IV

Pic of Elijah Sheridan below.......}

--

Eddie felt like hitting his head against the table. He hasn’t had his morning coffee and hasn’t eaten; he went to bed late last night because he couldn’t fall asleep. The only thing or in this case, person, running through his head was Elijah Sheridan. The man’s blue eyes and smile. Eddie was a bit scared. Why? Because for the first time in years another man, other than Ben, was taking up his thoughts and to top it off, said man was his boss.

“You okay?” without looking up, Eddie knows that it’s Noah. He wanted to look up, but he lacked the strength. He gulped as he remembered what Elijah had said about lunch and he almost fell out of his chair.

“I need coffee, Noah. Like a huge mug of coffee, the mug should be the size of a small canoe.” Eddie said with a sigh.

He heard Noah chuckle and felt a hand on his shoulder before it was gone, he still didn’t look up. However, he does when someone places something on his table, and at the smell of caffeine, he sat up. He stared at the mug of coffee and the small pack of sugar beside it and then looked at Noah who was looking at him in amusement. Eddie ignored the look and instead wrapped his hands around the hot cup of coffee and took a long gulp, cherishing the burn in his throat. Noah waited silently as Eddie drank to his fulfillment, what he hadn’t expected was for the man across him to ask him...

“What do you know about Mr. Sheridan?”

Noah licked his lips and stared at Eddie for a brief second before replying. “He took over the company when he was nineteen, after the death of his mother. He’s known to be not so friendly and takes work seriously, I mean he has to because he’s in charge of a hundred thousand people in just Europe alone, so yeah.”

Eddie nods and blinks. “Do you... is he...gay or?” Eddie winced at his question, it wasn't as subtle as he had hoped for.

“Yup, well, bisexual is what he claims. He’s never had a relationship that lasts longer than a few weeks, and the last one was about a year and a half ago. Why are you asking?” Noah asked, taking in the way Eddie was biting his bottom lip and playing with his thumbs.

“I just wanted to know, is all.”

Noah stared at Eddie for a beat too long and shrugged. “Alrighty then. I’ll be back soon, Samuel says he wants to see me.” Noah said as he stood up. Eddie smiled and nodded at him. “Thank you for the coffee.”

Eddie spent the whole time after that looking at his watch and it was like time couldn’t move any faster. He tapped the butt of his pen against the table for a while before he moved it from the table to his leg, actively getting a few glares from people but he didn’t care. He helped Marie, one of his co-workers, set up a power point presentation, distracting him for a good hour and a half and by the time Eddie looks up it’s twelve thirty. Lunch starts by twelve- thirty till one thirty.

“You coming for lunch?”

Eddie shook his head. “Nah, I’m waiting for someone. You go ahead.”

Noah gave him a tiny wave before he left. Eddie and a handful of people were the only ones left; he bit his nails as he watched the time go from twelve thirty to one and when it was quarter past one, he feels the cold drag of dread spread through his body. When it’s twenty minutes past, his hand dropped from his lips, and he got up and walked to the bathroom, he walked up to the tap, puts it on and splashed his face with water, he then looked up and stared at his reflection in the mirror and sighed. Of course.

The man didn’t want him, all the things he saw were what his mind wanted him to see. No one would like someone like him, someone that’s inexperienced, someone who couldn’t keep a boyfriend entertained enough, and it’s true, Ben had told him personally.

“I can’t do this Eddie. I want to say I love you but I can’t, and it’s not you, it’s me. I just... let’s just end it here alright. You’ll find someone else, I’m sure but I know I’m not that person right now because if I were, I wouldn’t find you boring, and I’d still be loving you, if I was, I wouldn’t be tired of your quietness. So don’t run after me, don’t look for me and please, do not call me.”

He cleaned his face with wipes and disposed them before staring at his reflection again. He licked his lips and took a deep breath and exhaled. He nodded at his reflection and ran his fingers through his hair before walking out. When he got to his seat, Noah was already at his. He stared at Eddie with concern, because for the first time since he’s met the man, Eddie wasn’t smiling.

