Chapter 166: Another Blonde
** Harper **
"I’m not sure who that is, actually ..." Naomi said to Lindsey, contemplative. "I haven’t seen her in our meetings. Maybe someone on the executive level?"
"That would explain the dress," Harper muttered, taking an unnecessarily large gulp of her cocktail as she continued to train her eyes on the new girl. A tall blonde — again, so predictable — with a confident and shrewd air that definitely befitted a business woman. Naomi was probably right. And from the way that the blonde leaned so naturally toward Eli’s ears to talk over the music, the two of them definitely knew each other well. Probably even close partners at work.
Harper wasn’t exactly sure how to categorize what she felt at that moment. Jealousy was not something she experienced frequently, and it was hard to say if this was it, since whatever it was on her mind didn’t seem ... either that strong or that ugly. But it wasn’t nothing, either. Actually, it was even a bit worse than what she felt at the time when she met Vanessa ... Probably because it was different knowing that these were the people Eli spent most of his days around. Probably also because she was now his not-yet-public girlfriend, a role that came with different and tricky expectations.
Harper sighed silently into her glass, trying to clear her thoughts. Logically, she understood that it was simply impossible for Eli to never work with a female colleague, and getting jealous — or whatever this was — over the sight of him acting familiarly around them wouldn’t be rational. But ...
"Ah, found you Harper! Finally!" A much needed distraction interrupted her musing, in the form of the Future Vision trio sauntering into sight. "And Lindsey too! Apparently we picked the right direction to wander this evening."
A busy exchange of greetings ensued, along with Naomi’s delighted self introduction as the only non-technical team member present who hadn’t yet met the consultants. Conversations started flowing, quickly pulling Harper’s attention away from the fountain.
~ ~
It was hard to keep her mind off of the mysterious blonde, though. Throughout the next half an hour or so, Harper kept darting furtive glances in the same direction, despite all the intriguing chatters and comments she was getting from her own group. She could only hope that no one had noticed her acting so absentminded ... but it was hard to focus with so many questions and speculations in her head, especially when the gathering of ladies slowly started to disperse from Eli’s side, leaving only the blonde in the end.
At some point, Harper did catch the attention of the man she was watching, briefly as he turned to his side to greet the other colleagues passing by. When their eyes met, he smiled with a raise of his glass in a distant greeting, and the blonde next to him followed his gaze, darting over a look that seemed ... thoroughly scrutinizing.
Harper didn’t like that. It seemed like the two of them had been talking forever. Why didn’t Eli come chat with his girlfriend instead? And why did the judging look from that blonde feel so much like the one from Vanessa?