𝕓𝕠𝕤𝕤 - 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝓇𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓁𝑜

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 - 𝓈𝒽𝑒'𝓈 𝓊𝓅𝓈𝑒𝓉

★🗯️🌪️🌙🎬☁️★

𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯.
i'm standing in the lobby of the large work building and step inside the elevator when the bell dings. emerson is already standing in there. she does her cute smile as i step in and i just smile back at her.

"goodmorning," she says in a calm tone that breaks the silence.

"morning." i say back. i'm not in the mood right now. my stomach is sore and addison called about eight times last night, leaving six voicemails of half-assed apologies. i was up all night thinking about how fucking stupid i am for falling into that trap, and being paranoid about if emerson finds out.

after i replied to emerson, her smile faded, and she just looked straight forward at the elevator doors. she's quick to step out of the elevator and speed walk to her desk. i don't chase after her. i don't think she wants me to either.

i sit down at my desk and rummage through my papers to look for a certain file. i can't find it. i call emerson off my work phone. she takes a lot longer than usual to answer.

"hello?" she says quietly into the phone.

"have you seen the wilbur files? i can't find them and i need them for their case." i say.

"um... yeah, i have them. i was taking some notes on their case but i'll bring it to you." she says quietly once again and i hang up.

about one minute later, she knocks on my office door and steps in after hearing my "come in,". she walks up to my desk and barely makes eye contact with me as she turns to leave.

"emerson," i say. she turns to face me. "is this all of them? i thought there was more?" i ask.

"i'm not done with the notes-"

"okay well i need them. we have a meeting in thirty minutes bring them back i don't care if you're not done-"

"matt?" she interrupts. i can see she isn't looking at my eyes, she hasn't since the moment she stepped foot in here.

"what?" i say, annoyed because i was interrupted.

"what... happened to your hand?" she asks as she walks toward my desk to get a closer look at my bruised fist.

"nothing." i exhale and move my hands to my lap. "nothing... did you hear what i said?"

"uh- yeah." she says quietly.

"okay then get me those files-"

"matt, is everything okay?" she says quickly and worriedly as she exhales a shaky breath.

"why wouldn't it be?" i ask.

"you're just... acting different, that's all." she says, looking at my hand one more time before turning again. she pauses and faces me again. "y-you know you can tell me things, right?" she stutters when she says it.

"yeah." i roll my eyes.

"did you get into a... fight with someo-"

"just go get the fucking files, emerson." i deadpan. i don't mean to get annoyed with her but the questions are pissing me off. she's onto me.

"sorry," she exhales and swiftly leaves. she comes back ten seconds later and throws the files onto my desk as she turns around again to leave, not looking at me at all. fuck, i messed up. again.

now there's only fifteen minutes until my meeting, but ever since emerson left my office all mad, i can't stop thinking about it. i get up and walk to her desk. she's not there. her laptop is still on, so she didn't leave the building, but she's not here. i turn around to see emerson leaving the women's restroom, it looks like she's wiping a tear from her eye. she stops dead in her tracks when she sees me in the direction she's walking, and she quickly turns around to walk the other way.

i start walking to get to her. she walks faster and turns a corner. "emerson!" i call out. the front desk lady gives me a dirty look as i pass her. i can't see emerson ahead, so i turn to talk to the front desk lady. 

"where did emerson go?" i ask.

"she's upset, matt. give her some space." she says calmly, her eyebrows still furrowed at me.

"it's because of me... isn't it?" i mumble.

"partially." she shrugs. "she just has a lot going on right now and she needs some time alone so leave her alone. you have a big effect on how she acts, matt. she's really in love with you." she mumbles. 

"what do you mean i have a big effect-"

"the things you say to her affect her more than you think." she says. "she's going through something. just, be calm with her. please." she says, nodding her head at me as she says it. i slowly nod and take my hands off her desk. i slowly walk back to my office.

either she knows where i was last night, or something is actually going on with her. either way, i want to know, and i want to be there for her. i can't be there for her if she won't let me in.

i need to talk to her but i also need to give her space. i'm torn. i love this girl more than anything and it hurts me to see her hurting. it hurts more knowing how rude i was to her just now. i'll give her space for now but i'll call her tonight to see what happened.

★

i go back to my desk and sit through painfully long meetings, presenting about cases and giving people new positions for the cases we have. i decide that i can't wait any longer to talk to emerson. i walk over to her desk but she isn't there again. neither is any of her stuff.

★🗯️🌪️🌙🎬☁️★