A knock at the door pushed Raj further into the corner, one hand holding the base of the lamp like a weapon. He watched the doorknob carefully.
“Raj?” came a familiar voice, and he eased almost instantly. “Are you okay?”
Debbie stepped into the room, squinting at the three lamps all aimed directly at the door. Raj pushed one of them down for her, smiled as best he could.
“Ziggy said you seemed tense,” she said politely, sitting down on the bed next to him, the only place she could think to put herself. The guest bedroom was small, but that was exactly what he wanted. The window was blocked by a bookcase, and the desk was right next to the door.
“I’m doing better,” Raj said. “It was a long night, but I’m getting better.”
She smiled, but he could see she was unsure.
“Everyone misses you at work,” she said. “You were so funny all the time.”
Raj’s eyes kept darting between her and the open door, so she leaned over and pushed it closed. Raj quickly got up and pushed the desk in front of it, then sat back in the corner, smiling to himself.
Debbie put a hand on his shoulder, gently squeezing.
“Raj, I know you’ve had a hard time—”
“Heh, yeah. Hard time.”
“Ziggy said your girlfriend kicked you out?”
“Yesterday, yeah. But you know, it was over a long time ago. I just didn’t notice until recently.”
“I know the feeling,” Debbie said softly. She took her hand back and stared at her fingernails, rubbing at one like it needed to be cleaned.
“You heard about Reggie?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Raj said.
“Do you know what happened to him?”
“No,” Raj lied. “You?”
“No,” she said. “They wouldn’t tell us. But everyone says it had to be murder, or they wouldn’t be interviewing us like that.”
Raj just nodded.
“You know,” Debbie said, leaning back against the wall so she was shoulder-to-shoulder with Raj. “I always thought you’d have made a better manager.”
“I don’t think so,” Raj said, almost laughing at the thought.
“No really!” she said. “You know what you’re doing and you know how to handle people. And you’re funny, and you’re smart, and you’re cute…”
It was so sudden Raj almost missed it. When he glanced over at her, she was staring at him with wide-open eyes, holding her breath.
“Debbie, I—” But she kissed him. A short kiss, cautious, but positively glowing with unspoken passion that he couldn’t help himself… he kissed her back. Door sealed and window blocked, he pulled off her shirt and they fell to the floor, wrapped together, urgent, desperate.
“Raj,” Debbie gasped as he kissed her neck, an exotic perfume making him mad. “I know we shouldn’t, but I’ve wanted—”
“Shh,” he said, kissing her mouth, brushing the hair from her face. “No words. No words…”
She wrapped her arms around him tighter as he pushed off more clothes, and soon they were beyond words altogether.
Neither one noticed the screen of his iPhone flashing red, or the subtle sound of the camera trying to focus on what the microphone could hear.
