Mimic

Chapter 9

Emily

When Liz and I get out of class, we have to head to work, but before we part ways, I decide that I'll tell her about the message I got from Beau this morning.

"We're going to go watch a movie tonight after dinner."

"Ooh! First date? What are you going to wear?"

"It's not a first date. It's just..." I trail off.

"Going to dinner and a movie with a guy that you obviously like and who obviously likes you," she finishes my sentence for me.

"Really? You think he likes me?"

"Have you seen his face when you walk into a room? Yes, Emily, he likes you," she tells me. "So... what are you going to wear?"

"I have no idea. I was planning on wearing this, I guess," I shrug, pulling at my navy top.

"Cute, but a little more casual than what I'm thinking. You want to make that boy's jaw drop when you walk into the room." Liz checks the clock on the wall. "We'll talk more about this tonight when you get done with work," she decides.

"Okay, I'll see you after my shift."

"See you then!"

I head down to the offices in the elevator to get to work early so that I can get settled before my shift actually starts. As I walk the route to the closet that I've come to not hate so much, my thoughts wander back to my plans for tonight. Beau really likes me? This is a real date? I mean, I'm not objecting to the idea, but it is a little stressful. I mean, I have to dress up now, and what if Liz is wrong? What if he actually doesn't like me and he's just being a friend? What if... My reverie is cut short as I quite literally run into Myles again.

"Sorry Myles!" I apologize as his stack of papers goes flying.

"It's alright!" he tells me as we stoop to pick them up and straighten them out.

"I guess I was just lost in thought." I give a little embarrassed laugh.

"Really? What about?" he asks as we finish stacking the papers, and I hand him the ones I've collected.

"Well, my roommate thinks I'm going on a date tonight, but I didn't think it was." I pause. "Sorry, you probably don't want to hear my inner monologue."

"Despite getting a lot of that as a Telepath, it really doesn't bother me, actually," he replies. "If you want, and if you have time, we could talk about it if you walk with me for a little bit. You could bounce ideas off me and I could maybe give you some insight into the puzzle that's a man's brain," he chuckles.

I smile. "I'd like that. Do you want me to carry some of those papers?"

"Sure," he says, and I take about a third of the towering pile from him.

We drop off the files at the interoffice transportation center, known lovingly to the workers there as "The Dash." When we get back to Myles' desk, he helps me to "stalk" Beau on social media, which is new to me since I just got a phone for school and only students really use it in the first place. Within a few minutes of us searching through his social media profile, we determine that this is most definitely a date. I also decide that I was right in thinking that Myles was being a nice guy, not flirting.

After a good bit of snooping and laughter, I tell Myles goodbye so that I can get to work in time.

I enter the still cluttered storage room and sit down at the desk that I've finally managed to clean off this past week despite people or Mr. Otis throwing papers on it all the time instead of putting it away or stacking them neatly in an inbox. I make some coffee for myself and Mr. Otis, a deal that he and I made my second day as a compensation for letting me use the coffee maker, before I start working on organizing the first row of shelves.