Arvil squeezed her hand, tugging her out of the room and toward the elevator. “Uh, there is one, but it’s about thirty minutes away,” he cringed. “We can hang around there for a while and then we can go for dinner. I’m all yours for tonight.”
And the rest of the days, too, if you’ll have me.
group
“You don’t have work to finish?” Daisy asked, looking up at him as she was pulled along. They stepped into the elevator, and she leaned against the wall, her gaze traveling over him as she took him in. “I don’t want to be a distraction from something you should be doing.”
Arvil shot her a flirty look. “You’ll be a distraction whether you’re here or not,” he winked, letting go of her arm, albeit reluctantly. “I’ll just stay confined to my office a little while longer to finish everything that piles up. Don’t worry about it.”
group
Daisy rolled her eyes, willing her cheeks not to heat up at his words and he look he gave her. Why did he insist on doing this to her? It was like he tried to fluster her on purpose… Which she was sure he did, but still…
“I have a proposal,” she started, completely changing the topic. She looked up at him as she leaned back against the wall of the elevator. Maybe this was a weird thing to say, but she felt the need to suggest it.
Arvil loved the way her cheeks turned hot. It was his favorite thing to see. Well, one of it. Then she changed the topic, and Arvil let her, leaning against the elevator with one shoulder.
He quirked an eyebrow. “What is it?”
group
“Let’s… Let’s try to be friends. And I’m sorry about the way I acted toward you before we really knew each other. Can we start over?” Daisy asked softly, her blush deepening in embarrassment at her words.
Friendzoned. Arvil couldn’t believe his luck. He was friendzoned. If it hadn’t been for Daisy’s darkening cheeks, he would have started sulking. But she was trying. It must have been embarrassing saying those words. Arvil couldn’t stomp on them.
“Well, I don’t blame you. I didn’t exactly give you a reason to act any differently,” Arvil shrugged. “And… yeah, we can start over, Daisy.”
group
Daisy let out a soft breath, nodding slowly. “Cool… Thank you, Arvil. Now, let’s get to know each other better, yeah? I know we played the game when we first met, but is there anything else? Maybe we could, like, look up questions or something to ask each other…”
“Before we begin, let me tell you something,” Arvil started, looking right into Daisy’s eyes. “Something that can get you to know me better both as a… friend and as my fiancée.”
group
“Yes?” Daisy asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He was suddenly very serious sounding… What was the deal with that? Had she done something wrong?
“My last relationship, a year and a half ago, was with a woman named Delilah,” he started, bitterness lacing his voice. “We only started seeing each other as friends with benefits. Maybe she saw me for what I could offer her. I wasn’t attached to her. She was the second official girlfriend I had amongst my occasional flings. We dated for a year before she cheated on me with my college acquaintance. She used to come by the company often, so my employees liked her. If you hear her name, if anyone so much as mocks you using her name, just remember that she meant absolutely nothing to me. I didn’t care for her.”
group
Daisy watched him carefully when he spoke. So that was the woman who she had seen kissing him the month before… She already disliked the girl. If she had cheated on this man, she must not have seen who he really was. She had no idea what she was missing out on.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said softly, shaking her head. “And I’ll be sure to remember that. Thank you for telling me, Arvil.”
Arvil merely smiled at her. This woman was truly something, huh? No wonder he was falling for her.
“Actually, I’m glad she did it,” he said, still looking at her. “I’m glad she cheated on me and I caught her in the act.”
group
“You are? You did?” Daisy asked, her lips quirking up in amusement as her brows drew together curiously. “I’m almost afraid to ask how that happened.”
“I’m not going to tell you how I caught her, love,” Arvil’s eyes crinkled in amusement. “I’m just saying I’m glad I got rid of her. If we’d still been together, I don’t think I would have gotten to know you. So, in a way, I was rewarded.”
group
Daisy chuckled a little. “I mean, I am a rather amazing person, so I think you were definitely rewarded,” she agreed jokingly, grinning at him.
“I think my confidence is rubbing off on you,” Arvil chuckled in amusement. “Which is good. I like it.”
group
“I’m actually like this all the time. You just never get to see it,” Daisy said with a shrug, her gaze flitting to the changing floor number. “That’s our floor, now.”
“I want to see it more often,” Arvil found himself saying, never once removing his gaze from her. “Different sides of you. I want to experience all of it.”
group
Daisy’s eyes shifted back to him, her face still pointed at the numbers above her as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She blinked and turned to face him, tilting her head curiously as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, you have the whole foreseeable future to do that, so we’ll see how much you can learn and how quickly,” she said with a tiny smile.
“I’ll learn quickly,” Arvil pushed himself off the wall and out of the elevator, looking at Daisy to join him. “If it’s you, I’m sure I’ll learn quick.”
group
Daisy felt her cheek warm up again as she followed him out. What was he doing to her? How could he so easily fluster her?
“I’ll bet that you will,” she mused, shaking her head with a small smile.
“I learn things easily when it’s related to something I’m interested in,” Arvil raised his arms in the air and stretched. “So, give me a fun fact about yourself.”
group
Interested in, huh? He was interested in her?
Of course he was. They were friends, after all… He should be.
“Uh… I had a pet turtle when I was ten. He was a tiny painted turtle named Galileo,” she said. “He died when I was twelve.”
“Oh, that must have been rough,” Arvil winced, turning back to face her. “When we get married, you can have as many pets as you’d like. Just not lizards. I hate those things.”
group
Daisy crinkled her nose and shook her head. “No. No lizards or snakes or spiders or cockroaches. Or rodents. Cats, dogs, and maybe turtles are okay with me.”
“Okay, does anyone keep cockroaches as pets?” Arvil scrunched his nose in disgust. “And good. I dislike those animals, too. And now that we’re on the topic… what’s your favorite animal?”
group
“Arctic fox. No competition… Unless it’s a fennec fox. Those are cute, too,” Daisy answered immediately, smiling at the bought of the cute animal. “You?”
Cute, was what ran through Arvil’s mind as he looked at her smile. You’re way more adorable.
“I like sparrows,” Arvil responded, pretending as if he wasn’t just looking at her like that. “I like them a lot.”
group
Daisy nodded slowly, shifting her gaze away from him when she caught him looking at her. Why did he have to look at her that way? Was he trying to fluster her?
“Sparrows are cool. They’re pretty birds,” she murmured.
