Trying to sneak by everyone unnoticed, I order my coffee and stand patiently in line.

People are already beginning to head into the conference room from what I can see. Excitement covers their faces as they laugh and talk amongst one another.

"Nat?" I hear from behind me. I turn around and see Brian approaching me with a smile.

"Oh, hey." I say, offering him a small smile.

"I texted you." He says.

"Oh, yeah. I must have just gotten busy." I reply.

"Busy getting coffee?" He asks with a small laugh, gesturing to the coffee that is now sitting on the counter in front of us.

"Yeah, I guess so." I laugh in reply. "I can barely think right now." I sigh.

"Hey, don't worry. You'll do great. You've got this." He assures me.

I smile a tight smile as we walk towards the crowd of people finding their spot for the meeting. Brian leads the way and finds us a seat towards the front of the room. I watch people fall silent as Grayson and Shane walk in, but some quiet voices can still be heard.

"Here we go." Brian whispers with what I can only assume now is false excitement.

Shane walks over towards the front of the room, with Grayson following behind.

"Thank you all for showing up. Hey, we know you have work to do and so we're going to make this quick. I have a few announcements to make concerning career advancement opportunities as well as some fun things we have planned. We're currently looking to hire on an intern for yours truly, as well as one for Travis in Finance. This is an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of this company. So if anyone is interested, feel free to come and see me in my office sometime today. I'm hoping to get this spot filled as soon as possible. We also have a few company parties coming up. We're celebrating GRIP's 3rd birthday, so that's something to look forward to. And, Yes, there will be booze." He says, earning laughs from almost everyone and cheers from some of the guys.

"Anyways, it's time for me to go ahead and invite Grayson up here to give you the news that you have all been waiting for." He says, gesturing for Grayson to go ahead and walk to the front of the crowd. I can see his nervous demeanor instantly. His hands are clenched as he quickly shoves them into his pockets and stands in front of all of us.

"Thank you all for coming. I know it was mandatory and all, but still." He says nervously, earning a laugh from a few people. I smile softly, not wanting to let out any laughter on principal of the situation. As his eyes gaze over to me quickly, I begin to panic. I can feel Brian glance over at me and then fix his gaze back to Grayson. Grayson offers me a tight smile before finishing his announcement.

"I have looked over all of the apps that were submitted and carefully picked my final few. You're all so very talented, and should be proud of everything you have accomplished. With the finalist on each team, it is not your job to pick an app from your team to focus on and help build together. This is something that will be fun and beneficial for everyone involved. Your team mates will help you throughout the way, and my door is always open for any questions or guidance. So, don't hesitate to ask." He says. Whispers of excitement come from the crowd around us, and i'm just about as surprised as everyone else. This is huge.

"For second place, I have Greg Miller. Greg, i'm looking forward to working with you and really bringing this app to it's full potential. Come by my office later today and we'll schedule some one on one time." He says. Applause is heard throughout the room, but quickly dies down as Grayson prepares to say the first place winner. I look over at Brian who looks like a puppy who just got kicked off of the couch. He looks devastated and confused. In his mind, he think he's already lost this competition. He thinks that he lost it to me.

Grayson's eyes find mine and I give him a quick nod of encouragement. He clears his throat before speaking once more. "For first place, I have Brian Weathers." He says. Applause and cheers fill the small space, and Brian looks like he doesn't actually believe the words that just left Grayson's mouth. I clap for Brian as he smiles proudly.

"Brian, your eye for detail and organization is something that I noticed instantly. I'm looking forward to moving through with this app and starting a team to help turn this idea into something big. I'll email you more information today." He says, giving Brian a small nod.

Brian still looks shocked, but happiness covers his features. The congratulations only come to a halt once Grayson steps down and Shane takes the center stage once more.

"Congrats to the winner, and we look forward to seeing what each individual comes up with as well. We'll go ahead and leave you all back to work. There's some food in the break room as well, so feel free to take a break and get something to eat." He says before walking away with a quick wave to everyone. I watch as he walks back over to Grayson and whispers something to him that I'll never be able to hear over the noise in the room. As the two leave the room, I feel both a weight lift from my shoulders followed by the sudden emptiness of Grayson's absence.

"Nat?" Brian says, grabbing my attention.

"What?" I say, quickly turning my attention back to him.

"I asked if you were okay." He repeats, looking concerned.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, sorry. I must have been in my own head just now." I say.

"Yeah..." He replies in an unsure tone, inspecting me carefully.

"You're looking at me like i'm some science project.

"Sorry." He says, shaking his head quickly. "I'm sorry you didn't win. Hell, i'm mad that you weren't even second place. That's not fair. Your app was better than all of these other ones." He says as we walk back to the main lobby.

"It's fine." I reply, heading towards the elevator. He follows behind, and I can only assume that he's going to come up to my office with me. It's not, though. You deserved to place somewhere on that list." He argues.

"I did place. I was a finalist, remember?" I add, counting down the seconds until this elevator door opens.

"Yeah, but that's not what I mean." He says. Just as the words leave his mouth, the elevator door opens and reveals my floor. "I just don't get how I was the winner and you weren't. Your app was way better than mine and he took far more interest in yours than mine anyways." He adds.

"He didn't take an interest in mine." I reply quickly, unlocking my office door.

"He sure seemed like yours way going to be the winner." He shrugs. "It should have been."

"Yours way always great, Brian."

"Yeah,but yours deserved to win. I think you should have gotten first place. I mean, you didn't even make runner up? Are you kidding me? Why would he offer all of this guidance and help if he wasn't truly interested in it. I was almost sure that you would have won."

"I don't know." I mutter, taking a seat at my desk before opening my laptop to check my email. Although I know there will be nothing new, its purely out of habit.

