“Why do you need more time?” I ask her.
“Well see, I wanted to get my workout in this morning, but I woke up late. But I’m going to get hot and sweaty,” she says, as she runs a finger up her arm. “I’ll need to shower afterwards.”
She pulls her bottom lip into her mouth while giving me an innocent look.
“Alexis,” I say, as I stand. Which in turn makes her do the same.
Her smile grows wide, and she pops a hip out with her hand on it. I’m not sure what she thinks is happening here, but this isn’t it.
“First, you are still in the workplace, so I would appreciate it if you kept your scrubs on while you are at work. Second, no, you cannot take a longer break. Maybe set an extra alarm in the morning. I don’t pay you to go to the gym.”
Her face shifts from innocence to irritation as her posture straightens and gets rigid.
“Is that all you needed?” I ask her.
She lets out a huff, turns and walks out.
I sit back into my chair, shaking my head. I’ll have to have a more serious conversation with her, but for right now I think she got the message. I grab my backpack from under my desk and pull my phone from the side pocket. I feel the need to let Lily know what happened.
When I click it on, I see that there’s a few texts from Lily, but they were from a few hours ago.
Lily: OMG! Ethan, I have to tell you what happened.
Lily: I know you’re busy but if you see this, Alexis was just here. She saw me.
What the heck?
Lily: Call me on your lunch break if you can. I hope you’re having a good day.
I immediately call her, knowing what just happened has to be connected with what she’s about to tell me.
“Hello,” she answers.
“Hey. I saw your texts.”
“Yeah, um. So, Alexis came in this morning. She told me she watched me go into the office to drop the cookies off and that I was there way longer than I should have been.”
“I’m sorry, she what? She watched you?”
“I’m not sure if it was on purpose or if maybe she was coming into work early, but she pointed out that my skirt was out of place when I walked out and that I’m now wearing new clothes.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her, that uh,” she lets out a small laugh. “That I dropped my skirt in the toilet after I went number two.”
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that,” I say, then laugh. “But that’s a pretty great excuse.”
She laughs also. “I told her I had coffee,” she says, which makes us both laugh harder.
“Maybe no more office romps,” she says.
“Now, now. Let’s not get crazy.” I pause for a few seconds. “I had a run in with Alexis this afternoon.”
“Oh really? What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“I don’t mind. The reason I pulled my phone out was to call and tell you. I didn’t feel right not telling you right away.”
“Okay,” she replies, her voice sounding cautious.