Why not? - English

11-09 Wrong turn Dilys

I was surprised when Sam had ducked his head at my stern look, which was actually only meant as a joke, and he meekly apologized for his interruption too.

Was he really that sorry? And why? He had to know that I could never really be mad at him for something like that, right?

Hadn't we joked that morning at his house that I wanted to prank him again?

At this moment at the mountain activity center I found my chance for revenge, but at first he didn't look enthusiastic. But after the children had treated him and strapped him to the stretcher with him wrapped in a blanket, he seemed to be in a much better mood again. Or did it just seem that way? Did I overdo it today?

"Penny? Are you okay?" I startled when Ellie spoke to me and put her hand on my shoulder. But I immediately breathed a sigh of relief when I realized my mistake. How could I have gotten so lost in my thoughts?

"It's fine. I was just thinking," I replied, taking a sip of the tea that Sam had forced me to drink while he and Elvis were putting the equipment away. He hadn't given me any other chance to do anything else. Another reason why I thought he was mad at me.

“You must have had pretty dark thoughts, the way you looked?” she said thoughtfully and sat down next to me, also with tea in her hand.

"So-so. I think I annoyed Sam a lot today in front of the others," I admitted what was bothering me. Sometimes it just felt good to talk to someone who wasn't there as it happened. Such people always saw the situation a little more objectively.

"When you made him and Moose play dummies?" I just nodded. Why should I ask, how did she know that again? Someone was always spilling the beans and in this case I guessed it was Elvis, because he found it all very funny, just like the children."Don't worry about it. The twins stayed here and looked over his shoulder while he cleaned up. I overheard them telling him that he shouldn't worry about it because Bronwyn seems to keep telling Charlie to do chores because he was being cheeky again and again. Sam laughed at that, so he can't be too offended."

"But Bronwyn and Charlie are married. Sam and I are just colleagues and he's my boss. That was a pretty stupid comparison, wasn't it?" I replied skeptically to Ellie, who, to my surprise, shrugged her shoulders.

"You've been acting a lot like a couple lately, haven't you?" I spotted a cheeky grin on her face as I looked up at her in shock and it didn't help that she tried to hide it behind her cup of coffee.

"What does that mean?"

"Well, you guys are always fooling around. Sometimes you even get the impression that you're flirting with each other a little."

"What? Really?" I stated, a little shocked.

"Your plan seems to be working, that Sam will loosen up a bit. That's what you wanted, right?" she stated calmly and just shrugged her shoulders while I nodded hesitantly. "You don't have anything together, do you?" she then asked and my heart sank.

"Ellie! Of course not!" I protested immediately.

"Would you like it to be different?" she replied again with a cheeky grin and I felt like I was turning ashen. Don't let on, Penny!

"What's wrong with you? I wanted Sam to lighten up a little, not you!" I mumbled back to her as I hid behind my cup and took a sip to cover my embarrassment. Ellie slowly started to warm up and showed her true colors at work. She gained more self-confidence in her work almost every day and found security in the team. Just like Arnold, but he was just naturally quiet and reserved. Ellie, on the other hand, was a lively person who also liked to have a bit of a joke. She was still young - even though we were only 6 years apart, I often felt much older in her presence because she made no secret of how much she looked up to me and thanks to her funny nature, of course, which she mostly just followed closing time showed.