Stay focused, Natalia. Stay focused.

When I look down in the corner of my laptop, I see that hardly any time at all has passed since encountering the two in the hallway. The way Grayson looked at her made my blood boil. He never looked at me that way. Hell, I didn't even think he was capable of feeling certain emotions at times.

"Natalia?" You're in pretty late." I hear Shane say as he passes my office. When I look up, he's leaning against my door and looking at me with curiosity in his eyes.

"Oh, is it? I hadn't noticed." I lie.

"You were only scheduled until five, yeah?" He asks, looking down at his watch.

"Yeah, I was. I was just trying to make up for being late earlier." I explain.

Actually, I'm waiting for Little Miss Sunshine to walk back into this office.

He lets out a soft chuckle, and walks into my office, sitting at one of the chairs by my desk.

"You know Grayson hadn't even noticed you were late, right? Even if he did, it's not like he would really care. He's pretty lenient with stuff like that." He tells me.

"I know, I just don't want it to seem like I'm taking advantage of Grayson." I tell him.

"I would hope you wouldn't do something like that." He says, giving me a quizzical look. When I don't say anything in reply, he continues by clearing his throat. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure." I answer, shutting my laptop quietly.

"Is there...something going on between you and Grayson?" Shane asks.

I feel my eyes nearly bulging out of my head at his question.

"What? No! Absolutely not!" I answer quickly and rather defensively.

He holds his hands up in surrender and lets out a nervous laugh.

"Hey, I was just wondering. I was just wondering because you two were gone for quite some time earlier for lunch." He reminds me. We were gone for awhile, but nothing that was too out of the ordinary. We were gone for no longer than two hours, I'm sure.

"Well, we stopped at my parent's restaurant to eat. My parents like to drag things on for longer than originally intended." I say, not completely lying.

"Grayson doesn't really go to lunch with people." He tells me.

"Well, he became pretty preoccupied the second that we came back." I mutter, standing up and beginning to pack up my stuff for the end of the day.

"What?" Shane laughs.

"You don't have to worry about me and Grayson. I'm pretty sure he's already preoccupied with someone else." I say, grabbing my bag and heading towards the door. "Anyways, you're right. It's getting late and I should probably get home." I say.

Shane nods and stands up from his seat, walking out of the door with me.

"Well, i'll see you tomorrow." He says, turning the opposite way down the hall.

As I walk towards the elevator, I see it open and hear high pitched laughter fill my ears. I look up and see Grayson and his blonde escort walking towards me.

I want to run and hide. I want to be anywhere else but here. I consider running right before Grayson looks up to see me walking towards them and the elevator.

"Natalia." Grayson says, halting his steps only momentarily.

When I look at him, I see his face of confusion at me and then down at his watch.

"It's late." He tells me.

"I know." I say, with a slight nod in agreement.

"You're just now going home?" He asks.

"Yeah." I reply. "See you tomorrow." I mutter, not allowing my gaze to sit more than a few seconds on the girl still hanging on his arm.

"Wait, Natalia!" He calls behind me as I walk by quickly.

"Hmm?" I hum in reply, not fully turning around to face him.

"Do you...want me to walk you out?" He asks. I turn around and see the blonde smiling over at me. She's beautiful and it absolutely pisses me off.

"No." I reply, turning away quickly and walking to the elevator.

"Is she okay?" I hear the girl beside him ask in a whisper. It takes everything in me not to turn around and yell at her to mind her own damn business.

"I think so." I hear Grayson reply. When I step in the elevator, I see the two with their backs facing me as they continue walking down the hall.

This is bullshit. Absolute bullshit.

-

The next morning comes quickly as I set not one, but ten alarms in the morning. There is no way that I'm sleeping through another morning and run late once again. I walk to my closet and go through every single outfit that I own.

I'm sure the blonde model wannabe is going to be wearing something scandalous like she was yesterday. She was wearing something much better than my own attire. If it wasn't for my late awakening, I would have had time to do my makeup and hair yesterday. Today i'm taking my time and dressing to impress.

My eyes stumble upon a pair of leopard print bellbottom pants made up of the soft, stretchy material. The white top paired on the hanger matched perfectly.

This. This one.

This outfit is one of my favorites in my closet. It's something I could never wear while working with the other guys on the floor. It would get me laughed at and earn me more than a handful of sexist comments. One of my favorite parts of working for GRIP was knowing that I could wear almost anything with the lenient dress code given to the employees. Despite this, I always felt as though I made my own mental dress code to try and dodge most of the comments.

Not today, though. Today, i'm dressing up in my favorite outfit and showing that blonde bitch who's in charge.

