The Flirt

When I pulled into the parking lot, there were only a handful of cars. I looked up at the building against the cloudy sky. Six floors and shaped like a U, female residents were on the 5th floor and male residents were all on the 6th floor. Lights were still on up there. Our therapists usually always had telehealth appointments, but they had offices set up for them on the 4th floor. Those windows were all dark. My floor, where my office and the classrooms were located, was on the 3rd floor and its windows were dark too. The lights were on in the cafeteria and the day rooms on the 2nd floor. Administration was on floor 1, and I could see one light on--it must be Orion's office. The night crew was walking out the door as I was walking in--we all greeted each other kindly. I stood in the empty admin lobby. It felt strange, not immediately heading to my office. I readjusted my purse on my shoulder and headed toward the admin offices.

I was determined not to be affected by Orion. Intent. Tenacious. Obstinate. His office door was open and he was bent over his desk. I knocked twice on the door frame.

He looked up and smiled. "There she is! My partner in crime. Are you ready for this?"

"I think so."

"Good. Sit down."

I immediately obeyed.

"Good girl."

I didn't outwardly respond, but the praise made my stomach flutter. His cologne enveloped me, clean and crisp. Stop it Charlotte! I told myself, and then focused hard on what he was saying.

"Did Cici tell you what the plan was?" he asked.

"Mainly watching the monitors or walking around observing."

"That's right. Breakfast started 7 minutes ago, so let's get up there. You can leave your stuff in here--the door will be locked."

I took off my jacket and put it and my purse on the chair in front of his desk. He gestured for me to walk out the door.

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Breakfast went off without a hitch. The residents that stayed were more pitiful than anything else--they didn't have anywhere to go for the holidays either. I kept myself on the opposite side of the room from Orion, and when he circulated or stopped to talk to a resident, I did the same. It was hard not to stare at him--the confident way he moved, the smile he was ready to share.

"Ms. Charlie," one of our new and youngest residents said, waving to get my attention.

"Hi Shaun, how's breakfast?"

"Oh, it's fine. But why are you here? We don't have school until January."

"Well, I agreed to help Mrs. Cici out while everyone was celebrating Christmas."

He got up and took his tray to the window. "But don't you celebrate Christmas?" he asked.

I looked up and saw Orion pointing at his watch.

"Yes, I do, but not this year. And look, Mr. Orion says it's time for therapy. Let's all get ready."

Shaun gathered a few trays from the people still sitting and they thanked him. We gathered by the cafeteria door. Orion popped around the corner carrying a tall stack of iPads and talked as he led the way to the elevator.

"We don't have enough therapy rooms, so we'll be doing session from your rooms. Simone, Teresa, Jodie, Lori, and DJ, Charlotte will take you up to the 5th floor." We waited for the elevator to open. "Charlotte, I'm going to have the guys on their floor. When therapy is over, we'll meet you down in the day room."

"Okay." The women piled into the elevator behind me. DJ pressed 5. I locked eyes with Orion before the doors closed. He winked and I immediately smiled. The women kindly included me in their conversation so my attention was taken away.

I sat in the nurse's station where I could see the rooms for all 5 women. The hour dragged by. Finally, they started trickling out of their rooms. Once all six of us were ready, we took the elevator down. The women were quiet for the ride back down, so I was quiet as well.

As soon as we reached the day room, the women began talking again, each finding a place to sit on a comfy sofa or chair. I stood against the wall, separating myself subconsciously. I couldn't help but hear their discussion.

"So, the new guy is already in love with Lucy. He's going to get in trouble if he doesn't leave her alone." Jodie began.

"Lucy is dating Vincent anyway, right? Or at least fucking." DJ clarified.

"You'd think so--but Vincent is gay." Simone said, readjusting her seat and throwing a blanket over her legs.

My eyes widened. I played it off, looking out the window.

"You're lying!" DJ said, shocked, throwing a pillow at Simone.

"Gay? Hell no." Lori concluded.

"Believe what you want." Simone continued, "But keep an eye on him. See who he pays attention to."

I couldn't wait to tell Andrea this gossip.

"What about Thomas finally getting a girlfriend? Maybe he won't be so creepy now." Lori said, changing the subject. They laughed. I crossed my fingers.

"Jennie told me that Mr. Orion broke up with that waitress he was dating. She has such a crush on him." DJ stated.

