Chapter 3

Kelcey

Anna arched her eyebrows high, and that was the biggest compliment that existed.

“Uh… really, now?” she said, her voice coached. “Just like that?”

I nodded, sitting up taller in the chair across the desk from her, hands folded in my lap, just about bubbling with excitement. “Mm-hm. Picked up what the previous video contractor we’d worked with was, looked up their team and followed one of their leads to his own independent small firm, and we had a great conversation to start things off. My contact with them told me we could get a good deal on the project because they’d really just want to win our future patronage… the firm is still pretty young, so we’re getting the same skills at a much better price, because they’re trying to develop their name in the market. Talked over the goals for the videos with my contact there, and we’ve started sampling the script already to help me pitch it to you.”

Anna looked over at where Lucy had turned away from her computer, raising her eyebrows at me now too. “I’m… impressed,” Anna said. “This contact of yours really is going the extra mile.”

I stifled a nervous little giggle. “He’s really nice. We’ve been getting along really well. His name’s Nic, outreach manager for ECR Animation.”

“Nic, huh.” Anna exchanged another knowing look with Lucy, and I flushed under the attention.

“What? Do you know Nic?”

“No… don’t think so.” Anna smiled. “But I’m glad you do. It sounds like he’s quite reliable.”

“Seems like you’ve found your stride, huh, Kelce?” Lucy said, kicking back in her chair. “We’re both looking forward to what you and Nic come up with. You can send us what you’re doing with the script and some clips from their portfolio and we’ll have a look.”

I scrunched up my face. “Don’t you two go staying all night! You have a cute double date to attend to. And anything else you might attend to.”

Anna pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes with a sigh. Lucy smiled wider, enjoying Anna’s reaction as much as I did. Lucy always was the more open of them. I wondered if it was weird to tease my bosses about their sex life. Probably not.

“We’ll make sure we have a good time,” Lucy said. “Now… I’m sure you’d like to get home for the day. Unless you want to stay talking to Nic all night.”

“Ah. Um. No, not really.” I looked at the window, out at the city lights below our office, dressed up for Christmas. “No. I wouldn’t really… not really.”

They exchanged a look again, and Anna cleared her throat. “Well, do what you like. We’re both impressed with your work today. Keep it up.”

I nodded quickly. “I will. Thanks, Boss Wives.”

“ Anna, ” Anna said. “It’s two syllables. Four letters. You can manage it.”

“Okay, Boss Anna.”

Still, even once I got back to my apartment—a cute cozy little place dressed up in elegant neutrals, dusty mauve and beige tones, up on the north side in a high-rise with a gorgeous view of the city, complete with a bedroom just a little over-the-top, the way I liked it, with the wood floor transitioning into plush white carpeted steps up to a raised platform with a white-laced canopy bed next to a full-wall window—normally I was content to cozy up in that bed and relax for a bit before I set about getting dinner, but this time all I could think about as I lay in bed was Nic. And if he was doing well. And if he was thinking about me.

We’d spent basically an entire workday talking, and not even just about the job. It felt like we’d known each other forever and only just got to talking again—he just got me, and it was so easy and fun to talk to him. It wasn’t super professional of me, and I shouldn’t have been talking about my personal life on my work Slack account—Anna had pulled me up on it before, just like our previous boss Sean had—but I guess I had a bad habit.

He'd knocked out a sample script in no time when I told him what we were working with for the video goals—he’d apparently worked with freelance writing before. He had a big repertoire of random things he’d done before, and I overstepped boundaries and asked him about tons of them, and he let me overstep boundaries and gushed about them.

I wondered what he looked like. I bet he had brown eyes… I had a thing for brown eyes.

But—I wasn’t going to have a crush on our freelancer! I couldn’t imagine what Boss Anna would say. She’d never treat me like an adult again—she’d put me on this for me to prove I was a professional and could handle professional business, and I wasn’t going to immediately step in it by finding a promising freelancer to work with and then hitting on him.

