Page 39 of (Not So) Mad About You

Right. She grabbed the keys and tore off back down the corridor to Luke’s office, dropping them in the dish, leaving, and closing the door behind her. She took a second to lean against the corridor wall and get her breath back.

“Waste of my damn time,” Luke said as he strode around a corner.

Bea straightened up.

“You, yes, you, what were you thinking?” he said as he saw her.

“I, uh, I, um…”

“Stutter away,” he said, coming closer. “Daria had no idea what I was talking about and said that she’d barely swapped two words with you. What the hell do you think you were doing? Lying to me? Really?”

“No, I…” She shrank back against the wall. She really hadn’t thought this through. A life of crime was definitely not for her. Luke looked furious.

“Do you not think that I do anything? Running this place is a nightmare. All needy people and running around after staff who don’t know any better.” He was close enough that she could see the pores on his skin.

“I don’t think it’s easy,” she said quickly.

“Good, because it’s fucking not. It’s people like you that make my life more difficult. Arriving late and then sending me on wild goose chases like you think I’m some kind of idiot. Do you think I’m an idiot?”

That final T sent a shower of spit on her cheek and Bea closedher eyes. “No, not at all.”

“That’s not the way it seems to me.” His voice got lower, more threatening. “Open your eyes.”

Bea did as she was told.

“Listen carefully. You are on very thin ice, understood?”

She nodded.

“Tell me you understand.”

“I… I understand.”

“Good, now get out of my way and don’t let me see your face for the rest of the day.”

He banged into his office and Bea fled down the corridor, not stopping until she turned the corner and her legs threatened to give out. Only then did everything catch up with her.

She’d robbed a locked room, lied to her boss, been yelled at. Her face grew hot and to her embarrassment, her eyes filled with tears, and then she was sobbing, either in relief that it was all almost over or because… because this whole place just filled her with weird emotions that she couldn’t handle.

“There you are.”

Could this all get any worse?

“I’ve been looking for you,” Alli said, drawing nearer.

Bea sniffed, tried to blink away the tears, and failed miserably.

“Why are you crying?”

Bea shuddered. “Nothing. It’s nothing. Just… Luke.” It seemed the most honest thing to say.

“Christ, he’s a wanker, isn’t he?” Alli said, leaning against the wall beside her. “I don’t know how you work for him, I certainly couldn’t.”

“Yeah,” Bea said, feeling a little better. She sniffed again, blinked again. The tears were starting to dry up.

Alli was so close that their shoulders were touching. It was warm. Warm and enticing in a way that made Bea sort of want to get closer. It made her sort of want Alli to wrap her arms around her, to take her.

Just in a hug, of course. A friendly hug.

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