A woman knows, right?!

Untitled Episode4

As I'm stood there trying to figure out my next move, Adam's broad figure appears at the door. He spots me almost instantly and jogs over to me, a grin on his face. The grin fades as he gets closer and takes the sight of me in.

"Sofia? Lacey said you forgot your key card?"

I try to reply, but it's as though my throat has been stuffed with cotton wool, the ability to speak taken away from me. Instead, I shake my head as I feel tears start to well behind my eyes. The emotion of the last half hour starting to hit me anew. A look of panic enters Adams eyes, understandable really, this was not what he had signed up for. I almost feel for him, but right now I don't have the emotion to spare.

"Erm, hey, what can I do? You don't look so good . . . ." Adam's concern undoes me and the tears start falling freely, I am mortified, Adam can't see me like this, I'll never live it down, he'll never let me live it down. It was bad enough that time we almost . . . but I cant go there right now, it's all just too much.

"I need Lacey" I manage to mumble.

"Yeah, she got called into Petersons office, I don't know how long they'll be. . . . Look, I'm here now, let me help. Please. You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, but you can't go inside like this. My car is in the garage, how about we go there, at least you can put your stuff down?" Annoyingly what he's saying makes sense and is pretty much exactly what I need right now. Also, he said please, I don't remember the last time he was that polite to me. I can't look him in the face so I just nod my head. He takes the sheet and rug from my arms and leads me into the underground garage.

We don't say a word as we walk to his car, but I can tell by the occasional sidelong glances he's giving me that he is wondering what the hell has happened. Of course he is, he's used to seeing me as a smart ass, always with a retort to his wise cracks, he's never broken me, no matter how much he's teased and taunted me. We reach his car quickly which I'm briefly thankful for, until I realise this means that now we will be in a confined space together. He throws my things into the back of the car and opens the passenger door for me, the gentlemanly move registering despite my current state.

"So. . ." Adam starts "do you want to talk?"

I shake my head, tears still falling from my eyes. After a couple more minutes of silence, broken only by my occasional hiccuping I start to feel more under control. I chance a sidelong glance at Adam; he definitely looks uncomfortable, his eyes are darting up to the ceiling, to the windows, anywhere but in my direction. It gives me a moment, despite myself, to appreciate the curve of his jaw. He is undeniably a good looking guy. Strong jawline, a hint of stubble even though he was clean shaven that morning. Short dark hair, just tussled slightly, straight nose, and as always those piercing blue eyes. If he wasn't so full of himself he would be drop dead gorgeous.

Another minute passes and I take a deep breath and clear my throat. Adam looks at me expectantly.

"Erm, thanks, for bringing me down here, I know you weren't expecting this", I make a half hearted gesture at myself and my belongings.

"Of course, I wouldn't leave you alone like that Sofia, I know we don't always get on the best, but I'm here for you, if you need, you know? And not just because of Lacey, because, despite what you think, I think you are a pretty great person", Adams little speech surprises me; he looks sincere, no sign of a smirk or note of condescension in his tone. I feel the tears threatening again and turn away.

"You don't have to be nice to me just because I'm upset you know?"

"I know, can I be nice just because I want to be nice?"

"You realize you're making this harder? If you were your usual jerk self at least I could feel mad and stop crying!"

"Well if it helps I can talk about how cute your butt looks when you wear that fitted number to work?"

Despite myself I feel a small laugh come forth, here's the Adam I'm used to; always pushing it, trying to make me flustered and self conscious, but in this moment it helps. That feeling of normalcy, that something in my life is consistent, even if everything else is falling apart, helps.

"Simon cheated" I surprise myself by admitting it out loud.

Adams mouth twists into a half smile, half grimace. "Yeah, I kind of assumed it might be something like that. I mean I briefly considered some kind of dry cleaning rug and sheet disaster may have occurred but they seem to be unscathed and you were pretty unconcerned when I threw them in the back there so my money was on Simon." Again I find myself smiling at his stupid comment.

"You dry clean your sheets?" I ask raising one eyebrow.

"That is what you want to talk about?" Adam raises his eyebrow back at me, annoyingly he is better at it than I am. "You know he didn't deserve you in the first place right? Don't waste your time on feeling bad about him, he's an i***t to do that to you."

Adam and Simon have never gotten along. They met several times on nights out, we all usually end up out for drinks after work on a Friday, and Lacey, Adam and myself would often meet up with Simon later on. Simon wasn't a fan, he thought Adam was full of himself and found his jokes irritating and immature. One of the things I liked about Simon was how he always backed me up when Adam was teasing me. We had even left a couple of works nights early as Simon had found the whole scene annoying. Admittedly I'd been reluctant to go as I was having fun with my friends but I'd completely understood.

This side of Adam is confusing me. Sarcastic Adam I can deal with. Flirty Adam I can deal with. Even annoying, smug Adam I can deal with, but kind, thoughtful Adam is a different prospect. I don't know how to respond to him. I'm still waiting for him to drop the punchline, and I pride myself on always beating him to it, but right now I don't have the energy to figure it out.

"We should head back up, we're going to be late." I need to get out of this car and my meeting is due to start in two minutes.

"Um, not wanting to kick you while you're down but do you really want to go in there looking like that?". A quick glance in the mirror confirms what hes saying, puffy eyes, smudged mascara and tear tracks down my cheeks. I wipe the worst away with my fingertips and take a breath.

"OK, the elevator comes out opposite the bathroom, just stay in front of me will you? Lets do this" I keep my head down as we make our way acrossthe garage and into the elevator, luckily no one else joins us and I quickly escape to the safety of the ladies room and splash water on my face. A quick touch up and Im ready to go back out, a couple of minutes late but all things considered, I think I'm doing pretty well.

I square my shoulders and walk out, head held high. I slide into my desk glad no one seems to have noticed anything, when suddenly a voice rings out across the office: "Sofia, where the hell have you been?"