As the morning approaches, I can feel my anxiety reach an all time high. I know that seeing Grayson will be inevitable, but i'm hoping to defy all of the laws and dodge him completely. I wish I had some kind of invisibility cloak, because I would surely wear it forever in the office.

When I get to work, I go straight into my office, praying that I don't run into anyone. Just as I think i'm in the clear, I hear someone clearing their throat.

"Natalia." Shane says, knocking on my door, "Do you have a moment?" He asks.

"Yeah, of course." I reply. No, no, no.

"Come to my office, yeah?" He asks. I nod and follow him down the hallway.

"Having a nice morning?" He asks with a small smile. I nod in reply. Something about this is off, I can tell. This is about Grayson. I know it is.

When we get to his office, he closes the door behind me and offers me a seat.

"Thanks for coming in here. I just wanted to ask you something." He says, taking a seat at his desk.

"Alright...about what?" I ask nervously.

"Well, it's about Grayson." He answers.

"Grayson?" I ask softly. I can feel my heart pounding in my face. Because as i'm sitting here with Shane, I realize that Grayson might have told him about our kiss.

I'm sitting with the head of HR talking about my boss, whom i've already kissed. Well, made out with actually. Oh, and he kicked me out of his apartment.

"And last night." He adds.

"Oh my God. Am I in trouble?" I ask in a panic. Grayson fucking told Shane about me kissing him. He actually took this to HR. I'm about to get fucking fired over this.

"Oh, no! No, no, nothing like that. I'm sorry, I should have clarified that. You're not in trouble." He assures me quickly. I feel my nausea pass slightly, but I still have the feeling of wanting to puke or pass out.

"Is Grayson in trouble?" I ask quietly. No matter what happened the other night, I don't want Grayson to get in trouble either. Hell, I just want to pretend that it didn't happen at all. I miss when my crush on Grayson was only a crush known by me. Now it's out in the open.

"No, no one is in trouble." He adds with a soft chuckle.

"Okay." I say, letting out a shaky breath. "I just really need this job. I love this job." I say honestly.

"We're glad you're here. You've been doing great. This isn't exactly work related." He says, getting back to his topic.

"So what is it relating?" I ask.

"You and Grayson. And...last night." He says.

"You know about it?" I ask with embarrassment clear in my tone.

"Yes." He says. "I just wanted to explain something to you."

"Okay.." I mumble.

"You're not in trouble. Calm down." He laughs.

"It's kind of hard to stay calm when I just got called into HR because of an incident with my boss." I mumble, picking at the skin around my fingers.

"Okay, well no one is in trouble. This isn't work related at all. This is just two friends talking, okay?" He says. I nod quickly, trying to stop the sweat that I can feel forming on my forehead.

"Grayson told me what happened. He really just told me what he did, though. And I just want you to know something to get a better understanding of him." He says.

"Alright..."

"Grayson has Aspergers." He states simply.

"Aspergers?" I ask.

"Basically, it's high functioning autism. It's very high functioning in his case. I actually think that now they're just calling it 'on the spectrum'. Hell, I don't know. Basically, it prevents him from being able to pick up on certain social cues. Sometimes he has a hard time understanding humor or sarcasm, so jokes can kind of just go over his head. He can seem very...uninterested. He has a hard time communicating with people and expressing his emotions, really. Sometimes physical contact can make him anxious. New things make him nervous. He's a very routine kind of guy. So I just wanted to let you know." He says.

As the words Shane's mouth, everything begins to make more sense. The reason everyone in the office feels Grayson is full of himself is because of his inability to communicate the same way others do. Id they knew him like I did, they would see that he isn't full of himself at all. He's just...nervous.

"So when he kicked me out..." I mutter, trying to understand all of this.

"I've never seen Grayson this interested in someone. I mean, he likes you. I just don't want you to think that the other night was anything because of you. It wasn't. I know it might have felt that way, but he just panics and handles it the wrong way." He explains.

When I don't immediately reply, he quickly adds "I'm not trying to steer you in one direction, I just wanted you to get a better understanding of him. It's up to you where you want to go from here. He just....I know he's been beating himself up over the entire situation ever since it happened." He sighs.

"He has?" I ask.

"He came back over to my apartment right after you left and asked what he needed to do. He knew it was the wrong move after it was done and didn't know how to fix it." He admits.

I nod my head in understanding, taking in all of this new information. I don't even know what to think at this point.

"I didn't know..." I mumble in response.

"I know. He didn't want me to tell you at all."

"But you did?" I ask, to which he nods in response. "Why?"

"Because Grayson is my best friend. And...he's different. He's different in the best ways, but still different. And sometimes when people find out about him, they treat him as though he's less than them. The one thing he said over and over again was that you treated him like you treat everyone else." Shane says.

"I do?" I ask.

"You do. So what i'm asking is just...please, don't hurt him. If this whole thing is a deal breaker, then just cut it off now. You can use this whole kiss thing as an excuse to end it all, but just let him down easily. Don't drag it out. It'll be easier for him to handle if it's this early on." He sighs.

"It's not a deal breaker." I reply in a short sentence, feeling offended that he's even thinking that I would turn away from him because of this. He nods his head in understanding, but still looks unsure.

"You should probably get back to work. I don't want to keep you away from anything." He says, standing up from his desk and walking towards the door.

As I begin to leave, he stops me one last time. "This is something that he doesn't like for people to know about. I just felt like you deserved the truth." He states.

"I won't tell anyone." I promise, knowing that this is something he needs to hear.

"Thank you. I'll see you later." He says, walking me out.

As I head down the hall, I can hear Grayson speaking to someone. He's more than likely on the phone, but I can't be sure. The coward inside of me wants to run in the opposite direction and completely avoid him. Well, for today at least. I can hear Shane's words swimming through my head. Despite wanting to he a coward, I know I have to face him with my head held high.

I straighten my back and put on my best smile as he turns the corner, stopping quickly once he sees me. He mumbles something into the phone and hangs up quickly. He looks back up at me and sees me approaching him.

"Good morning." I say, trying my hardest to sound as strong as I looked. Yet inside, i'm still completely embarrassed.

"Hi." He says in reply. He looks like he wants to say more, but I stop him as I speak my next words.

"I'm running to grab a drink, do you need anything?" I ask.

"I...no." He replies. "Thank you." He adds quickly.

"Okay. I'll be in my office if you need anything." I say before I continue down the hallway.

"Natalia." He says, calling down the hallway to me.

I turn quickly and connect my gaze with his.

"I'm going to be making the announcement in a few minutes. So if you head down for coffee, don't bother coming back up yet. Otherwise, you'll be making two trips." He says before quickly shuffling to his office.

The app design announcement is only adding onto the list of things that I have to deal with today. I haven't seen or spoken to Brian ever since over hearing him talking to his girlfriend. Hell, I didn't realize that it was only Yesterday that I had overheard him talking about me.

I know that he was only venting to his girlfriend. I know that what was said was never meant to get back to me. I know all of this, but it still hurts me to think about my only real friend in the office who was thinking all of those things about me.

Almost as quickly as Brian enters my mind, my phone buzzes silently in my pocket.

Big announcement today! You'll do great.

The message that Brian sends me is thoughtful, but I can't make myself smile at the works. I know the true feelings he has now, and it pains me to even think about them.

Instead of replying, I slip my phone back into my pocket and head downstairs. I'll face this day one problem at a time.

But first, I need some coffee.