"Who doesn't have a crush on Mr. Orion? That man is sexy dark chocolate," Lori added. They laughed again. They continued to gossip about the staff, but I was no longer interested. He was dating someone? The whole time he's been flirting? I had to think about that information.

I heard the elevator doors creaking open and the men appeared from around the corner.

"Guys," Orion began, walking up to me and stopping a little too close, "School is not in session for the holidays, so you'll have free time until lunch. Charlotte and I aren't going to hover over you, but you know the rules. Enjoy time just hanging out. Lunch is at 12:30."

He waited until everyone turned away to grab my forearm and lead me back to the elevator. I didn't jerk away because I didn't want to draw attention. He pushed the down arrow. The elevator opened and he led me by the arm again.

"Where are we going?" I asked. I knew the camera room was on the 4th floor with the therapists.

"To my office."

"Why?" I asked, confused.

"It'll be more comfortable."

I shrugged my shoulders and followed him. I had gotten cold. The whole building was drafty. I looked forward to putting my jacket back on. "So, word on the street..."

Orion looked back at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Word on the street is that Jennie told DJ that you were dating a waitress, and that you broke up with her."

"Is that the word then?" he said, flippantly, "Can you ever really trust gossip?"

He opened the door for me and I stood there for a second. "Yes!" I said laughing, "You can trust gossip!"

"It's going to be really boring today," Orion said as he turned his laptop on. "None of these guys are in active withdrawal. And none of them have any beef with each other either."

"There," he said, turning the laptop to the side so we could both see the screen. The bodies were still. Maybe an adjustment every few seconds or a comment to each other every few minutes. We could hear them too, but they spoke quietly except for loud laughter from the group of women still gossiping.

I pulled my jacket around me and sat across from him. He moved several objects out of the way and pulled a game from the shelves behind him.

"Scrabble?" I asked.

"Yes," he said somberly, "I challenge you."

"You know I have a degree in English, right?"

"Do you accept the challenge?"

"And a Masters in Education?"

He looked at me, eyes narrowed.

"Of course I accept."

We drew our letters and the game began.

"P-L-A-Y." He shook the bag and pulled out 4 new letters. He had beautiful hands. Wide palms, long fingers, short nails. I looked down at my chubby fingers and shook my head.

"S-H-Y." I took the bag back and pulled two.

He used the "P" to spell "P-L-E-A-S-E." He looked at me wickedly.

I smiled back and used the "H" in SHY to spell "H-E-L-P."

He laughed. "C-R-A-V-E," he said. I felt a tingle rush through my pussy.

I swallowed hard. The effect he had on me was plain as day. I played "F-E-A-R" from the "R" in CRAVE.

He cocked his head to the side at that, searching my eyes with his for several long seconds, then played "O-P-E-N" using the "P" in HELP.

I blinked furiously. If I hadn't seen us both drawing random letters from the bag, I would have been sure this was a set up. I thought for a minute, then played "A-L-A-R-M" from the "A" in PLEASE. An alarm would bring this to an end.

He was already ready to play "M-O-R-E" from the "M" in ALARM.

I looked down at my letters. "S-T-O-K-E-U-N-X." I could use the "R" in MORE to spell "STROKE." I looked back up at Orion. Nope, I told myself. Pick a different word. "SEX." No. CUNT. No. RUTS. What? SUCK. No, goddammit!

"I think I need to take a break," I said, fanning my face with my hand. I shook my arms out of my coat and accidentally nudged the board. The letters slid off to one side. "Shit, I'm sorry," I said, trying to form the letters into the words we'd just created.

"Let's take a break, then," Orion said, his strong hands easily flipping his laptop into a tablet. "Put the coat back on and we'll walk outside."

A break from YOU jerk! I said to myself, but obeyed him immediately, just like I always did.

I didn't have gloves, so I pushed my hands deep into the pockets of my jacket. He noticed, but didn't say anything. We walked on the sidewalk that circled the building in silence, looking out at the gray world. Pavement, concrete, barren tree limbs, heavy fog.

"What time is it?" I asked him quietly, looking up at the sky.

"It's only noon, but it seems much later, doesn't it? Time flies..."

"The clouds are dark gray. Do you think it'll rain?" I asked.

"If it does anything, it'll snow or ice. It's too cold for rain," he explained, "Speaking of cold, have you had enough of a break? You don't have gloves."

