UNPREDICTABLE
VI. NERVES
"YOU REALLY GET ON MY
NERVES MISS ELLWOOD."

➖
THE FIRST two days after Shawn had started as the new CEO of Ellwood Corporation, had dragged so much, that Emery wished she was being dragged against the concrete instead. She was glad that she had Wednesday off, because she didn't know what she would be doing otherwise.

She'd spent her morning at the gym, before she came home and cuddled up on the couch to watch the Vampire Diaries, because she hadn't watched the last two seasons that they'd released because she was so busy at work all the time.

She was in the middle of an episode, when her phone vibrated beside her on the couch. Her eyes flickered to the screen, seeing Shawn's contact pop up on her phone. She just left it and continued watching TV, like she had done with the messages from Lainey and Edward, surprisingly. Edward barely texted her, unless it was an emergency, while Lainey would message her every chance she got.

When he phone vibrated again, let out a whine of annoyance, pausing the episode with the remote. She leant over to pick the phone up, finding another message from Shawn, which made her roll her eyes in complete annoyance that he insisted on sending her more than one message to get his point across.

PA'S FAVOURITE LIL BITCH:
Miss Ellwood, mind telling me why I just got an email to say that you haven't sent the stats out to Ellwood Corporation across the world?
sent at 11:45am

PA'S FAVOURITE LIL BITCH:
Where are you? Miss Graham just told me that you're not working today. Why?
sent at 11:54am

She rolled her eyes in annoyance at the way he called her "Miss Ellwood". There's something about the name that just irritates her so much, that she wished she could tell him to stop without being offensive. And the stats, she had sent those out on Monday. Why were they asking for them again?

EMERY ELLWOOD:
I sent them out on Monday afternoon, Mr Mendes.
sent at 11:56am

EMERY ELLWOOD:
My contract states that I get at least one day off. Pa and I agreed for it to be Wednesday.
read at 12:03pm

PA'S FAVOURITE LIL BITCH:
Right, I'll let them know. Thank you.
read at 12:04pm

PA'S FAVOURITE LIL BITCH:
If it's in your contract, then that's fine. I'll see you Thursday morning, 7am sharp then.
read at 12:06pm

EMERY ELLWOOD:
I'm sure you will, but, that's rush hour on the sidewalk here. And also, I go to Starbucks at 8:15 every morning so it wouldn't work. It ruins my routine. Sorry "boss".
read at 12:08pm

PA'S FAVOURITE LIL BITCH:
You really get on my nerves Miss Ellwood.
read at 12:09pm

EMERY ELLWOOD:
Good to know. I have to leave you now because I'm busy drinking wine and hanging out with my cat like a normal crazy person does. I'll see you in the morning, "boss".
read at 12:11pm

PA'S FAVOURITE LIL BITCH:
I do not want to know. No later than nine am. And if you are, there will be consequences for every minute you're late.
read at 12:15pm

EMERY ELLWOOD:
Yes sir. Fuck, they really need a saluting emoji.
read at 12:17pm

PA'S FAVOURITE LIL BITCH:
See you tomorrow, Miss Ellwood.
read at 12:19pm

Emery then threw her phone across the other side of the couch, glad that that conversation was finally over. She pressed play on the TV, and continued watching the Vampire Diaries. Her cat was nowhere to be seen however, but it was unusual that he wasn't with her when she was watching TV.

She decided to continue watching The Vampire Diaries and to not worry about her cat, as he was always sleeping somewhere else when he was not around her. He was a bit strange in a way, where there would be many days where he was moody, but other days he'd be all smoochy and cuddly. But today he was neither, as she hadn't seen him since yesterday, which usually meant something was wrong because he hadn't asked for breakfast.

Her thoughts got to the best of after about four hours of watching Netflix, because he still hadn't come out to eat. She thought the worst, and hoped the worst wasn't what had happened to her cat. She'd had him for years, as he was a present from her grandfather when she was younger.

