worrying.

He said, “That’s an even better idea. Would
you like to eat dinner with me?”

Carrie smiled. “I’d love to.”

The End

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