𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐓𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 (joel miller) ✔️

chapter fifteen: the way she is

The kiss didn't last long as the traffic light quickly turned green again. But Ana still couldn't stop looking at him afterwards.

At first she felt damn good, but pretty quickly she felt guilty.
Fuck, she just kissed her best friends Dad. Ana took her eyes off Joel again and stared wide-eyed at the road.

Neither of them said a word and Ana immediately began to have doubts. Shit, did he mind that she kissed him? But then again, he kissed her back.

As Joel parked the truck in front of the house, he sighed once. "Don't say a word to Sarah, okay?"

"I won't, obviously" she replied annoyed and got out of the car.

Without saying anything else, he also got out and went straight into the house. Wow, he's in a bad mood. She kissed him, and now he's in a bad mood, great.

Annoyed, she entered the house behind him and Sarah greeted them immediately.

"Hey guys, finally you're back, I'm starving" she told them with a grin. Joel hugged her shortly and then went into the kitchen.

"And? How did it go?" Sarah asked Ana.

"Good, I made another 100 bucks and now I'm working for your Dad, I guess" Ana replied.

"I hope he won't bother you. I've only been to a construction site a few times, but every time I've done everything wrong. I guess he won't go easy on you" Sarah said laughing.

"Great, thank you for encouraging me" Ana told her with a grin and crossed her arms.

"Sorry girl" Sarah replied and hugged her.

"Hey uh, because of your old working hours we couldn't spend much time together, you wanna do something tomorrow after your first day?" Sarah asked.

"Yes sure" Ana replied.

"Okay, yeah and uh Louis also asked if you wanna spend time with him again? If you like I can invite the others too" she told her.

Ana nodded and then they heard Joel from the kitchen again,
"Hey Sarah, you made burgers?"

"Yep, So you don't have to cook anymore. I guess you're tired" Sarah told him as she and Ana entered the kitchen.

"Thank you" he told her with a smile.

A few minutes later they sat down at the table and ate dinner. Joel and Sarah kept talking and Ana just sat there in silence. She wasn't in a really good mood anymore and wasn't looking forward to tomorrow at all. There are some things she would rather do than be Joel's secretary, especially after kissing him.

Earlier she had the choice to sit down next to Sarah or Joel, and she immediately chose Sarah without thinking twice, so as not to have to be too close to Joel.

But what she didn't think through was that he was now sitting across from her. Ana did her best not to look at him right now, although she noticed that his eyes flicked to her every now and then.

"Dad, can Kylie and the others come over tomorrow?"

"Uh yeah sure, you know you're 24, right? You don't have to ask anymore" he replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah I know, but it's still your house"

After Ana stared at the plate in front of her for a few more seconds, she started talking again,

"Hey Sarah, it's really delicious, but I don't feel so good. Please don't be mad at me for not eating it" Ana said and got up slowly. She wasn't lying, the burgers were damn tasty. But Ana lost her appetite and she didn't want to sit at a table with Joel.

"Oh okay, don't worry about it. I'll put it in the fridge if you want to eat it later" Sarah replied a bit worried.

When Ana wanted to grab the plate to put it away, Sarah interrupted her, "No, it's okay, I'll do it later. Better rest a bit if you're not feeling well"

"Thank you Sarah" Ana replied and glanced over at Joel, but he just stared at her plate. So she went upstairs to the room after she apologized to Sarah again.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

When Joel sat alone in the kitchen with a coffee the next morning, he wondered if Ana still wanted to work for him at all.

It was half past five in the morning, and she knew that she should get up at 5 with Joel. Because he drove to work 15 minutes before 6am every day.

But Ana wasn't awake yet, at least that's what he assumed, since he hadn't seen or heard her. Joel took a sip of his coffee and rubbed over his face. He was sure that it was his fault that Ana didn't feel well yesterday.

But since she had agreed to work for him, he decided to wake her up. He went up to her room and knocked softly on her door. But there was no reaction.

"Anabella?" he asked softly and knocked again.

Still no reaction.

Since he didn't want to speak louder so as not to wake up his daughter, he decided to open the door. The room was still completely dark and Ana was asleep, wrapped in her blanket.

"Anabella you need to wake up" he said softly and closed the door behind him.

But she just mumbled something in her sleep and rolled over.

"Come on, I thought you wanted to work for me" he said a little bit louder, as he walked closer to the bed.

Since she still didn't react, he crouched down in front of her bed and gently touched her shoulder. And she seemed to notice that as she turned in his direction.

"Hm?", she murmured, eyes still closed.

"You need to get up, it's already late"

"What?" she asked confused and opened her eyes a bit.

"You still want to work for me? Then you have to get up now" he said softly and then Ana noticed that his hand was still on her shoulder.

"Yeah shit sorry, When I went into my room yesterday I fell asleep straight away, forgot to turn on an alarm" she explained.

"It's okay, You feel better now? And you still want to work for me?"

"Yes. And yes. Unless you don't want that anymore" she replied.

"Don't worry I do, if you're doing a good job" he told her and gently stroked her shoulder.

"I will" she replied in a whisper and sat up a little, so her face was closer to his.

"What are you doing?" he whispered back as she got even more closer.

"I don't know" she murmured and put her hand on his chest.

"Anabella you gotta stop teasing me. Please" he told her.

"Why? Didn't you like the kiss?" she asked back with furrowed brows.

"I liked it, but you can't to it again, okay? I promised Tommy that there will be a second double date. But I can't focus on the date when you're like this"

"When I'm like what?" she asked back immediately. Ana was confused and somehow a bit offended. Why is he having a date again? And then why did he kiss her back yesterday?

"I don't know. And I don't even know if you're like that on purpose or if it's just the way you are"

"I'm not doing anything on purpose. Except maybe that I like to tease you. But I thought you liked that too", Ana replied while she got up.

"I like it, but that's the point" he told her without taking his eyes off her.

"So you want me to act differently, just that you feel more comfortable around your date?" she asked and crossed her arms.

"Yes"

"What the fuck? Then you shouldn't have stopped me when I was packing my suitcase a few days ago" she replied and left the room, leaving Joel alone in her room.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