He Sent You

THIRTEEN

Juniper

"What would you like?" He asks once we find a booth in the back corner.

"Just a black coffee" I say as I cast my eyes to the ground.

He relays our order to the barista and comes back to stand beside me. "You know I should be getting this for you." I say.

He shrugs. "Next time."

Next time, will there ever be a next time? I have too many dwelling issues for there to be a next time.

Our coffee order gets called next and Aiden walks up to grab them, silently, his face twisted with thought.

"Here you are." He smiles what could be his award winning smile.

"Thanks again, Aiden." I say feeling guilty. "We should get to work, I still have a story to finish."

He nods again deep in thought and holds the door open for me, I walk through and my phone rings, and rings.

"Are you going to get that?" Aiden smirks.

"Hello?" I say without looking at the ID.

"Hi, honey!" I hear my dad shout on the other end.

"Hey, is everything alright?" I ask in a rush.

"I'm just calling because Tamara called again asking for your number." I stop uncontrollably in the middle of the side walk, I hear the heartbeat in my ears. I see from the corner Aiden about to ask if everything is alright. "Junie?"

"Ya, ya. I'm here. What did she want now?" I ask shaking my head back into focus and continuing walking. Tam is my sister, my drug using, always under the influence always asking for money from whomever - sister.

"She just wants your number, apparently something she can't relay to me and something that involves you." He says just as confused as I.

"Did you give her my number?" I sigh.

"I had to, Junie. She calls nine to twenty times a day, apparently its something important, just speak to her and after that block her number again." He says as if it were that simple. See my sister and I we've always been close until she met her boyfriend whom was a drug dealer and twister her into a user, and every time there's something super important she bothers dad until he caves and then she promises to get better and we hang out get close and I give her loads of money to get back on her feet and she uses again.

"Ok, I'll deal with it." I sigh again. "I'll let you go, thanks for the heads up, I guess." I add.

"I'm sorry, Junie, I had to, you know her. I love you." He says and waits for my response.

"It's ok, I'll deal with it. I'll talk to you later." I hang up and tuck my phone away.

"Everything good?" Aiden finally says, I jump at the sound of his voice forgetting I was with him.

"All good." I say mustering up a fake smile.

"Boyfriend, husband problems?" He asks looking straight into my eyes as if trying to read my thoughts.

I laugh, "No, that was my dad, more like family problems." I say nonchalantly as if that whole phone conversation meant nothing.

We make it to the front doors of Memphis as we're greeted by the guard at the front. "Hello, sir." He nods and stands up straighter.

"Hmm." I say to myself but Aiden picks up on it.

"What?" He says as we get closer to the elevators, the reception ladies throwing confused daggers my way.

"Nothing, nothing" I wave my hands in front of me and smile up at him.

He shakes his head and punched the fourth floor button. We arrive with a ping and he steps out with me, which I'm confused about.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Walking onto the fourth floor." He smiles, and he notices Martin coming up to us but stopping the instant he sees Aiden. "Martin!" Aiden calls.

Aiden scurries nervously forward, looking at me for help. "Yes, sir?"

I look at Aiden, looking at Martin. "Juniper was late this morning, make sure she gets the stories that were already posted, and has a fair shot at them, I don't want to see her doing some shitty story." He orders roughly, all ounce of Mr. Nice completely gone.

I roll my eyes and start walking away from Aiden.

"Hey!" He calls, jogging to meet me at my desk. I can feel Hailey's eyes on us as well as Landon's.

"What." I whisper harshly.

"This is your desk?" He suddenly asks looking at my bare - one - picture desk.

"Yes." I say, putting my weighted bag down.

He grabs the frame sitting beside my monitor, so close to the screen that I can always see it. "Don't touch that!" I whisper harshly. Nudging his shoulder out of the way.

He looks at me, really looks at me and I feel the tears starting to well in my eyes. Don't cry. I clear my throat and back away from Aiden. Aiden backs away and slowly takes his eyes off me and walks angerly toward the lift. I huff and move into my chair.

"Holy Guacamole!" Hailey says once Aiden is out of ear shot. "That was heated. What the heck happened?"

"Nothing." I snap. She looks hurt so I quickly readjust my approach. "Sorry, just long morning, it was nothing, but I can't talk about it now, I really gotta get a story started otherwise I'll be here all night."

Hailey doesn't respond, she doesn't even look over to smile or pass me gum, I must of really offended her. And Martin doesn't come up with coffee or an invite for coffee, he must think I'm working with Aiden some how. I sigh and just focus on getting out of here before dark.

It's been a few hours, most of the staff are cleared out, I'm on the finishing touches on my story then I'll be done for the night. The sun is setting behind the big skyscrapers across from Memphis, and it makes the whole floor golden. I stop and smile taking in the beautiful color and the way it's hitting Chris's face in the frame by my computer.

"You're still here?" Says the familiar voice from behind me, startling my reverie.

I jump. "You're still here?" I counter.

He smiles, his teeth perfectly white behind the darkness of his beard. "Unfortunately."

He grabs a chair and rolls it beside my desk, so close that our knees almost touch, and the heat radiates from him to me, causing little butterflies. "Listen about earlier with the photo - " I begin.

"It's ok. I shouldn't be so pushy." He says a light blush creeping in.

"I lost him." I say staring into the photo.

"Who was he?" He asks quietly, really listening to what I have to say and reading my emotions.

"Christopher Hansley." I smile a sad tearful smile.