WARREN
After heading out of my class, I found my confidence getting the better of me. Millie looked so bright and sure when she handed me her email on a spare slip of paper. She talked of dinner maybe one day in the future, but when my stomach growled, I began to wonder why it couldn’t be sooner.
She was only sitting up in Caleb’s office alone, going over notes and annotating research material. I thought she would like a change of pace, a meal out on somebody else’s dime, yet as I headed towards Caleb’s office, I found the door to be shut tight. If somebody was in, Caleb’s usual go-to was leaving the door cracked at the very least.
I knocked anyway. No answer came.
Caleb wasn’t getting out of class, if I remembered correctly, for another fifteen minutes, but Millie should have been there. We parted ways about ninety minutes earlier. I figured I would have found her again in that rich navy cardigan, her brown curls framing her lovely face. After a long minute, I decided I must have missed her. She probably had gone out to lunch already, and I’d missed my chance.
I had no idea of how right I was.
As I stepped back out through the building’s front doors, I found Millie standing in the sunlight, but it was blocked by a broad frame. His lips were locked with hers. She was too swept away in the moment to even see me standing there, dumbfounded.
My heart sank as she smiled at him and exchanged some quiet words. More than that, I was disappointed almost to the point of despair. I had only met her a few days ago, but I couldn’t get her out of my head. I was willing to step aside for Caleb, if that’s what the young woman wished, but I didn’t realize that we had even more competition.
She looked so alive as she watched him go, but when she turned to head in my direction, Millie stopped short. Her radiance flickered out. The glow she had for that imposing man didn’t carry over to me. Instead, she met my eyes with an apologetic look. She wasn’t ashamed of kissing him, but she was sorry she’d gotten caught. That much I could see.
“I can explain,” she said first.
So, Millie did know. Our conversation earlier hadn’t been a misunderstanding, or maybe it had. At that moment, I could only feel myself defaulting, uncertain of everything.
“There’s no need,” I swore.
Her lips, slightly swollen from her kiss, parted in a gentle sigh. It killed me how lovely she looked, even now. If I came closer, if I tried what the other man had done, I wondered if she would push me away, or if she would give in the way she had given in to him.
Millie was one of a kind. She’d made me feel special over dinner, and I couldn’t believe that was all for show. There was some connection between us, something that made me think she wouldn’t turn me away.
“Warren, please, let’s talk upstairs,” she insisted. “I-I think there are some things you should know.”
Scratching the back of my head, I looked down the street. Would it have been easier to run? Probably. Was I still hoping that my chances with Millie weren’t completely dashed? No question.
It was that desire which won out. My shoulders slumping in surrender, I nodded and followed her back inside. We didn’t speak on the way. As we wandered down the cool, office hall, I tried to look as natural as possible, only hoping my thoughts weren’t written all over my face.
My friend and I agreed that Millie was fair game, that we would both pursue her and let her choose between us. It would be an incredible bout of bad luck if she decided that neither Caleb nor I could hold a candle to that brooding, werewolf-looking man. I wanted to prove her wrong. I wanted to pull her close and teach her all the things I had learned in my many years on this planet.
My overconfident ego began getting the better of me again, but as I caught a glimpse of Millie’s eyes, the arrogance vanished. There was clear sincerity in her face as she led us into Caleb’s office. As we stood there alone, I could see disappointment in her eyes and cursed myself. The last thing I wanted to do was take any pleasure away from her. Whether it was me, my friend, or my rival who won her heart, the most important thing was Millie’s feelings in the matter.
I just hoped that she would keep an open mind and let Caleb and me plead our cases.
“I’m sorry,” I said abruptly.
She leaned against Caleb’s desk, crossed her arms, and sighed. The door clicked behind me as I realized nobody else needed to be hearing this, especially if Caleb showed up early.
“Don’t be sorry.” Her voice sounded raspy, dry from a stolen moment of passion that I wasn’t supposed to see. “Really, there’s no need.”
“You know, Caleb likes you.”
She blinked, as if my words surprised her. I thought for sure she knew, since I had been hinting at the fact all week. Maybe she had been living in blissful ignorance or denial. Considering my words, Millie chewed on her lower lip, glancing towards the bookcases. The action only made me want her more.
“I don’t know if we, if Caleb and I, can be together,” she confessed hesitantly. “Since we work so closely together, it would be crossing some boundaries.”
“Maybe.”
Her eyebrows knitted together. “Maybe? No, definitely. If there’s something between Caleb and me, it could jeopardize our working relationship.”
“Or it could work out.”
Millie shook her head, laughing under her breath. “You surprise me, Warren. I didn’t think you would be encouraging me and Caleb.”