Page 46 of The Interns

She forced a grin and turned for the guest room which Adam still referred to as her room since he held out hope that she would come back frequently enough to use it. Once inside, she shut the door behind her and took a deep breath. How the hell did we get here? she thought as she dug a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt out of the dresser.

He had plans and she had plans, and they couldn’t be more different. It was as simple as that. And while he answered her questions openly and honestly, she fell back on bad habits and went on the defensive, but how else was she supposed to react? Of course she would protect the life she had meticulously planned and worked towards since she was a teenager. Regardless of what the future held, though, she knew that she hated the tension between them right now. She supposed that was part of being an us.

Maya opened the bedroom door, walked through the dark, quiet living room and into the kitchen where she took two glasses from the cabinet over the sink. She filled them both with tap water then grabbed the bottle of Tylenol Adam kept on his kitchen counter. She walked towards the couch where Reed was stretched out on his back in jeans and his white undershirt, his head propped against the rolled armrest, and his hands folded across his stomach as he stared at the ceiling. His boots sat on the floor next to the couch, and his blue shirt was draped over the back of it.

She took a seat on the sliver of cushion left between his leg and the edge and handed him a glass of water. She shook out four pills, two for herself and two for him which he also accepted without words. He just clenched his fist around them and rested his hand back where it had been as he stared up at the ceiling again. He was obviously not in the mood for talking anymore, and she knew she probably deserved that after dinner. She popped the pills into her mouth and took a sip of water to swallow them down then set her glass on the table.

“I can see the neighborhood I grew up in from your office window,” she offered quietly.

He finally looked at her then pushed himself up into a seated position, his legs still stretched out in front of him as he came face to face with her.

“Going away and coming back just feels wrong,” she continued now that she had his attention. “Like I’m moving backward instead of forward.”

“I’m probably the wrong person to say that to considering my family is a ten-minute walk from my house in one direction, and the job I’m trying for is ten minutes in the other direction.” His voice was strained from the alcohol and late hour. “I never even left.”

“And I love that about you,” she assured him quickly, her hand landing on his thigh for emphasis. “It’s right for you. I’m just saying it feels wrong for me.”

“Yeah, I know,” he assured her all the same. “I shouldn’t have pushed you. I just had it in my head that it was meant to be, but…” He shrugged as he trailed off.

But what? And what was meant to be? The job? Their friendship? Us?

Her breathing slowed, but her heart and mind raced while they sat staring at each other in the middle of the night. She loved working with this man. She loved talking to him. She brought her hand up, running her fingers through the curls on top of his head and then down the back before settling her hand on his cheek. She loved looking at this face. She loved that even after months apart, they were still an us.

She leaned in and closed her eyes. Her lips brushed against his, feather light and tentative until she felt his hand on her cheek, drawing her face in closer to his. And with that, they pressed their lips together tightly as they each inhaled, breathing each other in and feeling the heady rush of coming together for the first time. After just a few moments, they broke apart, resting their foreheads against one another’s as they caught their breath.

“You’re leaving,” Reed whispered.

She clenched her eyes shut upon hearing the sobering reminder. “In two weeks,” she whispered back, trying to be optimistic.

“But you’re not coming back.”

“No.”

She pulled away from him and dropped her forehead into the crook of his neck. The moment was over and would have to remain just that because after this break, their lives would go in completely different directions, never to meet again if all went according to plan. His arms wrapped around her back, and she leaned into him to enjoy this closeness for just a little while longer.

19

Reed

Reed hadn’t opened his eyes yet, but he was semi-aware that morning had arrived. Sunlight warmed his skin and lightened the darkness behind his lids, birds chirped up a storm outside, a door creaked, and the sound of music filled the room? Specifically that Van Morrison song his father always sang to his mother about being a brown-eyed girl.

His eyes flew open to see a woman stopped in her tracks at the end of the couch. She covered her mouth with one hand while the other clutched at her chest. He instinctively tightened his arm around Maya while he stared back at the admittedly harmless-looking blonde intruder.

After her momentary shock wore off, she puffed out a breath, adjusted her thick frame glasses, then extended her hand to shake his as if this wasn’t awkward and slightly frightening at all. “Hi. I’m Darby.”

He glanced down at Maya, somehow still sound asleep with her head on his chest and arm draped over his torso, then back up at Darby.

“Reed,” he whispered.

He extended his free hand from his spot on the couch. It wasn’t exactly proper manners, but it was the best he could do since he was pinned on his back under the weight of Maya’s limp body.

“Reed,” Darby repeated, drawing out the E as she studied his face. “Reed…”

At this point, Maya finally began to stir. She tilted her head upward slightly and was making an oh shit face. He also felt like they had been caught with their pants down, but thankfully, they were both fully clothed and had been the entire night. The kiss and the hug turned into cuddling, and they must have fallen asleep on the couch. It wasn’t by design, it just happened, and he was happy it had. Only he wished they were waking up on their own terms this morning because they had a lot to talk about.

“Oh! Officer Reed,” Darby finally realized.

“Oh god,” Maya muttered under her breath as she lifted her head from his chest.

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