After Eleven: Liv & Callum

Natural History (Callum)

Callum

"What's up?" Jaime stands in the doorway to my office, clad in her ever-present black suit and pumps. I swear, a black suit and heels are all that she's worn since we came into this firm.

"Can we chat for a second? Nothing bad, but we should close the door." A suspicious woman by nature, Jaime narrows her eyes at me before shutting the door and coming to stand near the corner of my desk.

"I'm just going to get straight into it because Liv and I talked about it this morning. Do you have an issue with the jokes that Emily and I make?"

She purses her lips for a moment before speaking, "Honestly Cal, I think that you need to be careful. I have seen the way Emily looks at you sometimes and I think that while you are in a stressful phase it's best to not send mixed signals to people that you could be attracted to."

"Do you think that I'm going to cheat on my wife? I love Liv and I would never do that to her. We have known each other since college, have you ever known me to be that kind of guy?" I'm incredulous because Jaime and I really have known each other for years, and hearing this from her hurts. 

"I know that you love Liv and I am not saying that you're going to cheat on her. I do think that Emily seems to be interested in you, even if you don't see it. Sometimes you need to believe that other people are seeing things that you're not, Cal. I think that she's interested in you, and I think that you should be careful about the messages that you're sending."

"And maybe you need to be less sensitive about a joke that doesn't involve you. You upset Liv for no reason, and if you're having those same conversations with other people who work here then you'll also end up hurting Emily. She has been nothing but polite to you and it's unprofessional and, frankly, petty of you to start rumors about her."

"Why are you being so defensive over Emily and an unoriginal joke that no one else is in on? If it's just a joke, and it's causing issues with your wife, why not just stop saying it? Also, why is it so hard for you to conceptualize that I may see something that you don't? If we know each other as well as you were just saying, then you should know that I would never spread petty gossip or upset Liv unless I was legitimately concerned."

"I'm not going to go in circles with you, Jaime. You've made up your mind that I'm the bad guy and I'm not going to change your mind."

"That is so sanctimonious of you. You're avoiding this because I think you know there's truth to what I'm saying but fine, if you don't think we need to talk about then I won't waste my breath."

With that, Jaime swings out of my office, leaving me shocked at how that conversation went. I'm insulted that she seems to think there's something going on between me and Emily, and annoyed that she's making more out of this than there is. She's probably also stressed out about this pitch so I'll give her some leeway, but we'll have to talk about this again when she isn't so heated.

I look up when I hear a knock at my door, and ironically, it's the woman that my wife and friend have created issues over. Emily is a few years younger than me, but not by much. She is petite and keeps in shape; she'll always be the first to tell you about a workout she's doing or the health foods that she brings for lunch. It's never been my favorite topic of conversation, but I can smile and nod to be polite.

She has long dark that that's usually up and back, but she'll wear it down when we're at the happy hours or having lunch in my office. She's pretty enough, but she's no siren trying to tempt me from my marriage. She's a friend and quickly becoming one of my favorite colleagues. I decided then that distancing myself from her would just look suspicious and would actually make people think that we had something going on.