I Missed You

Author's Note

So this is not my first story but it is the first I'm publishing here. I have chapter 2 written already but I wanted to get some feedback before I post it. ALL criticism is welcome.

*****

Rose yawned and checked her watch. 10:38.

"Okay maybe I shouldn't have stayed up to watch that Scandal marathon last night, but Olivia was stressing me out." She thought to herself rubbing her eyes. Not even the heavily sugared coffee she clutched in her dark brown hand would keep her awake.

To be fair Scandal wasn't the only thing that occupied her usual sleeping hours. In fact the thing that kept her awake the most was currently burning a hole in her purse or more specifically her cell phone. Yes. A dreaded dating app. If she was being honest with herself she'd admit that she had stayed awake fielding all sorts of romantic, creepy, or sometimes downright scary messages.

But you know what they say, hindsight and numbers and all that.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a large thick manila envelope plopping on her desk near where her feet lay. Rose's eyes lingered there a moment then meandered their way up a lime green blazer to the severe green eyes of Sonya Carvalho.

Her temples throbbed at the sight of her. Nevertheless Rose smiled, no, beamed at her boss.

"Sonya! What can I d-" she was quickly cut off.

"Save the small talk, Ms. Carmichael." the boss commonly known as the dragon lady waved her hand imperiously as if to ensure Rose that she required no pleasantries. "There are clients waiting in conference room B, this folder holds their details. See what they want, get the job done." Sonya dictated, tone clipped as always. Rose dropped her red pumps to the floor, pushed away from her desk and stood. Before she could even leave her office space Sonya placed her hand on Rose's shoulder, adding; "oh and one more thing? Do it the Sonya way."

It took all she had for her to not roll her eyes. Rose muttered something that sounded affirmative and moved onto the conference room. Flipping through the folders she scanned the various stats. Nothing too special, just a mid-size tech firm in need of some public presence.

"We can't all be Google now, can we?" She snickered to herself before she pushed the heavy wood doors of the conference room open. Or tried to anyway.

"Oh my god." She swore, banging her shoulder against the wood. At 5'7 Rose wasn't insubstantial in height or weight. With thick thighs, arms that had a little jiggle and a not so flat stomach she'd gotten her fair share of stares. She shoved at the door twice more before it swung open and slammed against the wall with a loud bang.

Immediately three pairs of eyes locked on to her standing in the doorway.

"Gentlemen! I apologize for my...loud entrance." Rose laughed nervously. She sat on the other side of the small conference table and took in her brand new clients. In front of her was tall light skin man with his hair shaved closed to his head. On his right was a bright eyed blond, with a large but not off putting nose. And to the left...

'Shit.' Rose thought, because to the left sat her highschool boyfriend. John Sebastian Hayes. In fact now that she was paying attention, all three men were her former classmates and from the look in their eyes, they'd realized it too.

The man in the middle, Dionte, spoke first. "Rose? Rosemary Carmichael! Holy shit is that you?" All she could do was nod in stunned silence as Chris joined in animatedly and asked her what she'd been doing all this time. While Rose had just done her best to answer her two classmates' questions, out of the corner of her eye she could see John sitting there with this sort of amused look on his face.

'Just who does he think he is,' she fumed internally 'sitting there on his fine ass looking even better than he did when were kids.' In the seven years since they'd seen each other John had filled out generously, his jaw taking on a strong shape, arms muscled under the rolled sleeve of his dress shirt. But his eyes were just as intense as the day she last saw him. Of course that day they had been glaring at her, but today, those dark green irises were filled with...longing?

Oh fuck.

Chris finally slowed his line of questioning and turned to look at John, who at this point was full on staring at Rose now.

"J, buddy, got anything to ask?"

'Oh no no. No God please. Don't let this man open his mouth.'

John quirked an eyebrow at his friends and turned to lock eyes with Rose, toting a smile that could only be described as dangerous.

"No. I think you guys hit all the bases, besides there isn't much I don't know about Rosie. After all I was her bo-"

"Booooyology partner! Lab partners. Mmhmm. We were partners for two years right John?" She laughed too loudly and slapped her hands on the table. Dionte shook his head and laughed along. John just shot her a small frown, his eyes promising they would talk later.

'Good God in heaven please help me.' Rose sent a quick prayer to the almighty and spoke again.

"Well, as fun as catching up is, we should probably get down to business huh?" Rose withdrew the papers from her manila folder and began to pitch ideas for a national ad campaign. Within an hour and a half the former classmates had worked out a serious blueprint to get their tech into the public's eye and hopefully their hands soon after. But each and every time she had glanced at John (despite her brain telling her not to) she'd met the same heated gaze, the one that made her knees jelly.

When all the hands had been shook Rose almost ran into the staff lounge, hands shaking.

"Oh shit. No. Oh my god." Rose looked up at the office ceiling.

"Jesus, why are you doing this? Hmm? What did I do for you to put this man back in my life? Was it because I cut that lady off? I was late!" Just then a shadow loomed over her.

"Good to see you still do that."

His voice made her shiver, its deep tone hitting her right at her core. She turned quickly to face John, serious frown faltering at his proximity. His pink lipped smile shifted into a loaded smirk. Rose steepled her hands together to stop them from pulling out her curly dark hair.

"Y-you can't be in here J." She cursed both her stutter and her use of the friendly nickname she'd given him in the 11th grade.

He lifted his blond eyebrows at her in mock surprise. "Oh! Are you going to stop pretending you don't know me now?" He chirped.

Irritated, Rose snapped back. "I wasn't pretending anything. I greeted you just like I did Dionte and Chris, just like I would anybody." Then it was John's turn to look irritated.

" And since when am I anybody to you?" He stepped closer to her, nearly pushing her into the wall. His heat and scent put Rose at danger of going crazy. Still she held strong.

"Don't do that John. We aren't kids anymore." She placed her hand on his chest to push him backwards but as soon as she made contact her hand stayed, almost clutching at his dress shirt. He covered her hand with his, lightly tanned skin over deep chocolate brown.

"My thoughts exactly. We aren't kids anymore so why are you hiding the fact that we were together?"

Rose rolled her eyes, he'd always had a flair for dramatics.

"Professionalism. I'd prefer to keep our history where it belongs. In the past." John had the gall to laugh at that and in response Rose snatched her hand from his hold, immediately mourning the loss of his heat.

"If you are done," she sniped "go home. Or back to work. Just...anywhere but here." Their conversation had her reminiscent of highschool, the way they would tease each other with jabs and playful wrestling that'd eventually turn into-

Nope. Not going there.

John looked unperturbed by her command and instead reached down to grab Rose's hand again.

"What do you say we get coffee? Really catch up." His eyes gleamed with mischief and Rose could barely remember what she'd been saying thirty seconds prior.

"I don't like coffee." It wasn't a complete lie. She didn't like black coffee. John blew a noisy breath out at the ceiling before looking back down at her. "That's right," his tone had taken on a taunting lilt "you like coffee flavoured sugar. You can get that too." Without leaving her time to decline, John spun around and took his leave. Rose sighed and let herself slump against the lounge counter. John popped his head back in the door, smile wide.

"Call me when you're off for lunch, your secretary has my number." Rose didn't reply, opting instead to stare at the ugly green carpet below and pray that it would swallow her whole. That is until John called her name. She looked up and met his eyes.

"I missed you."

And just like he made her heart seize up and her throat go dry. There was the guy she'd been in love with in highschool, staring at her like she was the only thing worth seeing.

And God help her if she didn't believe it.