TWENTY-SEVEN

                                    

                                          
R O M A N
"Tell me why you gotta look at me that way, you know what it does to me. So baby what you tryna say?"
. . .
I ignore the giddy feeling in my chest when I see it's only five minutes until one in the afternoon. 
The giddy feeling is there in the first place because I know Alyssa is going to be here, on time like she always is. 
I rearrange everything on my desk, even stand up and check out all the books on the shelf to make time pass quicker.
Get your shit together. 
I'm acting like a stupid teenage boy, waiting on his crush to show up. 
I'm everything but. I'm thirty-one, for fucks sake.
Cool, calm, collected–
I nearly run to the door when a knock resounds through the room.
And the smile that spreads itself across my face when I see a flash of curls is uncontrollable, especially when I'm met with another blinding smile. 
"Hey you," she hums when I let her in. My hand automatically lands on her back when I close the door and I pull her closer toward me.
"Hey," I reply and lean my head down to brush our lips together. She's put a spell on me, there's no other way as to why I'm acting this way around her. 
"Hope you're hungry," she says and walks over to my desk, putting the takeout bags on top of it. 
"I bought us some Chinese food. I've been craving it for weeks now..." she trails off, and I'm stunned by the fact that she went and got me food. 
"You shouldn't have," I say, and wrap my arms around her waist from behind, "but thank you, princesa."
I help her take everything out, and the smell of the delicious food makes my mouth water. I take a seat behind my desk, but notice I don't have anything to drink, and neither does she.
"I'll head down to the vending machine for drinks. What do you want?" I ask as I'm standing up. 
Alyssa looks at me with confusion in her eyes. "I can go if you want. I don't mind."
"You already brought me food," I chuckle and round my desk, stopping in front of her. She looks out of sorts, seeming out of her element. 
"Why does it bother you so much?" I ask her, and she shrugs, not paying it any mind. 
"I guess I'm just used to getting everything myself," she chuckles and shakes her head. "Whatever. I'd like a bottle of water, thank you."
When I head out to the hallway, I realize that her getting me food without me asking is starting to make a bit more sense. 
Matteo, or whoever of her shitty ex-boyfriends, made her do everything. I recall the day I met her, in the coffee shop. 
She ordered two cups of coffee, and I know the other one was for my brother.
She has a habit of tending to my every need. Did they ever tend to hers?
I notice my hands are clenched into tight fists when I arrive at the vending machine, and I exhale, trying to gather myself. 
I'm in the middle of buying two bottles of water when a voice from behind me gets my attention. 
"Roman, you have a minute or two?"
Just the boy I was thinking about; my brother. 
I turn around and see him heading down the hallway, toward me. Relief floods through me at the knowledge that I'm encountering him here, instead of Matteo coming all the way to my office and possibly seeing Alyssa.