Behind the Screen

Chapter 32

"Jesus Chloe," I laughed, "don't say that."

"Why not?" She teased, "it's true."

"How about we just hope that no one got that show?" I said.

"Fine," she said as she kissed me again, "but it wouldn't be all bad if they did."

I shook my head at her before I looked around and realized just how many people were now swimming and sight seeing around us.

"I'd love to repay the favor," I said to Chloe, "but I think we have too much of an audience now."

"I think you just owe me now," Chloe grinned as she draped her arms around my neck.

She pulled me away from the rocks that I'd been leaning against, and we floated out towards the middle of the swimming hole.

"I can live with that," I said as we both treaded in the chilly water.

I looked up at the waterfall, and over to the rocks that we had just come from.

"I can't believe we just did that," I continued as I glanced at Chloe.

"That was nothing," she smirked, "stick with me and I'll have you doing a lot worse."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I asked her.

"It should," she said, "because it'll be fun."

We stayed in the water for a while longer before getting out and heading back to our clothes. I held on to Chloe's hand as we maneuvered our way back up to the trail.

We got dressed and started our walk back to the parking lot, and it had definitely gotten a lot more crowded.

"Maybe we did kind of beat the rush," Chloe said as we got back into her car.

"Looks like it," I said.

We started on our way back, and Chloe glanced at me out of the corner of her eye as she drove.

"What?" I asked her.

"Nothing," she said with a grin, "that was just a lot of fun."

She reached across and rested her hand on my leg as I nodded back to her.

"Yeah, a little crazy, but fun," I agreed.

                                     ***

The rest of the weekend was uneventful after that outing, and it made Monday come along way too fast.

I got to the office and stopped in for my usual good morning to Chloe.

"Hey," I said as I waved and stood in her doorway.

"Morning Katie," she said with a smile, "do anything else fun over the weekend?"

"Nothing as fun as Saturday," I said to her.

She leaned her face against her hand as she held back a quiet laugh.

"Well I wouldn't think so," she responded.

"Hey by the way," I started, "don't forget that you owe me a rain check for dinner, and I owe you...other things."

"Oh I won't forget those things," she said, "don't you worry."

"Good," I grinned, "we'll get our scores settled soon."

She smiled at me before she went back to concentrating on her computer, and I went over to my own office.

                                        ***

At the end of the day, Chloe and I walked out together and we said our goodbyes. I was getting ready to drive home, when I remembered that tonight was the work outing that Emily was going to come to with me.

"Shit," I said to myself.

I had forgotten all about it. I should've made sure that Chloe was going to be there, but now she'd already left.

I could call her quick, but I needed to get a hold of Emily first. Oh well, she went to most of these things, I'm sure we'd see her there.

"Hey Katie," Emily answered.

"Hey, so I completely forgot about this work thing," I said, "you still good to go?"

"Oh yeah, I still can," she responded, "want to come pick me up?"

"Sure, I'll be there in five," I told her.

"Okay, see you soon," she said before we both hung up.

I got to Emily's a few minutes later, and she quickly came out and got into my car.

"I can't believe I completely forgot about this," I said as I backed out of her driveway.

"I'm kind of surprised you did too," Emily said.

"Oh yeah," she continued, "I forgot to ask what you and Chloe did this weekend."

I could feel my face starting to turn red as I thought back to our trip to the waterfall.

"We uh," I said, "we went on a short hike to this waterfall and swimming place, it was really pretty."

"Damn, turning you into a nature girl, huh?" Emily asked.

"Sure, something like," I responded with a grin.

"Where's this work thing at anyway?" Emily asked me.

"It's at this bar downtown, we're almost there," I told her.

"Okay cool," she said.

We got to the parking lot a few minutes later, and it looked like there were already quite a few people here.

I glanced around for Chloe's car, and was glad when I saw it parked not too far from mine.

"Oh good," I said to Emily, "Chloe's car is here, I didn't get a chance to ask her if she was coming tonight so I wasn't sure."

"I guess I finally get to meet this girl of yours, huh?" Emily said as we walked towards the door.

"Guess so," I said, "but remember we're still not really telling our coworkers."

"Got it," Emily nodded, "I won't announce it to the group then."

"Thank you for that," I said, "much appreciated."

Emily grinned at me and gave me a shrug as I opened the door to the bar. I had only been here one other time before, but it seemed nice enough.

It was kind of dark inside, and I started to look around for the group of people from work. I hadn't found anyone yet, and I turned around to face Emily.

"Do you see any of my coworkers anywhere?" I asked her.

"I don't really know many of your coworkers," she said, "but let me see if I -"

She stopped mid sentence and a weird look came across her face.

"Emily?" I said, "what are you -"

I tried to turn around and see what she was looking at, but she quickly put her hands on my shoulders so I stayed facing her.

"What's going on? What are you doing?" I asked her.

Emily's eyes darted back and forth before she focused back on me.

"I think we need to leave," she said.

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