Page 69 of My Secret Snowflake
“But it’s movie content. There’s nothing we can do. It’s up to Xavier,” Kevin says.
“They want to know if we have any good ideas before they close us down,” Colby says. “Maybe they will even take our ideas and shut us down anyway.”
“Our presentation was clearly better than New Mexico’s.”
“And we need to make sure this one is also better. She needs to get their draft,” Colby says.
“We can’t. She’s not going to want to do it again. She was suspicious the first time. I think she talked to Raphael. And the site is mined with traps and honeypots. The cybersecurity team is watching twenty-four-seven.”
“Can’t is not an acceptable answer. Figure out a way,” Colby says. “Find some other urgent project for cybersecurity to work on. You keep telling me we’re short on resources, so tell them this isn’t the priority. I thought she was one of the best white hat hackers. She should be able to get around a few traps.”
Kevin mutters something I can’t hear. I move closer to the door, closer to Sebastian. My body brushes up against his.
“Stop moving,” Sebastian says in a low, deep, strangled voice.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
Silence on the other side. I tense. Sebastian’s body tightens next to mine. Did they hear us? Did I mess it up?
“What about replacing her with that guy Hank?” Colby asks.
“I’ll figure something out.”
“You do that,” Colby says.
“Hi. I thoughtwehad the conference room for 9:30. Should we find another room?” It’s Jazmine.
“We’re leaving,” Kevin says.
“How’s everything going?” Colby asks. “Great work the other day on finding that hire.”
“Thank you. I didn’t realize you knew about that.”
“I pride myself on knowing what’s going on in my company. Who are the stars, who are the shirkers. In fact, I just learned a Swedish word for it:maskning, which means foot dragging or working very slowly. I know who is doing what at Dream.”
My eyes widen. Does Colby know we’re in the closet? I glance up at Sebastian.
The door clangs shut. Hopefully Colby and Kevin left.
My chest touches his. I pull back quickly, standing up straight, the shelves hard in my back. My head hits some pencil boxes, and Sebastian quickly reaches out to hold them in place. His arm is by my head. I swallow. He’s so close. His breath brushes against my cheek. And I’m trying to press back and basically not breathe so I don’t touch him, but it’s like my body won’t listen to me and keeps leaning forward. Sebastian’s body is equally rigid.
His face looks pained.
“Are you and Aaron dating?” a woman’s voice asks. She sounds familiar, but I can’t place the voice.
“He asked me out yesterday after the ice skating event,” Jazmine says. “He’s so sweet. I swear, he moved closer to me yesterday when we were drinking hot chocolate. And then we took the subway home together. And it was so crowded that we got squished together.” Jazmine giggles. “He had his arm by my head against the metal door, trying to stop his body from being pressed into mine.”
I stare up at Sebastian. He pulls his arm back. I look down at the carpeted floor.
Jazmine sighs. “He’s such a gentleman. He even got off the subway to walk me home, and then he asked me out.”
“You’re so lucky. I can’t find any good guys. I had a date the other day. I thought it went well, and then he called me and told me he wanted to remain single. Why did he go out on the date in the first place, then?”
I look at Sebastian and tilt my head.
Sebastian shakes his head.
The initial personal chitchat over, they get down to the serious business of their meeting.
