Between the Lies

19| Maui

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Maui

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Chapter 19: Maui (Vanessa's POV)

"Bye," I mumbled, waving without looking at Jade as she left. 

Aaron stood up from his desk with a sigh and turned off his computer, stretching briefly and then grabbing his phone, pocketing it. "Let's go," he said. 

"Five more minutes," I said, glancing at him and then going back to my computer. 

He stood there, shaking his head softly. 

Since the party, last weekend, Aaron and I have continued our charade subtly but not-so-subtly. He started driving me to work in the morning and back home too. We went to get lunch together a few times when we both genuinely had to stay behind to work. We would spend the little to no free time we had lingering in the coffee room, waiting for someone to walk in. It felt ridiculous but it was mildly amusing seeing the shock on people's faces or the way some of them spun around and left in a rush. We did that today too. 

I sat on the counter while Aaron made his coffee and then stood in front of me. 

Surprisingly, we're both getting used to playing pretend and it does feel ridiculous but it doesn't feel strange, it doesn't feel like something we can't do anymore. It seems possible, we can see this through to an end. This... project. 

"You've been working like a maniac this week, Vanessa. We have to fly out later tonight, can we just leave?" 

"I said five minutes." 

"You said that two minutes ago, now you have three." 

"Stop distracting me." 

"Then don't get distracted." 

"Shh!" 

He pushed his chair in and walked around the tables and stopped behind my chair. "What the hell are you doing, huh?" He leaned forward, one hand on my chair and the other coming over mine on the mouse. He glanced at the screen and then sighed. "You've been going over the book review scripts, are you serious? This is not your job, it's Jade's." 

"But she left early." 

"Because you volunteered to do it for her, God knows why." 

"She's my friend, I helped her out." I frowned, turning to him. 

He looked down at me and I blinked, realizing how close we were. "You don't help people out by digging your own grave." He looked away from me and back at the screen. 

I looked at the computer as he saved everything I'd done so far and then moved the mouse, my hand still under his, and closed all the tabs, logging out. I turned to look at him while he shut my computer off. If I leaned in just a little too close, I would kiss his cheek. 

I should not be thinking about kissing Aaron's cheek. Vanessa, snap out of it. 

I should have looked away but I couldn't bring myself to. I stared at him, my eyes going over every inch of his face, taking in every feature. With everything that we've been doing, I get closer to him every day, not just physically but especially physically.