𝕓𝕠𝕤𝕤 - 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝓇𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓁𝑜

𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. - 𝒾'𝓂 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒿𝑒𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓊𝓈

★🗯️🌪️🌙🎬☁️★

"hey honey"

"matt, you cannot do that... not here at least." i explain as i walk into his office.

"why not? i'm the boss here, who cares what everyone else thinks?" matt shrugs like it's no big deal that he's been flirting with me nonstop for the past week.

"i care... people in the office are-"

"emmy, i don't care what people in the office think about us-" he explains.

us? US? like WE? 

"but matt i care because then their rumors will be right and-"

"and that's okay," he says softly as he pulls me into a hug. i hug him back and as we pull away he keeps his hands on my shoulders. "we should get to work," he states.

"i agree," i say as i walk away from his touch and move towards the door. 

"emmy?" he says as my hand touches the door handle.

"yeah?" i say softly as i turn around to look at him. 

"wanna... go on a date... tonight?" he asks. i tried to hide the huge smile that spread across my face but gave up on hiding it when i felt my face heat up and blush.

"yes i would love to matt." i say, trying to contain my excitement. a proper dinner... a date. just us two, and no angela or ryder.

★

as i pull up to the restaurant, i step out of my car and tug down my short dress. i hate this dress, but matt texted and told me to look nice. he didn't send me the location until it was time for me to leave, i didn't expect him to take me to a restaurant this nice.

"hey emmy," he greets me right by where the hostess is standing. "our table is ready," he says with the most charming smile ever. he's so cute.

"thank you," i say as he pulls out my chair for me. he nods with that same cute smile and sits down in his chair across from me before picking up the menu and opening it.

"do you like calamari?" he looks up at me to ask. 

"uhh, not really... do you like salad?" i ask as i point to the fancy caesar salad on the appetizer section of the menu.

"sure, we can do whatever you want honey," he smirks. god i could just faint when he says that. we aren't even dating, but i like to push that thought away in moments like this. he smiles even wider when he sees my blush, and then looks back down at the menu.

★

the dinner was going so well and i had learned so many things about matt, like his fear of ketchup. i think it's hilarious that he can't even stand looking at it or holding a french fry with some on it.

... going so well until someone who neither of us needed to see had walked into the restaurant. the hostess walked them over to a table near ours, and i could tell by the way matt made eye contact and cleared his throat at the sight of the person behind me that it was trouble.

ryder brushed past my chair and bryan followed behind. some tall woman with black hair followed behind bryan, and i could see her holding onto his hand. they all sat down, ryder facing me of course, and i tried to ignore the sudden tension that matt had burning inside him.

the rage in his eyes made me uncomfortable and i didn't know what we should do. of course, people from work had to crash our date, now i can kiss a promotion goodbye. if i got promoted after two people from work witnessed this, they would definitely complain to matt's boss about it. thankfully, i haven't even met matt's boss yet, and i'm pretty sure he doesn't care to meet me either.

ryder kept giving me looks with narrowed eyes throughout the remainder of our dinner, and matt saw me give ryder a concerned look. ryder was basically threatening me as he death glared between matt and i.

matt backed up his chair and took the napkin off his lap to throw onto the table before he stood up. he walked swiftly towards ryder's table, which wasn't far away. i ignored how fast my heart was beating as i tried my best to listen to what he would say over the sound of glasses clinking and conversations amongst other tables.

"is there an issue, ryder?" matt asks, the anger present in his voice.

"are you on a date with emerson, matt?" he tilts his head. he's so suspicious of this, and i know he has plans.

"what if i was, what would you do?" he scoffs.

"you'll find out," he snickers.

"ryder you can't get us in trouble for this, it has nothing to do with work." matt rolls his eyes.

"there will be an issue."

"god, you're acting like you're the villain in a disney movie. you can't do shit, and you won't. i'm on a date, would you care if it was anyone else?" he asks.

"no because they wouldn't-"

"work for me? that isn't preventing anything ryder, you only care because you're jealous. you're also a troublemaker." matt scoffs.

"i'm not jealo-"

"you are. prove you aren't by keeping your mouth shut, you too bryan." matt points at him. 

"i'm not saying anything," bryan puts his hands up in defense and it's clear that he doesn't want to be included with ryder's bullshit.

"good." matt says. "ryder... i swear-"

"fine, i won't," he rolls his eyes.

★

the rest of the dinner was awkward, matt apologized to me for making it seem like he was rushing to leave because he was. i didn't blame him, it was almost just as awkward for me. as we stood up, i noticed ryder giving me one last death glare, but matt grabbed my hips and turned me around to face the other way and walked close behind me as we left the restaurant. he apologized again as we walked outside, and promised me that he would make sure no one knew about the date. honestly, i'm tired of keeping it a secret, we can't hide it forever.

"...it's all gonna be fine so just don't stress, okay?" matt continues on for what felt like forever.

"matt... i honestly don't care at this point. we can't keep... this, away from everyone at work forever," i say as i point between the both of us. "plus, ryder is a jerk, he'll start the rumors but it's fine. if we act like we don't care he might stop. i think he likes getting a reaction out of you." i explain.

"i think he likes you. i think that's why he's trying so hard to fuck everything up." matt says. "he's been emailing me about you nonstop and starting other problems in the office in other department buildings, it's so stressful to deal with someone this immature-"

"wait what?" i ask, interrupting matt's rant. "he emails you?"

"yeah, it never has anything to do with work, it's always about how he's going to get you fired or me fired for having you pick me up that one time." he rolls his eyes.

"how would he know about that?" i ask, furrowing my eyebrows.

"uh..." matt pauses.

"matt... how would he know about me picking you up?" i ask again as if he didn't hear the first time.

"he's... the one that told me to call you," he says quietly.

"why..." i mumble.

"he wanted to see you and when he started saying crazy shit about you then i realized... that i care about you and i don't want you with him."

"with him? what do you mean?" i ask. what is he talking about?

★🗯️🌪️🌙🎬☁️★