"Skittle-toes? SKITTLE-TOES?" Katie stood at the entrance to my cubicle, indignant.
It was my own fault. At the office happy hour last Friday, I had one beer too many, and jokingly told "Loose-Cannon Ken" about my secret nickname for Katie. I had no-one to blame but myself for saying something like that to a blabbermouth like Ken.
It was next Monday evening, and the office was almost empty, except for me, and apparently, Katie. "Um. You see," I tried to explain. I was flustered. I had spent the day hoping that perhaps Ken hadn't said anything, but obviously he had.
"I didn't mean," I babbled, pausing to stare at my office-renowned jar full of Skittles, "... Well, you call me Skittle-man, right? Skittle-toes was just a term of endearment! Skittles are great, right?" People really did call me the Skittle-man. Sometimes I even thought people only talked to me because they wanted Skittles.
Katie was a petite natural blonde, five feet tall, with adorably tiny feet. And most days, she wore the cutest strappy-style mule shoes, four straps covering just the bridge of her foot, leaving her slender ankles and toes fully exposed. And her nail polish colors always matched up with a Skittles color. Red most of the time, but sometimes purple, and occasionally playful shades of green, orange, or even yellow to match her outfit. This week had been red, and I involuntarily glanced at her feet and toes for a moment.
I had also been in love with her from the moment we started working together two years ago, but the circumstances were never right. Plus, our relationship based on constant good-natured bickering was so perfect, I didn't want to ruin it either.