Eddie sat down and went back to work, ignoring the worried look he was getting from Noah. Before he knew it, it was five, Eddie grabbed his bag and walked out of the office; he didn’t take the elevator because it’d be crowded with people around this time and opted for the stairs. He took them two at a time until he was on the ground floor. He didn’t look anywhere except forward, he grabbed a taxi and tried to relax. The radio was playing Lady Gaga’s Till It Happens To You, and it didn’t help his mood. When he got home, he’s thankful to see it empty. He gloomily removed his clothes and got into a hot shower, resting his head on the tile in front of him, letting the water wash the day away from his body. When he got out, he pulled on a pair of black boxers and a jumper that was twice his size, the neck slipping down one shoulder. He heated up a frozen pizza and took it to the sitting room with a can of mountain dew.

He has decided not to think about Elijah again. He didn’t know the man, and after today he doesn’t think he wants to. The worst part of it was the fact that it wasn’t a date and yet the man had stood him up, so if they had really been on a date, there’s a ninety-seven percent chance that he would have done the same.

Instead of allowing himself to think about him, he settled in and watched How To Get Away With Murder as he ate. That was where he was when Matty came back, dressed in a white shirt tucked into an ink blue pencil skirt.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Eddie said as he pats the space beside him. Matty sat down and placed his head on Eddie’s shoulder. He kissed his neck and settled back, resting against his best friend.

“When you’re ready you’ll tell me, yeah?”

“Always.”

“Have you eaten, though?” Matty asked, and Eddie merely pointed at the empty plate on the floor and empty can on the table in front of them. Matty pouted and hit him on the chest. “I didn’t see that. I was distracted by your face.”

“Go shower. You smell like cheese.”

Matty laughed as he stood up, shaking his head as he walked away. “As if that’s a bad thing.”

___

The next day, Eddie went to work with a small smile on his face. He stopped at the receptionist desk to say hi to Alison (he finally learnt her name a week after they met). She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled at him when she sees him.

“Glad to see you. You ran away yesterday like the devil was chasing you and I was a bit worried.” She said as she stared at him with wide eyes. “Is anyone giving you a hard time here?”

“Not at all. I just had to get home quickly.” It wasn’t necessarily a lie, but it still wasn’t the truth.

“Alright.” She replied but the glint in her eyes told him she didn’t believe a word he just said. “I’ll see you later, yeah?” she asked when her phone starts to ring, putting an end to their discussion.

He nodded and waved at her before walking away. He got on the elevator and smiled when he saw he was the only one in it, he hit the button for his floor and hummed as he waited. The doors pulled apart with a ping, and he walked through. On his way to his desk, he noticed a few people were looking at him, and he wondered why.

When he got to his desk, he found out why.

Sitting on his table was a large bouquet of mixed colored roses, but there was more red than any other color. He stared at it then at Noah who was already looking at him.

“Morning,”

Eddie smiled at him. “Um... hi? Is this really mine?” Eddie asked as he dropped his bag, he let his fingers lightly touch the petals and smiled more when he leant down to smell the flowers. They smelt were divine.

"Yup."

“Do you know who sent it?” Eddie asked as he stared at the beauty in front of him.

Noah shook his head. “It was here when I got here. Marie said it was here before her, too and you know she comes to work half an hour early.”

When he heard this Eddie began to look for a note, he twists and turns and raised the basket so that he could look underneath it but there was no note. He removed one and handed it to Noah, who took it like he was carrying a china cup. He can’t think of who could and want to send him flowers, so instead of thinking too hard about it, he smiled.

Nothing could shake off his smile for the day, and the flowers stayed in the basket on the desk, his eyes occasionally drifted to the flowers but who can be blamed? The second time he looked at the flowers instead of working, he saw it. It was a red note tucked in-between flowers, he gingerly pulled it out and opened it.

I can’t find the right words to explain how beautiful you are, so I decided to show you with these flowers, xx.

---

QOTD: Who do you think sent the flowers??