Swapped Feelings | ✓

■ Cold attitude

Jared

Next day, I woke up and freshened up quickly. I had a business party tonight. I had to ask Allison about the color code and timings. I also had to return back early tonight to prepare for the presentation I was supposed to explain tomorrow for one of my clients.

Allison. Damn, the name was refusing to leave my mind. Good god, don't rewind back to last night.

Her face. All sad and hurt. That thing was still refusing to leave my mind since last night.

I wanted to say sorry, I didn't know why, the more I spent time with her, the more I wanted to say sorry and that I had a lot to say. I had come up with plans, but those plans were nowhere implemented. I had thought I would make her suffer, but now all I wanted to do was sit with her and explain about last night. I didn't owe her anything. But I wanted to.

I was really upset. I couldn't concentrate as I had breakfast and dressed up for office.

Last night, I had almost called her, but figured it would be best if I spoke to her face to face. I wanted to get this out of my system once and for all.

There was a limit to how much a person could occupy your mind without doing anything, and Allison Marshall was crossing every boundary of it. I had to make her stop and tame my hormones under control.

~¤~

I walked in to find Allison at her desk, working on her laptop with full concentration. Her hair was tied into a tight bun and her eyes scrunched as she typed fast. Her eye power must have increased as she narrowed her eyes to read and then continue tapping on the keyboard. But nevertheless, that was weird. I had never seen her come so early.

"Allison?"

Her head shot up, "You?"

"What are you doing here? You are early. Its still 8:00," I said, checking the time, embarrassed to look at her directly.

"I had some extra work to do so I came fast," She replied in a full business manner tone and haughtily went back to typing.

She was really pissed off. Great. Just what I needed. I had no doubt she was spitting in my coffee today.

"Um, okay. So, I will leave," I announced.

She nodded and gave a small shrug, typing away furiously and pausing to take a sip of her beverage in between.

Give the keyboard a break. You will damage it, girl. I wanted to stay here a bit longer. I needed a topic to start a conversation. Think, Jared.

"What's the color code for tonight?" I asked really politely.

"Black for men and purple or red for ladies," She said listlessly without looking up.

Fuck it. I needed the arguing Allison. Not the 'I-don't-care-at-all' Allison.

If there was one thing that pissed me off, it was that people ignoring or being indifferent to me. I hated being ignored. People could curse me, praise me or admire me but indifference was something I really didn't like besides the Kardashians.

Yet, I couldn't say anything useful right now. I had no extra work for her and she had already done her part. She wasn't even supposed to serve me coffee until two hours later.

"Thanks. Have a good day," Saying, I left feeling like a complete idiot.

She didn't even realize I had made an effort to speak politely. I wasn't asking for a certificate but we had both grown comfortable in this semi hostile, bantering zone and being civil felt quite odd.