Page 7 of A Conflict of Interest

So I took out my phone specifically so I could make a note to myself saying to grow up and be an adult around this, and I accidentally opened the contact with Nic and sent him another message again instead. Whoops.

thanks again for your help! my bosses are probably looking over it together rn even though they’re supposed to be going for a date

He replied immediately. Had he also been looking at our contact? God, I couldn’t imagine. As in—I wasn’t allowed to imagine. I needed to stop imagining that. Ugh.sounds like you have some interesting bosses

I love themmmm they’re the best,and tripping over myself to type faster,they took over at the end of last year and it was a little weird because they made the leadership into two roles to accommodate both of them bc they’re totally in love and it’s really cute but they’re also like, my best friends ever

even outside of me?

omg nic no way. i would be short one very good script without your undying friendship

I’m sure you’d have come up with something good,he said.you’re a smart woman, Kelce

I giggled, falling back in the bed and kicking idly.yeah? compliment me more please I love it

hmm,he sent.going to get in trouble if I keep doing that on my work account

I didn’t miss a beat.ok let’s use our private accounts then and you can give me all the compliments you want

He didn’t miss a beat either—sent me contact information for another platform, and I switched to add him on my private account, and I swear it felt like my heart was going to explode as I sent a text. If we were moving to private accounts, that meant something, right? That meant he wanted to give me lots of compliments and talk about whatever we wanted. God, I was blushing so hot I was going to start a fire in the bed using the sheets as kindling. I wasn’t supposed to be feeling like this.

heyyyyy okay compliment me now please

He responded right away.anything specific you want me to compliment you on? bc we could be here all day

Even though he’d started off this morning when we first texted by saying this wasn’t going to be a formal conversation and he was a relaxed person, he’d still gotten so much more casual, relaxed, friendly since then. Flirtatious? Probably not. It was kind of cute, honestly, the way he texted. I bit my lip as I replied.on my hardworking demeanor, ofc

hardworking isn’t my specialty… my boss is getting on my case all the time because I always tell him I don’t want to do any work today

oh my god we have so much in common.

sounds like you don’t want a compliment on that, then, actually. want to name something more important to you?

I giggled, rolling over in bed.my cute, stylish fashion?

would if I could, Kelce, but idk what your fashion looks like

I rolled out of bed, and I didn’t even think about what this looked like—I went into the bathroom, flicked on the lights, and took a picture of my outfit today, a cute little pussybow blouse with a ruffled silver blazer and high-waisted chinos with a sleek branded belt. I took a couple of pictures to make sure I could get the lighting and pose and angle right, for no reason whatsoever and definitely not because I wanted him to think I was cute, and I picked the best one and sent it with,it looks like this! okay compliment me now?

He took a long time to respond, but he was online that whole time. I guess just… looking at the picture? God, that gave me chills. Was I really that simple? I mean, I knew I wasn’t the hardest to get, but I didn’t think I was that… easy to get.

Finally, he replied,that’s the best outfit I’ve seen in ages,and,the way the color palette flatters your skin tone, the coordination of textures and different material weights toflatter your form, and the tailoring on the pieces, you look incredibly put-together

Oh… that was a detailed compliment on my clothes. Oh, god. Was he gay? I mean, maybe that would explain why we clicked so well. I never clicked that well with straight people. Maybe he was bisexual too? I just wanted him to havesomeattraction to women fornoreason.

He kept typing after a second.in other words, you look really cute!!

He didn’t type like a straight guy, either, now that I thought about it. Oh, god. I was crushing on our freelancer who I’d only met via text chat since this morning, and he was probably gay.oh my god you’re so good at compliments!!!I sent, trying to cover up my embarrassment.don’t tell me you were a fashion designer in one of your previous lives??

I kind of did a little bit… nothing that got very far

Maybe I’d try a subtle little… subtle… subtlety. I headed out of the bathroom, falling back in the bed, and I texted,the last girl I dated did that too, actually,and then following it up immediately because I felt weird wondering why I was coming out to our freelancer to try getting him to say whether he was gay so I knew if it was okay to pine for him,she actually did lots of different short-lived careers in different fields too just like you have, I think that’s cool, she also had a short stint in fashion

He didn’t type for a while, and I hung on the edge of the bed sick with nerves when I had no reason to be sick with half as much nerves. Maybe… he was totally into me too and he was worried now that I was a lesbian? Maybe I gave him the same crisis I just did. I sent another text that I shouldn’t have.

the last guy I dated before her did not have good fashion. usually just wearing t-shirts.

He replied immediately. Maybe he did feel better.tbh I can’t see you dating someone who cares that little about looking good

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