*Sephie*
As we were cleaning up, Tori walked through the kitchen. She looked like she was on her way to the gym, and she stopped to ask, “is there anyone in the gym?”
“Nope,” I said. “Everyone else is gone and we just got done.” I caught her face fall briefly. She looked to Andrei, who was looking down like he was petrified of looking at her directly.
*She’s not Medusa, Andrei*. I smiled at her, shrugging my shoulders, and jerking my head toward Andrei. She blushed slightly and continued on her way. When she was out of the kitchen, I smacked his arm. “What the hell was that? You didn’t even look at her!”
“I get nervous.”
I sighed. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “You can like kill people with just your thumbs, but you’re scared to talk to a girl?”
“Basically.”
I shook my head. “Okay, that’s it. I’m going to talk to her right now. You guys are going to keep playing this game forever unless someone intervenes on your behalf. You can wait outside the gym,” I said, walking back toward the gym.
As we got closer, he started to get more nervous. “Are you sure this is a good idea right now? I mean, we could wait until later. It might not be a good time. We should wait.”
“Nope. We’re ripping this band-aid off right now,” I said, opening the door to the gym. “Wait here.”
As I walked in, Tori was just finishing her warm-up on the treadmill. She gave me a small smile, but she was looking past me to see if Andrei was going to follow me into the gym. I glanced behind me, following her gaze, to make sure he was waiting outside.
“Hi Tori,” I said walking up to her.
“Hi,” she said somewhat unsure of what I was doing there.
“Okay, so this is weird and I’m just going to come out and say it. Andrei really likes you, but he’s also terrified of you. He wants to talk to you, to get to know you, but he’s so scared that you’ll turn him down that he won’t let himself even look at you, which is why he acts like a buffoon anytime you’re around.”
Her eyes went wide in shock. “He does???”
“He does. He very much does. And I’m guessing from what I saw this morning that you do too?”
She nodded eagerly. “I’ve had such a major crush on him since I started here. The other guys are so intimidating, but Andrei just seems really genuine. I didn’t think he liked me though because he rarely looks at me.”
I crossed my arms, “terrified.”
She laughed nervously, “I can understand. I’m mostly terrified of him too. All of them, really. They’re so serious all the time. This morning was the first time I’ve ever seen any of them smile and I’ve worked here for two years. Especially Ivan. He’s scary, but he was like a normal guy with you.”
“Eh, a normal guy that can kill you in 2 seconds. Clearly normal is relative with him.”
“I’ve never seen any of them act so relaxed before. Especially Boss. He’s always uptight and looks like he wants to punch the wall. We have a stockpile of punching bags for him because he breaks them frequently.”
“Seriously?” I asked, completely surprised.
“Yeah. Me and the rest of the staff thought he had anger issues or something. And we’ve never seen him with a woman. The house staff thinks he’s gay.”
I laughed, “he did tell me that.”
We were silent for a moment. Then I came up with an idea. “Ok, I have a plan. You’re supposed to cook dinner for everyone tonight?” She nodded. “How about, I do that and give you time with Andrei, just the two of you. He’s supposed to be babysitting me, until everyone returns, but that doesn’t mean you guys can’t be in the next room without five other pairs of eyes on you for once.”
She looked shocked. “You would do that? No, I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking. I offered. We have a unique opportunity tonight, might as well take advantage of it, no?”
“Oh my gosh, thank you so much. You’re seriously awesome,” she said.
“It’s a gift,” I winked at her. “I’ll tell the buffoon and coach him on speaking publicly until you’re ready,” I said, walking toward the door.
Andrei was going to be so happy. And nervous. So nervous.