LXVII

LXVII
I pinched the bridge of my nose with my fore finger and thumb. Of all the things that could go wrong, of all the things that could happen, Danielle had to show up here. I hadn't seen her since the day I ran out on her, since the day I found Lisa.
Lisa's hand in mine remained, warm and small compared to mine. My face breaks into a small smile.
"It is you! I had my doubts and thought I was seeing things, but I wasn't." Danielle had appeared in front of us. Her afro wig swung everywhere.
A small sigh escape my lips, I couldn't avoid her now even if I wanted to.
"What on earth are you doing here?" She questioned. Her tone was light and her expression was a mix of confusion, curiosity and what I was going to assume was excited.
Her eyes ran the full length of my body, widening a bit obviously because they weren't used to seeing me without my official get up.
"My my, you could never look less sexy even if you tried." She compliments as she licked her lower lip in approval.
I felt Lisa shift behind me, while Danielle hadn't noticed her, Lisa was getting uncomfortable standing there while Danielle undressed me with her eyes.
I cleared my throat uncomfortably, hoping to pass a message to Danielle saying she should back off.
"And you ran away from me the last time with all these?" She didn't seem to get the hint because now she was in my personal space, her eyes hooded.
Taking a step backwards, Danielle's eyes widened, she clearly wasn't expecting it, I wouldn't know why since I made sure to leave hints.
Her eyes trailed to Lisa as she stood behind me awkwardly. Danielle's lips formed a literal O. Something dark passes her eyes as she assesses Lisa, it was really brief so I couldn't decipher it.
"Oops.." she said unapologetically, but didn't move back.
"Didn't know you had company. My bad. Won't you introduce us?"
"Yeah, Danielle meet Lisa.. my friend." I say while watching Lisa's face. I didn't know what to label us, but she didn't rebuff the friend title so It couldn't be bad. At the same time, I might have stuffed us in a warped state of friendship. Labels were weird, and they complicated stuff.
"Lisa, meet Danielle.. my uh.." this one was harder. What was I supposed to call Danielle?
"His acquaintance." Danielle offered, rescuing me.
She offered a hand to Lisa, with a vibrant smile. Lisa looked between us before taking it.
"What are you doing here Danielle?" I ask even if I was fairly certain it was for the same reason as Lisa. She was one of the organizers, as a designate from my office.
Her eyes watched my face, probably wondering if she was allowed to say anything in front of Lisa.
"Work stuff. I came to organize them. My flight back is in half an hour though."
I nod in what I hoped was discreet.
"You work at Bavard?" Lisa blurted.
Danielle directed her confused gaze to Lisa.
"Yeah.. you know Bavard?"
"I'm here for the seminar as well. I thought you looked familiar. I work at Bavard."
Danielle raised her brows at me, as if asking if I was crazy. I wanted to know that too.
"Really? I'm sorry I don't recognize you, I'm not so good with faces, but for what it's worth, I'm always upstairs in the C.E.O's office." Danielle was looking smug about it right now. I wished she'd be on her way already.
"Wow, that's impressive. You're like the only one that has ever seen the C.E.O. lucky."
"I'm not sure I'm the only one though." Danielle said laughing.
Lisa was just about to respond before I cut her short.
"Your flight is in half an hour, you should really get going else you miss the flight."
Danielle rolled her eyes at my not so subtle push.
"Alright, It was a pleasure to meet you Lisa, I hope to run into you some other time, Ken, we'll see later." She waved before walking in the opposite direction we were heading.
I breath a sigh of relief as she left. I was very lucky Danielle wasn't in the mood, I was certain she would have blabbed.
"Whoa, you could at least try to hide your relief that she left." Lisa said as she laughed a little.
Was it bad that I actually loved her laugh? Maybe. But I didn't care.
I start to drag her to the seafood place I saw earlier. I had almost forgotten why we came down for a minute.
"I wasn't that relieved." I defend myself.
She laughed.
"Okay maybe I was. But she was stalling us, you are hungry."
She laughed a little.
"I don't know how you know her, but she's like a very important figure where I work. She's like a legend."
I couldn't stop the snort that came out after that. If they knew Danielle like I did, nobody would see her as legend. Ever.
"Hey!" She pouts a little. And I struggle with wanting to kiss her, but I turn away last minute.
"What makes her a legend?"
"For starters--" she pauses as we shuffle among the crowd to walk into the restaurant.
It was a shack themed restaurant. Everything was made from wood. It was full of bubbly hungry people but not crowded.
"You were saying?" I urge her as we sit opposite each other.
"This place is gorgeous." Her eyes were everywhere. Trying to grab every little detail at once.
"Yeah, it sure is." I say while looking at her. She was the gorgeous one here.
"For starters, the company, Bavard has a C.E.O that no one has ever seen. You must know about it. He's the most famous C.E.O, known for having the best gaming company in the world. Best of all he manages that huge company from the shadows." Her eyes twinkled as she explained.
I smile in amusement. I never thought to hear what the employees thought about me, hearing it from her was refreshing to say the least.
A waiter came by our table to get our orders, Lisa yelped before picking up the menu, she hadn't browsed through and had no clue what they were serving.
"The today's special please. Give her a minute." I say to the waiter.
She finally raised her head up from the menu.
"The seafood pasta would do."
"Anything else?" The waiter asked.
We both shook our heads no, he murmured that the food would arrive shortly.
"And then, Danielle is the only one who has ever seen him. Even investors haven't seen him before. She has. Because she's his assistant." Her eyes looked wishful, it was comical.
"And that makes her a legend?"
She nods vigorously. Causing me to laugh.
Our food arrived shortly after. My stomach grumbled. I hadn't realized how hungry I was.
I started to eat, but stopped short when she asked.
"How do you know Danielle?"