Going to the time clock, I fought with it for a few minutes, finally taking myself off of PTO and the machine threatening me with the knowledge that it informed my manager.
I didn’t even know who my manager was, they wouldn’t care. By the time my dazed fight was over, Charles was behind me, waiting. He didn’t comment on my bandages, clocking in and ghosting his way to his seat.
The black bin had papers in it that I presumed were from yesterday, so I went over and picked them up. At this time there wouldn’t be many people using the elevators, so I stepped into one.
It was silent as I went up to the 91st floor. The silence made my head spin, and I found myself stumbling to the side, having lost my balance.
The cool interior of the elevator became slightly warmer as it opened to the 91st floor, and I walked forward. I had to pause at Shawn’s vacant desk, staring at the dark floor, the lights not on as everything spun.
When it finished, I reached out, opening the door. I wandered to the desk. Davis didn’t look up from the monitor, sipping his coffee. I observed the broken corner for a moment before turning, losing my balance for a moment at the quick movement before shifting to walk away.
I heard a loud clack before a hand wrapped around my arm. I turned to look at the man, but the world spun. Reaching out to catch my balance, I missed everything and my hand violently smacked into his desk as I tried to save myself.
Arms wrapped around me, and I found that my fall was lightened greatly, though Davis couldn’t do anything to prevent the fall. My nails hurt, and I looked at my hand to find splinters of wood in them.
“You should be in the hospital,” Davis said coldly as he knelt, his eyes flickering across my form. I wondered if he liked my red tie, as his gaze stopped there for a very long moment.
I should tell Shawn that Davis liked ties.
“Nah, I’m fine,” I disagreed amicably, staring at the man kneeling between my legs.
I would like this in any other situation, I mused.
The pain stabbing at my eyes as my head thudded and pounded made it impossible to enjoy, however.
My words flowed smoothly, “If you’ll move so I can get up?”
Davis gave me a look I didn’t quite understand as he stood up, and I used his desk to help me stand up, staring at the new pale scratches marring its surface.
“Huh, they look related,” I murmured, thumb pulling the splinters out from under my nails.
His hand traced the lines, voice quiet, sounding odd. Was he angry? “If you’d stayed in the hospital, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Oh, correction, if you didn’t suddenly grab me, this wouldn’t have happened. I was doing just fine,” I corrected, my tone suave.
The light blue of dawn coated the man, his giant shadow seeming like it absorbed all light. His gaze was focused on the marks I’d left, his elliptical glasses and his smooth features hiding any notable details I could use to tell what he was feeling.
“Have a good one,” I said after a quiet moment, shifting to walk around the man. I texted Shawn.
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The rest of what Shawn sent was illegible, just exclamation points and keyboard bashing. I glanced up, realizing I’d been standing in front of the elevator for a long while.
I grinned at the sobbing emojis that filled my screen, hitting the button for the lawyers’ floor on the elevator. Sure enough, at the appropriate time, I saw Shawn behind his desk, and after delivering the papers I planned to sit and chill with him for a while.
Before I could, though, a hand wrapped around my arm again, and my walk came to an end. I stared at the doors for a moment before taking half a step back, glancing behind me after steeling myself.
The dizzy spell that came from suddenly turning didn’t make me lose my balance, this time. I looked into light gray eyes as they looked back at me intently. When I met his gaze, his hand tightened.
“I think you should go back to the hospital, or at the very least go home and rest.”
“The weekend is literally tomorrow,” I deadpanned, pulling my arm from his grasp, “Stop whining. You’d think you were the one injured, Christ.”
The door was closed almost the moment I opened it, and I looked up, irate, at the hand keeping it closed. Then I turned and glared at the man.
“I think I am being reasonable, you almost died. As that is a traumatic experience, I feel that you should take the time to rest. I will put you back on paid time off,” The hand dropped as he spoke, attempting to convince me.
“I’ll rest once it’s the weekend,” I said flatly, “A single day of work isn’t going to kill me, and I’m fine, the only one seeming traumatized here is you. Do you want to take time off? Is that why? Do you want me to stop delivering papers here for the day?”
A hand reached up, Davis seeming frustrated as he dropped it before he ran it through his hair. Or maybe he planned on pulling his hair. Either way, his gaze focused lower, and I found fingers gently brushing against my still-scabbed-over neck wound.
“So you are truly unaffected…”
My arm came up, smacking his hand away. Then I reached out, shoving him back enough that I could step to let the door open. I walked out, annoyed. My annoyance only faded when the door closed, and I wandered up to my best friend.
“Hey, Shawn, how’ve you been?” I asked, grinning at the man downing another cup of coffee, having his own coffee machine at his desk.
Shawn gave me a disgruntled look, “You’re a monster. An unfeeling monster.”
My grin widened, “You didn’t have to come in. According to Davis it was very traumatic.”
“Of course I had to come in!” Shawn disagreed vehemently, standing up and slamming his hands down, glaring a few inches down at me, “I couldn’t just not come in when the girl who hit her head did! What would Davis say about me?”
“He’d think you’re a very reasonable person,” I said, grinning as I leaned against the counter, “Girl who hit her head? Come on, I think I deserve to be called a friend at this point.”
Shawn looked almost surprised, then he made a face, “Do you? You just had a serious head injury and almost died and you’re acting like nothing happened!”
“Oh come on, Shawn. I freerun for fun! I always almost die. Come talk to me when I actually do it. Or my ashes, I guess.”
Shawn huffed, slumping back down, “You’re planning on being incinerated?”
“I have no one to bury me,” I replied, turning and waving over my shoulder, “Well, I’m getting back to work. Have a good one!”
“I won’t,” Shawn groused.
In spite of his words, he relaxed after a few hours, and we hung out, our conversations meaningless and short but fun to have, as always.
While Shawn relaxed, Davis only seemed to grow more and more restless.
It all came to a head at the end of the day, after Shawn left but before all the lawyers did. Davis stood up abruptly as I set the papers down, and I looked up.