Rude hadn’t expected to see you again so soon, but there you were, getting seated for the company-wide meeting the same time he enters the room. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this restless. Reno had been the one to introduce you two, teasing him for being a homebody with no game. Truthfully, Rude hadn’t expected anything to come from it, but then he met you and you were so easy to talk to. He’d had such a nice time that he started to look forward to meeting you again, hopefully without Reno as a buffer.

Without giving himself a moment to falter, Rude slips into the seat beside you and feels your gaze lift, and when your face lights up in recognition and excitement, it hits him harder than he expects. Surely it wasn’t crazy for him to think you might like him too. “Mind if I sit here?” he asks, internally grimacing when he realizes he already is sitting.