So I took out my phone specifically so I could make a note to myself saying to grow up and be an adult around this, and I accidentally opened the contact with Nic and sent him another message again instead. Whoops.

thanks again for your help! my bosses are probably looking over it together rn even though they’re supposed to be going for a date

He replied immediately. Had he also been looking at our contact? God, I couldn’t imagine. As in—I wasn’t allowed to imagine. I needed to stop imagining that. Ugh. sounds like you have some interesting bosses

I love themmmm they’re the best, and tripping over myself to type faster, they took over at the end of last year and it was a little weird because they made the leadership into two roles to accommodate both of them bc they’re totally in love and it’s really cute but they’re also like, my best friends ever

even outside of me?

omg nic no way. i would be short one very good script without your undying friendship

I’m sure you’d have come up with something good, he said. you’re a smart woman, Kelce

I giggled, falling back in the bed and kicking idly. yeah? compliment me more please I love it

hmm, he sent. going to get in trouble if I keep doing that on my work account

I didn’t miss a beat. ok let’s use our private accounts then and you can give me all the compliments you want

He didn’t miss a beat either—sent me contact information for another platform, and I switched to add him on my private account, and I swear it felt like my heart was going to explode as I sent a text. If we were moving to private accounts, that meant something, right? That meant he wanted to give me lots of compliments and talk about whatever we wanted. God, I was blushing so hot I was going to start a fire in the bed using the sheets as kindling. I wasn’t supposed to be feeling like this.

heyyyyy okay compliment me now please

He responded right away. anything specific you want me to compliment you on? bc we could be here all day

Even though he’d started off this morning when we first texted by saying this wasn’t going to be a formal conversation and he was a relaxed person, he’d still gotten so much more casual, relaxed, friendly since then. Flirtatious? Probably not. It was kind of cute, honestly, the way he texted. I bit my lip as I replied. on my hardworking demeanor, ofc

hardworking isn’t my specialty… my boss is getting on my case all the time because I always tell him I don’t want to do any work today

oh my god we have so much in common.

sounds like you don’t want a compliment on that, then, actually. want to name something more important to you?

I giggled, rolling over in bed. my cute, stylish fashion?

would if I could, Kelce, but idk what your fashion looks like

I rolled out of bed, and I didn’t even think about what this looked like—I went into the bathroom, flicked on the lights, and took a picture of my outfit today, a cute little pussybow blouse with a ruffled silver blazer and high-waisted chinos with a sleek branded belt. I took a couple of pictures to make sure I could get the lighting and pose and angle right, for no reason whatsoever and definitely not because I wanted him to think I was cute, and I picked the best one and sent it with, it looks like this! okay compliment me now?

He took a long time to respond, but he was online that whole time. I guess just… looking at the picture? God, that gave me chills. Was I really that simple? I mean, I knew I wasn’t the hardest to get, but I didn’t think I was that… easy to get.

Finally, he replied, that’s the best outfit I’ve seen in ages, and, the way the color palette flatters your skin tone, the coordination of textures and different material weights to flatter your form, and the tailoring on the pieces, you look incredibly put-together

Oh… that was a detailed compliment on my clothes. Oh, god. Was he gay? I mean, maybe that would explain why we clicked so well. I never clicked that well with straight people. Maybe he was bisexual too? I just wanted him to have some attraction to women for no reason.

He kept typing after a second. in other words, you look really cute!!

He didn’t type like a straight guy, either, now that I thought about it. Oh, god. I was crushing on our freelancer who I’d only met via text chat since this morning, and he was probably gay. oh my god you’re so good at compliments!!! I sent, trying to cover up my embarrassment. don’t tell me you were a fashion designer in one of your previous lives??

I kind of did a little bit… nothing that got very far

Maybe I’d try a subtle little… subtle… subtlety. I headed out of the bathroom, falling back in the bed, and I texted, the last girl I dated did that too, actually, and then following it up immediately because I felt weird wondering why I was coming out to our freelancer to try getting him to say whether he was gay so I knew if it was okay to pine for him, she actually did lots of different short-lived careers in different fields too just like you have, I think that’s cool, she also had a short stint in fashion

He didn’t type for a while, and I hung on the edge of the bed sick with nerves when I had no reason to be sick with half as much nerves. Maybe… he was totally into me too and he was worried now that I was a lesbian? Maybe I gave him the same crisis I just did. I sent another text that I shouldn’t have.

the last guy I dated before her did not have good fashion. usually just wearing t-shirts.

