new money, suit and tie chapter 9
She knocks on the door before entering his office. With everything going on, she wonders what this will be about.
“Yes?” She waits for him by the door.
“Come inside, take a seat.” Mr. Jackson gestures towards the couch. His face is troubled and he’s once again running a hand through his hair, messing it up further.
She has the urge to reach out and fix it, but she makes her way to the couch instead. He takes a seat opposite to her and it’s clear he’s struggling to start.
“Is everything okay?” she prompts, mostly to satisfy her curiosity as to what this is about.
“Well…not really,” he starts. “Ava told my dad about you being my girlfriend. He called me and said he wanted to meet you. I managed to back him off that idea but the point stands that this is getting out of control.”
Her eyebrows rise in surprise. A part of her had wondered if Ava would stay true to her threat of telling his father.
“And I know it’s my fault. I am so sorry that you’ve been dragged into this.” He looks genuinely sorry about it too.
“It’s okay,” she responds automatically.
He shakes his head. “It’s not, but I appreciate you being a good sport about it.”
She nods, though she really thinks that this is alright with her. (Now why she thinks that is a different thought she doesn’t have time to delve into.)
“So what do you want to do?” she asks.
He leans in closer. “The way I see it, we have two options. So if you have any other ideas, let me know. But we can’t keep up this lie. So either we say we “broke up” which I can just bring up whenever my dad inevitably asks again.”
He stops, looking to her for her thoughts.
“Or?” she asks. He hasn’t said the second option and she wants to hear all the choices before making a call.
Suddenly, shy, he looks away from her and clears his throat.
“Or we actually start dating so it isn’t a lie anymore,” he says quickly. “But, I think the first option is the more painless one of course. Especially since you didn’t even ask to be a part of all of this so I’m sure you want to be removed from the whole thing as soon as possible so—”
“Is this you asking me out then?” she interrupts his ramble.
“What?”
“Well, you said we could start dating so is this you asking me out?”
“What? No! This isn’t, I—”
“So you don’t want to?” she asks.
“I do!” He says the words a bit too loudly as his cheeks flush red. “Just, I mean, not like this.”
She raises an eyebrow. “I’m not sure what you mean, you’re confusing.”