Lauren shimmied out of her skirt. Generally, she agreed with Kiki about the music selection being particularly annoying this time of year. The music didn’t pipe into the office area, which was fortunate because she couldn’t take having to listen to “Wonderful Christmastime” on an endless loop. But she had to admit, she did like the original Wham! version of “Last Christmas.”
She switched out her underwear before sliding the red dress over her head. It was made out of a jersey knit, which did make it feel a little more casual at least. And because it was off-the-shoulder, it didn’t actually show any cleavage—just a lot of her shoulders and collarbones, the rose pendant necklace she always wore. The dress ended in a swingy skater skirt around her thighs. She opened the door to show Kiki.
“I feel like I should wear my tights,” Lauren said, glancing down.
“Absolutely the fuck not,” Kiki said. “It’s bad enough that you wear those to work every day. What is this, the 1950s?”
“It’s not a modesty thing,” Lauren said. Although maybe it was, a little. “I just get cold easily. Have you been in my office? I can’t even use a space heater because of that time the one in Dolores’ office caught fire.”
“Daniel’s gonna catch fire when he sees you in that,” Kiki said. “Seriously. You look hot.”
Lauren turned back to examine herself in the mirror. “I look overdressed.”
“You see what Dolores wears to work,” Kiki said. “Hell, you might be underdressed. But we’ll keep your hair down and loose, you barely need any makeup, and you can wear your same flats. That will all keep the look more chill.”
“Thank you so much for your help,” Lauren said. “I really appreciate it. I’m hopeless at this kind of thing.”
Kiki crossed behind her to reach for a few hair products on the counter. Lauren hadn’t spent much time hanging out the last time she’d come over, so she hadn’t fully clocked that Kiki had what was probably the main bedroom with the attached bathroom. She knew Kiki had moved in after Asa and Elliot, so maybe that was a nod to her being the only woman in the house. Lauren wondered where Asa’s bedroom was—on the other side of the house? What would it even look like?
“Asa doesn’t seem to like Daniel very much,” Lauren said.
Kiki snorted. “Yeah, I kinda got that impression when he told me about your date.”
“It’s not a date exactly,” Lauren felt compelled to remind her. Even if she’d been thinking of it that way in her head, she’d hate it getting back to Daniel somehow that she’d been going around calling it that. “What’s Asa’s problem with him? I thought Asa got along with most everyone.”
That was part of what was really bothering her about the whole scene in her office, she realized. Asa might be maddening and mischievous and wisecracking, but he was friendly to everyone. The exceptions to that were Daniel, who he seemed to barely tolerate.
And, lately, her.
“Don’t worry about Asa,” Kiki said, spritzing some volumizing spray into the palm of her hand before running it through Lauren’s hair. “He can’t exactly judge you if you want to date someone hot, have a little fun.”
Lauren frowned into the mirror. She hadn’t even necessarily been thinking about Asa judging her for her choices, but now she was. What had he said to her back in her office? That she was willing to sell out for the chance to date Daniel? That wasn’t true. She was helping him with his so far completely unrealistic idea only because it was part of her job, to analyze expenses and budgets for Cold World. And if she’d always found him attractive, and secretly crushed on him from afar, then why not use the opportunity to get to spend more time with him?
“Look,” Kiki said, apparently reading Lauren’s troubled expression in the mirror. “Asa is fickle. Not about his friends—he’s loyal to a fault. But in relationships? I don’t think I’ve known him to date someone for longer than two months. And it’s not like he has sterling judgment. He hooked up with one chick who stole money right out of his wallet. And the guy he dated last year kept talking about how brilliant American Psycho was. Talk about a huge red flag. So if he gives you any shit for wanting to be with Daniel, ignore him. I doubt Daniel’s read a book in his life, but at least he’s not an American Psycho stan.”
Lauren gave a halfhearted laugh. Kiki’s words should ease at least the worry that Asa had room to judge her for being shallow, or foolish, for treating this chance with Daniel as a real possibility. But they didn’t. If anything, they only made her feel more unsettled. That word fickle had wormed its way into her stomach and flipped over. She didn’t like the idea of Asa dating other people.