Rule No. 1: No Romance (GirlxGirl WlW)

Chapter 15

"Instead of meeting up with that Ovadia guy, meet me up instead... you're guaranteed to have a good time," Louise says, giving me an annoyingly confident smile. While she isn't precisely wrong, I must admit her company is rather entertaining at times, the voiced fact makes me cringe.

"I didn't take you as the jealous type, Louise. But you don't need to worry, I'm not meeting up with him," I say with a hint of sarcasm.

"Is that your way of telling me that whatever it is that we have is exclusive?" She raises her eyebrows.

I mimic her action, taking an embarrassing second too long to fully grasp what she's insinuating. "This is my way of trying to get you out of my back, because if I recall correctly, there's nothing between us."

"Ouch?" she rests a hand on her chest dramatically. "Yet you still reassured me that you wouldn't be meeting him up instead of telling me to mind my own damn business as usual, I think I'm growing on you."

"Well, that's debatable," I sigh, not wanting to deal with this right now. I feel like no matter what I say, Louise will find a way of being sassy about it.

"So, Yua bought a new dart board, want to try it out?" she asks, looking at me with hopeful eyes that she tries to conceal with her overly confident speech.

"I'll pass."

"C'mon, Esthy," she pouts, resting both of her hands on my desk, slightly bending herself forward.

"Miss Bouvet—"

"Alright, I get it, we're at work," she sighs. "I apologize, Ms. Agassi."

"Aren't you only apologizing so I agree to go out with you?" I raise my eyebrows.

"See? I am growing on you, you know me so well," she grins. "But fine, I'll drop it before you start threatening to fire me."

"You're just that predictable... and so am I apparently," I murmur the last sentence, even though I'm pretty sure Louise's gossipy ears, much like Joane's, can hear me just fine. "Is your car fixed now?" I ask, changing the course of conversation as I put my things away, there is no use in going back to work when we're so close to the end of our work schedule.

"Why? Are you up to driving me home?" she asks, the corners of her lips curling up into a mischievous smirk. "If yes, then no, it is not fixed."

"So I assume that it is."

"You shouldn't assume things," she says in a teasing tone but quickly changes her expression to a comically pleading one. "Can you please drive me home?"

"If you let me ask you a question, I will," I say simply, looking into her eyes.

She freezes for a second but the shock goes away as fast as it came. She nods her head. "Sure," her voice is calm and serious even though she has a small smile on her lips, there's not an ounce of her usual teasing and joking tone.

The sudden change in her composure throws me off but I don't let it show. She immediately assumed I'd ask something serious, and indeed I'm not exactly the type of person who wastes time asking meaningless questions but I didn't expect her to pick on it so quickly. But I'm also not the type of person that'd intrude into other people's affairs, yet I've grown terribly curious about Louise's background. Apparently despised by her family, but why? Has a mother that ran away with a woman, she took Louise with her... but not Claire? All these questions have been eating me alive for the past few days.

I can clearly see her quite distinguishable car parked at the far-left end of the parking lot from the corner of my eye, but I pretend not to notice it, as Louise and I walk side by side to my car. She has been oddly silent since we left my office and she remains silent when I start the car and drive it to the main road.