Fix You

It had been a week since Daisy started working here and I was getting home later and later every day. She didn’t know that I started taking my time packing up as the day ended, or that I purposely lingered around her desk to continue to talk to her. There was something that she was hiding and I just wanted a few seconds inside of her head to know what she was thinking.

She also didn’t know that I would sit in the parking lot, waiting to see when her asshole of a boyfriend would arrive.

I never met the guy but I assumed he was an asshole. She was off at five, there was no reason for him to not be there in time. The latest I had to wait was forty minutes. Forty minutes after everyone else had gone for the day, this guy finally showed up.

I was determined to get her to speak with me, or at least let me give her a ride home. She shouldn’t have to sit around and wait so long for him.

I passed by Daisy’s desk one morning, offering her a small smile. She didn’t return it, so on my way back from the water cooler, I made sure to stop at her desk.

“Um, what can I do for you, Mr. Styles?” she asked, never taking her eyes off of her computer. It was odd that she always seemed too preoccupied with her work to focus on anything else whenever I was around. Olivia would do anything to get out of working when I stopped by.

“I was thinking, you should let me give you a ride home. That way you’re not here all night waiting for him to show up,” I offered, hoping she would see it as a gesture of good will and nothing more. From watching her around the office these past few days, it seemed as though Daisy didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea.

She was loyal to her boyfriend, though I didn’t agree that striking up a friendship with the opposite sex constituted cheating, but to each their own I supposed.

“That won’t be necessary,” she commented. Her phone made a noise and she glanced down at the screen, gasping when she saw the text on pop up. I could only make a few words out, but it didn’t sound like anything she should be worrying about.

“Forgot jacket, coming up” was all it said.

Daisy looked up from her phone and at me, shaking her head quickly. “You’ve got to go back to your desk, Mr. Styles,” she said quickly and I could hear the fear in her voice, so much that it was frightening me. Whoever it was that was coming upstairs, Daisy was afraid of this person and I felt like I needed to protect her from him.

“Is someone following you?” I asked and she shook her head, shooing me away again.


It looked as though it pained her to not be able to say what was wrong, but I wasn’t going to push it. Instead, I headed back to the water cooler, pretending to add water to my cup.

As the elevator doors opened, a chiseled, blonde guy stepped out, carrying a jacket. This must be the person. For a moment, I wondered if she was cheating and she didn’t want anyone to know who he was.

The longer I looked at this guy, who, by the way, no guy should be allowed to be that pretty, I realized he had been in the driver’s seat every time Daisy came rushing out of the office. I guess I didn’t recognize him without his aviators.

“You forgot this in the car. You know how I feel about you getting sick,” Daisy’s boyfriend bellowed. His voice carried through the office and everyone grew silent, enjoying this glimpse into Daisy’s personal life. She kept herself so guarded, this was like watching a dog walk on it’s hind legs.

You couldn’t look away.

As Daisy stood to thank him, I watched as he gripped onto her good arm and whispered something in her ear. It bothered my to see how tightly he was holding onto her arm. From the angle I was standing at, I may have been the only one to notice. And whatever it was that he said to her seemed to drain the color from Daisy’s face. She nodded and sat back down, pulling her arm into her lap.

I quickly turned back to the water fountain, not wanting him to have caught me staring at the pair. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, though I was usually the first person to do so, but I was fairly certain that he would kick my ass if he knew what I was thinking.

Did Daisy really fall down the stairs? My head was spinning with information.

Once her boyfriend was back in the elevator and out of sight, I strolled back over to her desk, unsure of what to say.

“Here’s my water,” I blurted out, setting my cup down on her desk and retreated back to my desk.

Smooth move, Styles.

I didn’t know how to react, if what I thought just happened actually happened, then she needed help. And if I was way off base, then things between us would be more awkward than they already were.

Instead, I did the only thing I could do: I sat at my desk and worked. Of course, I allowed myself the occasional Niall distraction, but other than that, I let myself focus solely on my work. I didn’t want to think about what could actually be going on with Daisy.

As I was getting ready to head out, I noticed Daisy was still at her desk and was making no signs to leave for the day. I had no idea if she had even heard from her boyfriend, or if he was just really stuck in traffic today.

“Where’s your ride?” I asked her, stopping at her desk. When she looked up at me, I got the hint that she wasn’t in a good mood and it may have had something to do with what happened earlier.

I’ve only known this girl fro a week, but it broke my heart to look at her. It seemed as though she had so much she wanted to say, but was carefully choosing her words as to not give away what was going on.

“Ryan said he’s working late and didn’t know when he’d get off,” she finally said. I couldn’t hide the look of bewilderment from my face. He didn’t know when he’d get off, but he expected her to wait for him? That couldn’t have been fair.

“You couldn’t catch a ride home in a taxi? Or with a co-worker?” I asked, mostly questioning his reasoning,, because I had a feeling she wouldn’t have had a problem with doing either of those things.

Daisy shook her head and I awaited what bullshit excuse she could come up with this time.

“It’s not that. Ryan is just protective and he would be really upset if something happens to me. If he picks me up then that means he’ll know that I’m okay,” she explained and I rolled by eyes. That was the biggest load of crap if I ever heard any.

I wondered if that was how he rationalized it to her or if that was what she really thought about his behavior. There was a big difference between controlling and caring and this Ryan guy was obviously doing what he could to control her.

“So he’d be okay with you sitting in a building until whatever time he is done with work instead of you being safe and at home?” I shot back. I set my stuff down, I couldn’t let her sit here all night by herself. If I couldn’t drive her home, at least I could keep her company.

