Page 6 of Welcome to the Friendzone

“Hi.”

She heard a male voice from behind her, which didn’t belong to Director Burns.

She slowly turned on her heels to see who was standing in her room and her eyes met a tall 6’2’’ / 1.90m man with short blond hair, broad shoulders, and a wide grin on his face. Marta quickly let her eyes wander over his body and observed his defined biceps, the muscular thighs that were popping out of the workout shorts he wore, as well as the messiness of his hair, which reminded her so much of Frank’s when he came out of the shower.

“Hi,” she responded, unsure how to properly react.

“Oliver McGreen, I’ve seen you with Burns and came to introduce myself and check to see if you need anything.”

He extended his right hand towards her as the traditional way to introduce himself.

Marta was annoyed by all the handshakes she had to decline because of her shoulder but this time she really didn’t want to get another pitiful look so she gathered all her strength, clenched her teeth to ignore the agonizing pain in the still sore and rusty joint, and managed to reach out her hand to grab his.

“Marta Gómez,” she hissed and her weird reaction made Oliver furrow his face a little but he tried to ignore it and started to happily shake her hand. The moment a loud whine left Marta’s mouth, he let go of her hand and looked at her, shocked.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, unconsciously holding her arm in the recovery position it had been used in with the sling over the past three months.

“Sorry,” Oliver copied her, not sure what had just happened.

This was definitely his strangest encounter of the week, and he’d been dealing with the weird behavior of his best friend Nate for almost eight years now.

“I’m hurt. My shoulder. Thought I could just ignore it but turns out it still hurts like shit,” she tried to explain when she saw the weird grimace on Oliver’s face.

This man was definitely not good at hiding his emotions. His face and eyes gave him away. He was uncomfortable about the whole situation.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. You could’ve told me, then I would’ve used my other hand.”

He smiled at her, waving his left hand in the air. His smile was infectious, although Marta didn’t feel like smiling.

“Didn’t want to look broken,” she mumbled, sadness present in her honey-colored eyes.

Oliver cleared his throat, extended his left hand, and said:

“Hi. I’m Oliver McGreen. Nice to meet you.”

Marta tilted her head a little in surprise but extended her left hand and shook his. It felt weird, as she was right-handed, but they both tried to make it as comfortable as possible.

“Marta Gómez, drug trafficking task force,” she introduced herself again, still with a shy smile on her lips.

“It’s nice to meet you, Marta,” and with that being said, he let go of her hand and walked around the still depressing and mostly dark room.

The clouds outside had darkened within seconds and the heavens opened up. The rain drummed on the window now, catching Marta by surprise as she was so focused on Oliver that she hadn’t noticed the change in weather.

“It’s not the prettiest but it does its job for the time being. Director Burns normally doesn’t mention it but, depending on how long you stay here, it’s okay to bring some decorations. Making it more like a home than a sterile med-bay room.”

His comparison with a hospital made sense and she wondered why she hadn’t thought about it before. She’d spent most of her time in hospital rooms since December but in the rehab hospital the rooms were colorful, decorated, and full of normal stuff. Only the hospital beds had reminded her that she was not in a hotel.

“Yeah, I realized that. It needs some color and definitely some plants. Maybe I can get some when I’m feeling better.” Her voice echoed in the room.

She saw Oliver nod as he looked into the attached bathroom and the walk-in closet with curiosity all over his face.

“It’s the same size as my room but the bathroom is more modern. You’ve got a walk-in shower, mine’s an older one. Feels like I should ask Burns for a renovation. They haven’t done anything in eight years. It’s about damn time,” he said towards Marta with the grin still on his face.

Oliver was probably the friendliest human she had ever met.

“You should. No walk-in shower. How dare they.”

Oliver halted in his movement and looked at Marta before he burst into laughter. The heaviness and insecurity of their first encounter was blown away by his beautiful laughter and Marta’s heart burned when she saw him close his eyes and lean forward. The joke had caught him off guard and although it wasn’t actually that funny, the whole situation made him laugh.

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