"Yes," I said meekly, tucking my chin inside my jacket. I followed him back up the sidewalk to the heavy double doors. He held one open for me and we silently went back to his office. I sat down and immediately began to pick up the pieces of the game. I excused myself to go to the restroom. He went right after me. It was almost time for lunch.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Lunch commenced much the same as breakfast. I watched Orion from across the room. He was handsome. He had a great physique. But more than that, he was so kind. It almost wasn't fair. Waitresses have all the luck, I said to myself.

Without school, the residents had free time again--I teasingly offered to teach a lesson, but I was good-naturedly boo-ed. The women decided to put on a Christmas movie, so they gathered around the TV. A few of the guys joined them. Two others started a game of chess at one of the tables. Our oldest resident, Murphy, snagged a couch by the wall of windows and covered up with a blanket. The remaining three headed toward the workout room, where there was a treadmill, a few other machines, and a set of weights. Orion paused when he saw them just for an extra second, but didn't say anything.

We hadn't been sitting in his office for more than 5 minutes when the alarm went off. Our eyes flew to the screen and we could see three men in the weight room fighting. Orion jumped across the desk and me, shouting out instructions: "Get a phone, radio! Meet me upstairs!"

I decided I wasn't going to let my fat ass leave him to break up a fight on his own, so I grabbed the radio from his desk, made sure I had my phone in my bra, and ran (much slower) after Orion. My adrenaline was pulsating though, so I wasn't as slow as I thought I'd be. I ran through the throng of residents who had crowded around the doorway to watch.

"Get back! Go back and sit down!" I yelled to them.

"Get Shaun!" Orion ordered. He was on the ground, blood pouring from a cut on his eye, uselessly trying to get up. I did what Orion said anyway, and pulled him toward the wall where I could restrain him if necessary.

Orion had Henry in an active restraint. Henry was cursing, trying to kick Orion, still in a rage. Daniel, the man in the room that hadn't fought had Markus pressed up against the wall--he was trying to stop him from fighting. Markus had basically given up and had his hands up. Daniel kept one hand splayed on his chest and the other holding the collar of his shirt against the wall.

I watched Orion deftly hold the man. I wanted to help, but knew I'd just get in the way. Shaun had calmed down, and I'd sent DJ to get the first aid kit on the wall in the cafeteria.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, concern flooding my face.

"Hell yeah, I'm okay!" Orion said, humor in his voice, "Don't you know? I get off on this shit. Don't I, Henry?"

"Fuck you!" Henry yelled back in response.

"As soon as you calm down, I'll let you go. If not, my friend Charlotte here has her phone--" he looked at me and I nodded, "And will instead call the police. We can handle it either way, Henry. You decide."

Henry bucked against Orion trying to hit him in the face with the back of his head. Orion didn't say a word or move an inch, but I could see the blood pouring from his nose.

"Are we playing those games Henry?" Orion said calmly. He used one leg to sweep Henry's legs out from under him. They both went down. Henry ended up on his stomach and Orion had his arms locked behind Henry's back.

"Ms. Charlotte, my love?" Orion said over the stream of curse words coming out of Henry's mouth, "Could you go ahead and call the police darlin'?"

I pulled my phone out of my bra and dialed 911.

"Yeah, Ms. Charlotte," Henry said sarcastically, "You fucking fat white cunt! Call the police bitch!" He would've spit at me, but his face was against the carpet.

I froze. Old trauma surfaced for a split second. I think Orion could see it on my face before I got it in check. One thing I'd heard about Orion from day one, is that he doesn't play when it comes to respecting women. I'd not known exactly what they meant until now. I'd started giving the dispatcher the necessary information, but took a step back when I heard Orion's voice.

"What did you just say?!?!?" Orion demanded, his mouth was right next to the man's ear. Orion's face turned red, and his entire body tensed up even tighter, "I know you didn't just say that to her."

"I called her a cunt--" Henry tried to finish, but Orion used his weight to shove Henry's face against the rough carpet.

"You don't," Orion said, scrubbing Henry's face one way, "disrespect," he scrubbed Henry's face the other way, "my female staff!"

"Orion," I said, pulling him out of his rage just a teeny bit. He looked up at me. "It's okay. You're okay. I'm okay."

