Felix

Chapter 9 - Part 1

Ella

Drew and Ella hadn't even finished speculating what Hector and Felix's strange little outburst had been about when Felix walked back in the break room. Conner had laughed, listening to them as the two girls—mostly Drew—had gone at it. She'd been certain Hector had been teasing Felix about Ella. They all watched as he walked toward them, smiling sheepishly.

"Maybe he's coming back to tell us what was so funny," Drew offered as she crunched down on her celery stick.

Their conversation and Drew's speculating had already gotten Ella's heart pounding in that way she had zero control of calming. Watching him approach them only made it that much harder to stay calm.

"Hey," he said, lifting his chin in Drew and Conner's direction. Then his eyes were on Ella, and her insides fluttered as they always did now when he looked at her.

"Care to tell us what the joke was?" Drew smirked.

That flattened his smile a little, but he kept his eyes on Ella even as he shook his head. "You know Hector. He was just being an ass. Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked Ella then glanced at Drew and Conner and back at Ella again. "Alone?"

Ella gulped, trying to keep her cool, but she knew better than to so much as glance at Drew. Without even looking at her, Ella already knew what she was thinking. "Um, sure." She nodded, standing up slowly and looking around. "Where?"

Felix glanced around, too, then back at her. "Outside?" His eyes suddenly darted down to the table at her small Ziploc bag of cherries. "Unless you're not done with your lunch."

She shook her head quickly. "I wasn't having lunch. That was just a snack."

Drew lifted the baggy and held it out to Ella with a huge grin. "Take them with you."

Ella took them and started walking away before Drew could do or say anything Felix might pick up on. As much as her insides were going absolutely nuts, she reasoned this didn't mean anything. He could just want to talk to her about the classes or the breast-cancer-awareness walk.

Why alone?

It was what her head kept screaming despite her attempts to drown it out. She stopped trying to rationalize it. She'd know, soon enough. Instead, she concentrated on staying calm and collected. She even managed to glance at him and smile as they walked out of the employee lunch room.

"Did you decide on whether or not you're taking the full-time position here?" he asked as they reached the escalators.

She exhaled slowly, relieved that it was business after all that he wanted to talk to her about. But it worried her. Was Nellie losing patience with her? Is that why she'd sent Felix to ask her instead of asking herself?

"I'm sorry I've taken so long to get back to you guys." She leaned against the escalator rail and looked up at him. "I just wanted to be absolutely sure before I commit to something so big, because it would mean me quitting my other job. I've also been acting as the stand-in assistant manager there until she gets back from maternity leave, and I hate to leave them hanging. But she'll be back this week. I did tell Nellie I'd have an answer before the end of this week. Did she send you—?"

"No, no," he said quickly. "I was just curious. Nellie hasn't mentioned anything about it. I wasn't even sure if you'd gotten back to her or not."

"Oh," she said a little relieved but also confused. "Well, yeah, more than likely I will be taking it. I'm just waiting for this assistant manager to get back before I make my final decision."