He replied immediately. Maybe he did feel better. tbh I can’t see you dating someone who cares that little about looking good

Ugh, he did know me so well. And that felt kind of like a compliment? Like he acknowledged how much I was all about fashion and personal upkeep, and he wanted to celebrate it. I bit my lip as I replied. yeah I liked the girl I dated better, I sent, and then I realized that sounded wrong, so I sent, I still like boys too that’s not me saying I’m a lesbian, and then I realized I had no good reason to say that, so I flushed, typing, not that there’s anything wrong with being a lesbian, and then I wondered if maybe that implied there was something wrong with him if he was bisexual, so I sent, or being bisexual, and then I worried maybe he was just a stylish straight guy, so I sent, or straight, and then I realized I’d dug myself so deep into this hole that I’d never get out, so I groaned, burying my face in my hands and hiding under the blankets. He replied a minute later.

your type is just stylish people regardless of their gender, isn’t it

I laughed, relaxing all the awkward tension I’d given myself in my whole body for zero reason. kind offfffff yeah but whatever I bet you like stylish people too judging by the sheer commitment to that compliment on my outfit!!

it’s not really first on my list when I go for guys because most guys put no effort in tbh but I love a girl with a cute sense of style

Oh thank god. He liked girls. Stylish ones, too. And he seemed to think I was stylish. And… he was the freelancer for our… why was I so invested in this? This was so embarrassing. Or it should have been. Instead I was just a sucker for this guy.

you are not wrong about guys, I sent with a nervous laugh to myself. every time I’m with a guy I’m like, ugh, you’re cute, why won’t you wear something nice to go with that cute face?? and every time I’m with a girl she’s like some kind of goddess and I feel like I’m out of my league

No—why was I saying that? That just brought my mind back to Veronica Preston, the place it was expressly forbidden from ever going.

She’d been fashionable. Always with the best outfits. And just in general she was the kind of pretty that I’d never thought existed in the real world… I’d been so captivated from the first instant she came up to me asking, a little surprised, if I was Kelcey from Anna’s department.

She’d been wearing silver that night, just like I was now. I couldn’t think about that too much or I’d ruin silver for myself.

Nic replied after a second, and it wasn’t until he did that I realized I’d gone off in a weird direction. including that fashionable girl you were last dating?

I’m not hung up on her or anything if that’s what you’re wondering!

I sent the message and stared at it like it had crawled out of the earth and sent itself. What was I saying? What was I doing? Basically just telling him I was totally down to date someone? I sent another.

not that that’s relevant to anything

Oh, god, that made it sound more suspicious. I felt myself burn, and I huddled up in the blankets, doing the only thing I could to avoid the situation

okay maybe I’m a little hung up on her still.

that’s okay, he sent, and I got a nervous lump in my throat at the message he sent next, I’m a little hung up on the last girl I dated too… so I guess this is also something we have in common

It was kind of relaxing in a weird way, actually. Knowing he was messy in the same way I was. I sat there for a long time just looking at it before I sent, what was she like?

He was typing right away, and he was at it for a while, long enough I found myself drifting out of bed and down to the kitchen to make some quick food. His response came through while I was halfway through setting up a lazy little charcuterie board.

she was the cutest person I’ve ever known, just the sweetest little ball of sunshine with the biggest smile that could make any situation better, and she’d laugh over every little thing until I realized that I was being cynical and actually the world was full of wonderful, happy things, and I didn’t know who I was when I wasn’t around her because she took the person I was and turned that on its head and I haven’t been the same since

I stared for a while, still holding the jar of olives, just reading over it, taking it all in with this distant pang in my chest, as he sent another message.

she also really liked Christmas so this time of year just makes me think of her

He… really was hung up on her. Seemed like he was every bit as done for as I was. He sent another message while I was processing it all.

not that I’m hung up on her

I laughed, quietly, as I finished putting together the rest of the board and sat on the couch by the balcony doors, draped with sheer white curtains where the city lights coming in through the lacy fabric looked like stars, and I replied.

of course not, I replied. just as not hung up on her as I am on the girl I was with!!

we’re like so good at moving on

oh my god totally. I curled up in the corner of the couch, holding a pillow into my chest, looking at the half-moon out the window with a soft, distant feeling.

He was kind of hung up on this girl. Meaning, in the end, I probably didn’t have a chance with him after all. But it actually felt… nice? We were both hung up on girls in our own ways. And maybe I could just harmlessly crush on him a little bit while we both just got to talk about nice things together and get over them together.

I couldn’t help this deep-down pang, somewhere inside me, though, that the large part of this relief was that I wasn’t giving up my feelings for Veronica. That I’d get to talk about her. But I wasn’t having those thoughts! I wasn’t thinking about Veronica. Not ever. Not once.

He sent me the message he wasn’t supposed to. what about yours?

Okay, well, I had an excuse to think about Veronica, so it was okay. It was just because Nic told me to. I curled up more into myself, typing a reply.

she’s the worst person ever.