This was who I was--calm in the face of an emergency or tragedy. I had orchestrated everything around Orion. I yelled at DJ and Lori to put on gloves before cleaning up the gashes on Shaun's face (they did.) I confirmed that Markus was calm and asked Daniel and Murphy (who finally woke up), to get him water and to sit with him. I had ordered the others to go back to the day room--we didn't need an audience. I had even called Cici as soon as I finished with the 911 operator. I told her there was an incident, it was being handled, there were minor injuries to two residents and one staff, that the police had been called, and we'd call her back when everything had calmed down. Cici commented before we hung up, "Charlie, I'm sure Orion is thanking his lucky stars you're so calm."

The police came, took statements and arrested Henry. He'd gotten high. Markus and Shaun had confronted him--that's what started the fight. The EMTs assessed Shaun and Orion's injuries--they both had broken noses. They were each given ice packs. Everyone was calm by the time the police and EMTs left. Just in time for group therapy.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Marissa, one of the LCSWs, had arrived just as the police were leaving. Orion headed to his office, leaving me to fill in Marissa on what had just happened.

"Oh, fun," she replied sarcastically after hearing about the events.

"Don't worry--they're all good now. But we'll keep an eye on the cameras anyway, just to be safe."

"Thanks Charlie," Marissa said, stepping into the elevator. I nodded and headed off to find Orion.

His office chair was tilted back and he was balancing the ice pack on his face. I knocked twice on the door frame and he looked up.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked him.

"Yep. I'm good. You should see the other guy," he deadpanned.

"I did--he had a dislocated shoulder, a chipped tooth, and rug burns from his chin to his forehead."

Orion chuckled. "Wow," he said.

"Thank you--for--for standing up for me--you didn't have to--" I didn't even finish the sentence before I was walking out of the room. I'm your girl during the emergency--calm, cool, and collected. But after it's all over? I am definitely going to cry.

"I'm going--bathroom--" I said, spinning around and racing to the bathroom. Tears were already overflowing and I knew I'd be sobbing in a minute. I locked the door and wet a paper towel to cool my face. I couldn't catch my breath. I slid to the ground. I was hiccuping, sobbing, blubbering--and then panicking when I heard Orion's voice.

"Open the door Charlotte. Right now."

"NO!" I responded, "I'll be okay in just a minute." I continued to sob, trying to take deep breaths.

"Open. The. Door." he demanded. "You know I can break in if I have to." The locks malfunctioned frequently, and Orion was often called to let someone in or out.

"I know you can," I sobbed, "But you won't."

"Charlotte."

I didn't say anything else. I heard a sharp noise and then felt strong arms wrap around me. I fell against his chest, relaxing into his arms.

"You gotta let me comfort you. I can't stand to hear somebody I care about crying."

"You gotta--sniff--listen to me--hiccup--when I say--sob--I'm gonna be fine."

We sat there for I don't know how long. I'd finally stopped crying. When I realized the situation I was in, I stiffened up again.

"You're okay now?" Orion asked, smoothing back my hair. "You've got a mascara situation going on--" he stopped and smiled.

"I'm okay. Just fucking embarrassed. I'm amazed at my ability to keep from falling apart until the emergency is over."

He stood up and held out his hands for me. I got to my feet and leaned over the sink, looking at the black streaks of mascara.

"Hey, take it easy--finish washing your face and then go sit in my office. Group ends in about an hour, so I'm going to clean up the weight room until Marissa is finished. I can monitor dinner on my own."

I turned and stood in front of him. "The whole point of me being here is because you can't have more than 10 residents per staff. I'll be right up."

"Dammit, Charlotte, just do what I said."

"But--"

"Charlotte."

I dropped my head and nodded reluctantly.

"Good girl."

I cleaned up as best I could using cheap paper towels and hand soap. I went back to Orion's office and sat in his desk chair. I spun one way, then another, then grabbed my jacket and covered up with it, leaning back as far as I could in the chair.

When I woke up, Orion was sitting in the chair on the other side of his desk, the only light in the room the glow from his laptop.

"What time is it?" I asked softly.

"It's 6:30," he said, "And we have a problem."

I sat up in the chair suddenly, "What?"

"The van driver just called. He says they made it to the church, but just barely. They just got there. While they were unloading, they were told the meeting was canceled."

I looked out the window, expecting snow. "Oh, so they're coming back now? Why was it canceled?"

"No. Apparently there's been a travel advisory since 1:30 that nobody knew about. It's not snow--it's ice. And it's coming down harder now."