"I just think you deserved more." He sighs.

"Do you?" I ask curiously. I can sense the attitude in my voice, and i'm sure he can too. I can't help it. I can't just pretend that everything is okay. I can't just pretend like I didn't overhear him talking about me and my app.

"Yeah, of course." He says, giving me a quizzical look.

"I'm just not really cut out for something like this. I mean, competing against a bunch of engineers who have done this for longer and have more experience? Did I really stand a chance against any of you? A fair chance, I mean. I think you and I both know that all he sees is a pretty girl who is now working under him. I mean, that was his plan all along, right?" I say, repeating the words that I remember leaving his mouth. I look up and see him looking at me with slight confusion and shock.

He knows that I know. He has to.

"It's pathetic, really." I add softly.

"Nat, I-"

"I should probably get back to work." I sigh, scrolling down my email list. Nothing new, of course. "Congrats, Brian. I'm happy for you." I add. As hurt and offended I am at his previous words, what i'm telling him is true. I am happy for him. I'll always be happy for him. He does deserve this, whether he was rude about me or not.

"Can we just talk about this first?" He asks with a sigh of his own.

"I have a lot of work to get done with before the end of the day." I lie. Truthfully, I don't have a single thing assigned to me today. "Later, yeah?"

"I didn't know you heard any of that, Nat. I'm sorry. I-"

Before I can say anything or he can even finish his sentence, I see Grayson approaching the office and walking in without so much as a knock on the door.

"Natalia. Brian." He says, acknowledging the two of us with a brisk nod. "I need to speak to you. Alone." He says, looking at me with a serious expression.

"I'll see you later." I say to Brian, who still looks like a hurt puppy.

He nods and exists the office, closing the door behind him. As soon of the door closes, Grayson locks it behind him.

"Uhh, is there a reason you're locking the door?" I question, humor clear in my tone.

"I need to talk to you." He says.

"Okay...about?" I question. I'm too anxious to even take a seat. I stand up and meet his gaze, and he completely surprises me with how intently he's staring back at me.

Suddenly, he walks over and grabs my face in his hands, pulling me in for a kiss much like the one we shared only hours ago. Before I allow myself to sink into the kiss, I pull away.

"What are you doing?!" I exclaim, taking a step back from him.

"I...i'm trying to fix this. Shane told me to just forget about it and Sofia told me to just kiss you again. But not that i've done it, i'm starting to think this might have been a big HR issue." He rambles quickly. "I'm just really confused by everything right now and i've been beating myself up over this because I know that I made a mistake last night by asking you to leave. I didn't want you to leave. I wanted you to stay because I liked dinner and I liked our movie and I liked kissing you and I like you. I don't really know how to handle it correctly, but i'm trying." He says, talking faster than I've ever heard him speak before.

I stand in complete silence, still shocked by the fact that Grayson just kissed me in my office without so much as a hello.

Instead of replying, I do the only thing that seems to make any sense to either of us. I step forward and kiss Grayson with the same passion he had kissed me with only seconds before. He cups my face with his left hand while the right hand rests on my waist, pulling me into him. Our kiss is just as soft and passionate as before. I feel as though I could kiss Grayson forever.

Bang!Bang! Bang!

The sound causes us to jerk away from one another and turn to the window that has a furious looking Shane on the opposite side.

The window from my office to the hallway was no longer hidden with curtains and blinds like I usually had it. Of course, I forgot to close the blinds to my office. However, I didn't exactly expect for Grayson to walk into my office and start kissing me, either.

"My. Office. Now ." Shane yells at us, and I can practically feel the anger in his voice. Even Grayson jerks back at his best friend's tone. He takes a deep breath and walks away from the window, leaving us alone in the silent office.

"Shit." Grayson mutters under his breath.

"I didn't know he was out there." I say quickly, panic filling my voice.

"I didn't either." He shrugs. "He's pissed." He adds.

"Am I going to get fired?" I ask, unable to keep the fear out of my tone.

Grayson looks at me with a confused look.

"No. Why would you get fired?" He asks.

"Because the head of HR just caught me kissing my boss in my office!" I exclaim. I thought this was completely obvious.

"I'm the boss. He can't fire you. I wouldn't let him." He tells me, which does make me feel a little bit better.

"Okay, but he's still the head of HR. Grayson, I don't want him to be mad at me." I say, still not really feeling better after all.

"He's not mad at you." He assures me.

"But how do you know?" I ask.

"I don't." He shrugs. "I just assume i'm the one he's mad at."

"Okay, but the point is that he just caught us in here together. This is a big deal. This is my career. This is everything that I've worked so hard for." I say, wanting to cry right here, right now.

"It's going to be fine, I promise." He says, taking my hand in his. "Do you want me to go and talk to him first?" He asks.

"No, I want to know too." I say, not really wanting to see or speak to Shane ever again at this point.

"Let's go find out what he has to say, okay? And then we'll just...go from there." He adds.

"Okay." I mutter, feeling like I'm going to throw up.

We walk down the hallway together, but stay a solid foot apart from one another. I can tell that he's nervous as well, but I don't think he's nervous for the same reason I am. I'm fearful of my job, while he is probably fearful of his reputation.

I'm not sure which one of us is more afraid, honestly.

As we approach the office, Grayson doesn't even have a chance to knock on the door before it swings open, revealing an angry and annoyed looking Shane.

"Inside. Both of you. Now." He says, pointing into the office that I've only seen inside of once or twice.

It's crazy to think that it was only this morning that I was just in this office, talking to Shane about Grayson. Now, i'm about to get yelled at because of the same situation we were talking about only an hour before.

"What the actual fuck are you two thinking?" Shane says, and I feel my heart drop.