“What are you doing?” she asked, watching me set my things against her desk, “if it’s really late and your car is here, he might get the wrong idea. I don’t want him to think there’s something going on between us.”

I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped at her statement. If another car is in the parking lot that late, then he would assume there was something going on instead of assuming someone else in the building was still working? I scoffed at Daisy and picked up my things, heading into the elevator without so much as a goodbye.

It wasn’t until the long ride down that I realized I was getting angry at the wrong person. There was no way Daisy was that insane to have thought his behaviors were okay. And the look that she gave earlier sealed the deal, she was terrified of him, afraid that if she didn’t stay in line, then he would hurt her.

I shouldn’t be taking my anger out on her, I should be trying to help her. Once I got down to the parking lot, I set my bag in the passenger seat and drove out of the parking lot, parking near my favorite Chinese restaurant down the street. I had frequented there so often that the owner didn’t mind me parking in their parking lot, thankfully, and I ordered some food to go.

Walking back, I realized what I was doing could’ve been dangerous. If her boyfriend’s car had been in front and he saw me bringing Daisy dinner, he could get the wrong idea again. From the way she spoke, it seemed as though he was punishing her, in a sense, for anything he deemed wrong.

Thankfully, he wasn’t there, and as it was after hours, you needed a keycard to get into the building. As the elevator doors opened onto our floor, I saw Daisy jump, fearing the worst.

“Sorry, I thought you had left,” she said as she held onto her chest, shaking her head at me. I hadn’t intended to scare her, but it was a little funny that I had managed to. I lifted up my hand with the food and showed her what I had gotten, some food for the two of us.

“I moved my car out of the parking lot and got some dinner, because I definitely can’t let you sit here all night, Daisy. Even if you do need a keycard to get into the building, what if someone was already inside? Not taking any chances.” I motioned for Daisy to follow me to the break room and she grabbed her cellphone and wrapped her cardigan around herself before following me.

It seemed as though I had broken through at least one of her walls she had put up. I was officially the first male in the office she had spoken to.

“You didn’t have to do this,” she sighed as she took her seat and her stomach grumbled at the perfect time. Laughing, I opened up all of the containers of food, having a mixture of chicken, vegetarian, and seafood.

“Sounds like I did,” I teased. “I wasn’t sure if you ate meat or not, so if you don’t eat tofu, I’m okay with that. I’ll eat it.”

Daisy looked down at her options and grabbed a fork, not bothering to look up at me. Yet again, she seemed to be struggling with her emotions or finding the right words. Eventually she settled on a small “thank you” and began to eat. It was a gesture so small but it seemed to mean a lot to her.

She didn’t say much while we were eating, only giving me a small nod every so often and would glance down at her phone to make sure she didn’t miss his phone call. Another hour went by and I grew angrier by the minute, I couldn’t believe it was nearly seven and he hadn’t so much as called. By this time, Daisy was giving me more than single word responses and I was actually finding out more about her.

“Well, my dream was to be an artist or something, but we just never had the time. I always had so much I had to do in the house all day. I had to practically beg to get a job, because I want money to get my own supplies.”

She continued to go on about how she wished to travel the world and see all of the amazing artwork she had only seen pictures of. What struck me as odd was her choice in wording. She had to beg to get a job? That didn’t seem healthy at all. And she had to pay for her own supplies? If I was able to afford it, I would give whoever I was dating whatever they needed. It was her dream to be an artist and it didn’t seem like Ryan supported it much.

The longer we sat and spoke, the more she opened up to me. She wasn’t so cautious with her phrasing, and it was the little things she would say that gave more evidence to the fact that Ryan was controlling.

“I’m sorry, I’m talking a lot, aren’t I?” she asked, stopping herself. I shook my head, giving her a small smile. She had been going a mile a minute, but it was refreshing after only getting short replies for the past few days.

“I don’t normally talk this much at home so I feel like it’s a lot. If it is just stop me, please.” I nodded, giving her all the encouragement she needed. When she told a story, her whole body became animated, she would gesture wildly with her hands, her face would light up, why she wouldn’t speak much at home was insane.

I glanced at the clock on the wall and realized it was getting closer to nine and he still hadn’t called. “Have you tried calling him?” I suggested, not meaning to cut her off. I was getting tired and I’m sure she was as well.

“No. Um, if he’s working, he doesn’t want to be interrupted,” she explained. Daisy went from spewing out word vomit to carefully choosing her words again and I sighed. She wouldn’t be interrupting, she was just trying to get an ETA, but I wasn’t going to argue with her. This seemed to work for her.

I wondered if he was really working late, or if he was out with friends, out with other girls, or just being an asshole, and then it occurred to me that he may have been trying to get her to quit. He didn’t want her to work in the first place, and if he made a habit of coming to pick her up late, she might eventually quit and go back to working at home.

As I opened my mouth to speak, Daisy’s phone rang, interrupting our silence. I made sure to remain quiet, not wanting to get her in trouble and I could tell he was downstairs, waiting for her. She moved quickly, rushing back to her desk to grab her things and I sighed, feeling bad for her.

“I’m going to clean up and head out after you. So he doesn’t see me,” I explained and she nodded, sending a small smile my way.

“Thank you for this, Harry. I really do appreciate it,” Daisy said quietly and walked into the elevator, leaving me alone in the office.

In a matter of seconds, she went from the talkative, highly animated girl in the break room back to the receptionist that barely said a word. She didn’t know it yet, but I was determined to save her from this relationship before it damaged her even more than it already had.

Notes

Thanks for the kind words and sorry about the long update! I'll try and update MakeDamnSure soon! xx