“I ran away from home, though I feel like they would have kicked me out if I hadn’t so…” You mumble, not knowing if you should elaborate, “I… It’s about my sexuality… And my family didn’t support me, so I really had no choice.” You continue, tears threatening your eyes. It’s silent for a second.
William stares at you, not responding for a second, “Oh… I see,” he starts, not really knowing why to say, “I’m sorry to hear that, I’m hoping New Harmony hasn’t been as bad as an experience…”
You laugh softly, “Oh trust me, nothing can top getting looked at by your family like… Like you were a stranger, a mistake…” you mumble, those tears you were fighting, now falling down onto your lap.
You hear William’s chair move as he gets up, and you tense up when you feel his hands on your shoulders, “I don’t really do comfort… But I really wish you happiness in this town, if you need anything, I am here.” William mumbles, chuckling at his own awkwardness.
“You don’t need to, I’m fine. I was stupid to come out, I should’ve known-“
“Well, would you rather be living in a place where you could never really be yourself or somewhere you could show that perfection to the world?” William asks in a small whisper right next to your ear.
You can’t help but blush from how close he was and his choice of words, perfection? You never would call it that considering how much it messed up your life yet here he was, saying it and it felt nice. You make eye contact with William, he’s so very close and neither of you really moves. His eyes just bore into yours, you can’t help but want to stay like forever. You both jump at a knock at his office door, William sighs, giving your shoulders a reassuring squeeze before going to open the door. You quickly wipe the few tears still on your face and collect yourself when he opens it.
“What is it?” William says, slight annoyance clear in his tone.
It was Scott, “Uh, Henry needs to talk to you…” he mumbles, trailing off.
William sighs, “Fine,” he turns back to you, “You gonna be okay? You can chill outside or in here, I don’t mind.”
You nod, “Uh, yeah. I’m fine, I’ll get out in a second, just do what you need to William.” You respond, smiling slightly.
Once William leaves, you take a deep breath, trying to contain the overflow of emotions that crowded your heart, threatening to get out. You get up, brushing your shirt off, a little embarrassed to have broken down so easily. After you’re finally all pulled together, you leave William’s office. You can hear a little bit of Henry’s and William’s conversation considering they didn’t bother to close the door. And curiosity gets the better of you when you hear your name. So you approach the door, trying not to get caught as you listen in.
“You can’t just hire people out of the blue like that, William,” Henry says with a sigh.
“Come on, you’re not actually mad? Right?” William asks, messing around with Henry’s photo frames.
“I’m not mad, just annoyed. Also, why would you make him your assistant of all things?” Henry asks, raising an eyebrow at William, grabbing his frames back.
“Well, it was more a joke but he seemed fine with it so I just went with it. I can talk to him if he wants to join in on day shifts or something, I genuinely don’t need an assistant. But seeing him every day is something I can get behind.” William says with a chuckle, this only makes you blush.
“Right, you do that…” Henry mutters, rolling his eyes at his friend’s words, “I just hope you keep it professional.”
“Okay, dad.” William teases, chuckling.
You back away from the door, you didn’t really feel like hearing their whole conversation as well as not really wanting to get caught. You walk off to the main part of the Diner, as soon as you get there, you see a bunch of kids. The music is quiet, probably because it’s still early, around 9:30 AM. You walk off, waving when you see… Jeremy if you recall right. He waves back awkwardly, you haven’t actually talked to him. He seems rather reserved and you’d rather not bother the guy, especially at work.
“Hey Y/N,” a voice behind you spoke.
“Oh hi Scott,” you chirp out, smiling at the man.
“Uh sorry if it’s not my business, are you okay? You seemed a little down in William’s office?” Scott asks, genuine concern and worry in his eyes.
“Ah! Yeah, I’m fine. Just William and I were talking about something…” You mumble, your eyes darting away from his.
“Oh, you don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to. Just wanted to check up on you…” Scott says, a small sweet smile firm on his kind face.
You nod and he slowly walks off to the other side of the diner to keep an eye on things over there. You sit down at one of the benches against the wall, pulling your phone out. A small part of you aches to see no new messages, your life has really become lonely since you left home. It’s only been two days and you got one message… You think back to that transfer of money… Was it on purpose? You don’t even know nor do you want to ask.
You perk up when someone sits next to you, you don’t even need to look. You’d recognize that cologne anywhere, it’s William. Guess he finished talking with Henry now.
“Hello there.” William greets, smirking slightly for no real reason.
“Hi William,” you greet back, smiling.
He notices your phone, “Oh! I should give you my number, shouldn’t I? You know for work… And non-work stuff…” William says, a chuckle escaping his lips at his blatant teasing.
“I uh guess?” You say, blushing at that last bit before handing him your phone.
He quickly adds his number onto your phone, chuckling to himself as he puts his contact name. He calls himself from your phone so that he has your number as well before he hands your phone back.
You blush further as you take your phone back, reading the contact, “The Best Boss <3 Call me”. He only smirks at your reaction, he seems to really love being a tease, doesn’t he? You’re kind of curious to see what he put as your contact name, you’ll probably change what he put so it’s just his name considering it’s for work.
“You better actually call me.” William teases before he remembers something, “Oh right, I came to talk to you for a reason.”
“Yeah?” You question, wondering if this is about what he and Henry talked about.
“You don’t mind if I change your position to security for the day shift right? Just the day shift for now, wouldn’t want to throw you into the night shift too quickly.” William asks, fixing his sleeve’s cuffs as he speaks.
“Oh yeah, that’s fine.” You answer, smiling.
“Great! Sorry for the change, I didn’t actually expect you to be so okay with being an assistant. I’d thought you’d say no or ask for anything else.” He says with a slight chuckle.
You laugh, “You don’t scare me that easily, William.” You tease.
William stares at you for a second, that phrase seeming to spark a train of thoughts before he laughs quietly. He gets up suddenly and walks away to what seems to be his office.
Did you say something wrong? Please don’t say that Mr. Tease hates being teased… You look away awkwardly, biting your lip as you anxiously get up to get a soda or something. Anything to get your mind off of what just happened…
.
You take a sip from your soda, sighing as the sugary drink coaxed your worries. Maybe it wasn’t the healthy way to comfort yourself but it sure did beat sitting around doing nothing. You were happy to watch the kids and drink soda… Like a loser… Ugh, this is depressing.
“Hi, mister!” A sudden child’s voice chirps out.
You look over to see the girl from yesterday with her brother again, she sits down next to you. William’s kids. You notice a slightly older boy behind them, he gives you that edgy teen stage vibe. He’s probably the oldest kid, he doesn’t seem to really want to be here.
You wave at the girl and her younger brother, “Hello again.” You say with a smile.
You notice the older boy stare at you for a second, clearly not impressed before he walks off to do… whatever he does. Not really your business so you ignore him since he clearly wants nothing to do with you. Which is perfectly fine with you.
“I’m Elizabeth, this is my brother Evan. And my other brother, who just walked off, is Michael!” She chirps out, her tone is absolutely adorable.
You smile sweetly, “My name is Y/N,” you say.
“Oooh, I like your name!” She giggles, her ginger hair falling in front of her eyes for a second before moving it.
You laugh with her, “Thank you.” you say, finding your mood better already. Kids really do make things feel simple for you…
Comment