I do my hair in makeup quickly, looking professional and glamorous to the best of my ability. I pray that it's not too over the top. Honestly, at this point it doesn't really matter. He might already be taken by someone else.

The car ride and quick as I hardly notice that I'm actually speeding to get to work faster. I feel stares as I walk into the office and straight to the coffee bar. Normally, this would irritate me. Not today, though. I know that I look good, and everyone is only confirming it.

"Good morning, Natalia." I hear next to me. "You look nice today." I turn my head and see Justin staring down at me with a small smile.

"Oh. Good morning, Justin. Thank you." I reply, looking back to the workers behind the counter prepare my drink.

"Hey, I'm actually really glad I saw you this morning. I want to apologize about what you heard after the meeting. It was rude and completely unprofessional of me." He says nervously. When I look back over, I see the guilty look covering his face. "I guess I'm just a really sore loser. Your app will be great, I know it. You're a very talented engineer, Natalia." He adds.

"It's okay." I sigh, turning my body to face him. "I really appreciate that, too." I reply with a small smile.

Yeah, Justin may have said terrible things about me, but it takes a lot for someone to admit that they're wrong and apologize.

"I feel really bad about it. I really want to make it up to you." He tells me. "Maybe we can go to lunch or something?" He asks

"You don't have to do that." I say with a small laugh. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Grayson walk in with his gaze focused on his phone. Suddenly, he looks up at me and his gaze goes to Justin quickly. "You know what, I think I would actually really like that." I say quickly, focusing my gaze back to Justin.

"Alright, cool. We'll plan something soon." He says as he grabs the hot coffee sitting on the counter in-front of us. "I'll catch you later." He adds with a bright smile before walking away.

As I look back over to where Grayson was, I see him approaching me.

"Good morning." He says, taking the place that Justin just left.

"Morning." I reply with a tight smile.

"Was that Justin?" He asks, looking in the direction that Justin just walked away.

"Oh, yeah." I reply, acting as happy about the mention of Justin as possible. "He was just inviting me to lunch, actually." I add.

"What?" He asks, a look of confusion washing over his face. "Why?"

"I don't know? He just wanted to apologize and make it up to me over lunch." I shrug.

"You're not going, right?" He asks, grabbing my coffee from the table for me as we walk up to the office.

"I don't know. I said yes, but we don't have any plans yet." I say.

"Why would you go with him?" He asks.

"I don't know." I shrug.

"If you don't know then why would you say yes?" He asks, confusion masking his face.

"Why are you asking so many questions?" I ask.

"I just don't understand, I guess." He mumbles and instantly I feel bad.

"I guess I just want to put the past behind me. And if going to lunch with him is his way of apologizing, then there is no harm done." I shrug.

"I just have a bad feeling about it." He replies.

"Well, I can take care of myself." I remark.

"I know." He replies with a small nod. "So you're not going to lunch with him today, right?"

"No." I sigh.

"Would you like to get lunch with me today?" He asks.

"I don't think your girlfriend would be all too happy about that." I reply.

His slows his steps and falls short behind me. When I turn around and see him unmoving, he stares at me with confusion and slight shock.

"I don't have a girlfriend." He replies.

"Have you told your little blonde friend that? I think she might think otherwise." I reply sarcastically with an eye roll. I really shouldn't be this upset over Grayson having a girl who is interested in him. I mean, it's not surprising. A guy like Grayson could have anyone he wants in LA.

"Are you talking about Sofia?" He asks.

"Oh, so she has a name." I say, rolling my eyes.

"That's my little sister." He says simply.

Sofia is his sister? His sister? Of course someone as gorgeous as her would be related to him. I can only imagine what his parents must look like, because both Grayson and Sofia are some of the best looking people I've seen. Relief washes over me instantly but is almost as quickly masked by the embarrassment that I instantly feel. I must look fucking insane.

"Oh." I mumble in reply. "I thought you said your sister lived in Wisconsin?" I question.

"Yeah, she did. Technically she still does. She came back to LA to surprise me. She's moving here soon." He explains. "She's going to be staying with me until she finds a new place."

"Oh." I reply once more, not knowing what else to say.

"I don't have a girlfriend, Nat." He replies in a reassuring tone.

"I guess I just assumed." I mumble, feeling my cheeks burn with embarrassment.

"So if you want to get lunch...I'm free." He says before handing me my coffee and going into his office, shutting the door behind him.

As I walk back to my office, I can't help but feel the smile creep up to my face knowing that Grayson is still available. Even if I don't have a single chance with him, it doesn't mean I can't try.