8. Kyle

8

KYLE

I reached out and stroked the smooth skin of Clarissa's back. "Where do you think you're going?" I asked.

She sat on the edge of my bed. She twisted and gave me a smile. "I should get dressed. My roommate expects me home at some point during the weekend."

"Will I see you before Monday morning?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Probably not."

I continued to let my fingers play over the expanse of pale skin. "That's not fair," I complained.

"We see each other plenty during the week."

"That's not the same," I pointed out. During the week, we acted as if there was nothing more between us than some flirty banter. As far as I knew, no one at the office was aware of our weekend activities over the past few weeks.

She started to stand up but sat down suddenly and clasped her hands over her face.

"Are you okay?"

She didn't move for a moment and then slowly started to shake her head, but then she stopped moving. She placed one hand out on the mattress to brace herself, and I reached out to her hand, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

"Sorry, I just felt a little wonky there for a second," she said.

I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her gently back into bed. She didn't resist. "Sounds to me like the universe is telling you that you need to stay in bed." I chuckled.

I smiled as she lay back. I noticed she looked a little green around the edges. "You really don't feel well, do you?"

She whimpered and shook her head slowly. "I think maybe staying in bed and going back to sleep might not be a bad idea." She curled on her side and closed her eyes.

"Do you need me to get you anything?"

She just kept her eyes closed and said no with a low moan.

Concern coursed through my veins like a shot of caffeine. I was suddenly wide awake. Clarissa's face looked pinched and unhappy as she tried to lie still and rest. I tucked the blanket around her and watched over her until I was certain she was asleep. I didn't have any plans other than to be with her and had nothing else to do, so I sat back and turned on the TV to watch a game. I continued to gently stroke her shoulder.

It was several hours before Clarissa woke up. By then, I had gotten dressed and relocated my game watching to the living room. She was dressed and ready to leave when she found me.

"Are you feeling better?" I jumped to my feet and followed her to the front door.

"I still feel a little bit wobbly. There must have been something bad in what I ate last night."

"Are you sure you don't wanna stay here for the rest of the weekend?" I asked.

"I would love nothing more than to spend the rest of the weekend with you. But I haven't seen my roommate in ages, and I promised her we would go to the movies this weekend. It's already Sunday, so I'm running out of time if I'm going to go to a movie with her today."

"As long as you're sure you're feeling okay," I said.

She nodded and gave me a quick kiss and left.

It was the first time in weeks that I had alone time on the weekend. Ever since we got together, we had spent every weekend together. Now, I hardly knew what to do with myself. After another few hours of watching mindless television, I suddenly had a brilliant idea for my client in Hong Kong. I knew not to ignore the Muse when she struck.

I picked up my tablet and began sketching. It was well into the wee hours of the next morning before I realized I hadn't moved. I got up and stretched my stiff muscles and realized that some of my project notes were back at the office.

I decided to change clothes and get dressed for the business day and head into the office. It's not like I hadn't gotten to work early before or pulled all-nighters, so it shouldn't surprise anybody that I came in early to work. Once in the office and with my notes in hand, I returned to sketching.

I lost all track of time until Alayna walked in that morning.

"You got here early," she said, catching my attention.

I looked up to see her standing in my office door. She still had her commute bag slung over her shoulders, and she hadn't yet changed out of her walking shoes.

"Yeah, inspiration struck so I thought I would take advantage of it."

"Strike while the iron is hot," she said. "Are you gonna want some coffee?" she asked.

"That would be a very good idea." I yawned and rubbed my hand over my face. I wasn't a young man anymore, and working around the clock was catching up to me.

"What time did you get in?"

"I can't remember." I yawned again. "But it was dark out, so late."

"Or very early," Alayna pointed out.

She returned a while later with a hot cup of coffee. She set it down on my desk. All of my attention was still on my frantic sketching. She was well aware that sometimes, I got hyper focused on a project until I found the solution.

"Should I handle the kids today?" she asked.

We called the interns ‘kids' when it was just the two of us discussing plans. It was probably a little condescending, and it was definitely not politically correct. But they were kids, at least from my age perspective. And I knew Alayna was about the same age as I was. I never asked. It wasn't any of my business, legally. But the interns were young, and they were in the infancy of their architectural careers. It also helped me keep the proper frame of mind when I had to interact with Clarissa whenever she was in the office with me.

"That might not be a bad idea. I'm really on a roll with this. I think the group in Hong Kong is going to be really pleased with the results," I said.

"Are you still thinking about transferring the office there?" Alayna asked.

It had come up before. The client really wanted me on site for the duration of their project, and they were paying me more than enough that being available to them wasn't a bad idea. But I had agreed to and taken on the internship program for the summer, and I had thoughts of settling down with an established office in Chicago.

After Alayna left my office, I sat and contemplated my situation for a few minutes about being in Chicago and about finishing the project in Hong Kong. I loved having an established presence in Chicago. After all, it was the city in the heart of American architecture. But I had that burning drive to see this project completed.

My focus on this project took over my life for a day or two. I went home long enough to shower and change clothes. For the most part, I did a deep intellectual dive into the design and by the end of the week, I was ready to hand over illustrations to my drafting team to see what they could come up with.

"Okay, everybody," I said as I walked into the conference room we used for the interns' office. "I have a new project for you to begin immediately. I really need you to use the drawing and drafting skills you've been showing me that you have."

"What's up?" Steve asked.

He looked eager and excited. When I looked over at Clarissa, she gave me a soft smile but didn't say anything. The corners of her mouth were slightly pinched. I couldn't tell whether she was still not feeling well or she was slightly mad at me for not having said anything to her since she left my apartment on Sunday.

"I've been working on the sketches, and I need them to be turned into presentable drawings. This is not a theoretical exercise. These are for my actual clients, and I just want to see if you can interpret my sketches on something that is going to a client. You've demonstrated skill on the practice runs, let's see how you do when real time and money is involved."

Steve clapped his hands. He was like a kid who just learned they were going to an amusement park. Clarissa looked nervous and nodded repeatedly.

"This is a real client?" she asked nervously.

"Yes, this is a real client Now, whether or not I show them your drawings or I end up sending this over to my draft group will be determined by what you show me by the end of day, tomorrow."

"But this is a real project?" she asked again.

"Yes, this is a real project," I said. "And yes, you can list it on your résumé as part of the work completed during your internship. Alayna has the details and will make sure my sketches are emailed to you. If you have any questions, direct them to her."

"What if we need clarification on something?" Steve asked.

I shook my head. "Ask Alayna. Part of what I want to see from you is how well you translate sketches into a final rendering."

I left Steve chatting excitedly over the project with Alayna. Clarissa seemed quiet. Maybe she was thinking over the task at hand. When I returned to my office, I opened my email and read a new message from the client in Hong Kong. I quickly typed up my response. I didn't have to think about it. I knew what I was going to do.

Planning to arrive in Hong Kong at the end of the month. Looking forward to working with you in person .