Emery paused the TV, and decided to go looking for the cat. She'd looked everywhere he would usually hide, under her bed, in the spare room, in the cupboard, under the couch, in the bathroom, but she couldn't find him. She was starting to get worried and realised, maybe he was locked outside last night accidentally.

She walked over to the window where she usually let Rogers in when he was outside, but he was nowhere to be found. She decided to climb out to see if he was on somebody else's emergency fire exit, but when she looked out to the buildings just across the road, she found something orange lying on the ground in the middle of the road.

"Rogers?" She whispered.

She quickly climbed back into her apartment, and threw on a pair of shoes before she was running down the stairs of her apartment building. The elevator was always slow when she wanted it to be quicker because she was in a rush.

The blonde ran out of the building, to the middle of the street that wasn't so occupied like it usually was. She dropped to her knees when she recognised the cat lying in the middle of the road as Rogers. She let out a whimper, floods of tears falling down her face as Rogers lay lifeless before her.

She picked up the lifeless cat, his blood seeping through the jumper she was currently wearing. She didn't know what to do with his body, so she made her way up the stairs after entering the building, to go to her apartment to find something to wrap him in.

The sight of his favourite blanket lying on the ground caught her attention, so she went and wrapped him in it. She'd found herself on her way to the local cemetery, where she'd also buried her childhood dog in the the family pets section. Upon her arrival, the cemetery care taker, George, was doing maintenance on a nearby garden, and noticed her arrival.

He let out a sigh, knowing the only reason she ever come to the cemetery was to bury a pet. She didn't talk to much of her family, nor did she ever attend their funerals because they were so distant. But when she was younger, she'd told George that if he ever found her here, it was because she was in need of a burial for her pet.

The care taker grabbed his shovel, and made his way over silently to start preparing a hole for Emery to place her cat in. Emery sat in front of the grave, Rogers in her arms, as George finished digging the hole up. It didn't take anymore than fifteen minutes, because Rogers was only small. But he had such a big impact on Emery's life.

He was always there for her, annoying her to feed him, annoying her to pet and cuddle him, he was always comforting her when she was upset, he slept with her most nights, and would cuddle up when she was watching TV or reading a book, or even using her laptop in bed. He was just there, always, and she missed him already.

When she placed him down, and then got into her car to drive home, she'd broke down into tears. Her vision was slightly blurry the whole way home, but she didn't care because she needed to let it out. It was the best way to make herself feel better.

She'd arrived home and then taken her jumper off to put in the washing machine. After making herself something to eat, and doing the dishes, she'd found herself curled up in bed under the blankets, watching TV again. The vibration of her phone alerted her, and she realised it was reminding her to check a message she hadn't got too long ago.

PA'S FAVOURITE LIL BITCH:
Miss Ellwood, Ellwood Corporation Global apologised for the inconvenience. The receptionist had accidentally deleted the email without the realising.
read at 6:57pm

EMERY ELLWOOD:
Right. Thanks for letting me know.
read at 6:59pm

PA'S FAVOURITE LIL BITCH:
Awfully busy have we been? I sent that message almost four hours ago.
read at 7:01pm

EMERY ELLWOOD:
What I do in my personal life has nothing to do with you, sir. Sorry if I come off as rude, but I'm really not in the mood. I've had a bad day.
read at 7:05pm

PA'S FAVOURITE LIL BITCH:
Right, sorry. I didn't mean to prude. I hope you have a lovely evening, Miss Ellwood.
read at 7:07pm

EMERY ELLWOOD:
I hope so too. Goodnight, Mr Mendes.
read at 7:09pm

PA'S FAVOURITE LIL BITCH:
Good night, Miss Ellwood.
read at 7:11pm

Emery placed her phone onto the charger, closing her eyes in hope that she will be able to get some sleep. It'd took her a few toss and turns, before she found herself asleep and drooling into her pillow case. She was absolutely exhausted, as all of the crying she'd done wore out her body.

When she awoke, she dreaded going to work for the day. But, sitting around while moping wasn't going to help the situation, so she rolled out of bed to have a shower. The hot water relaxed her body, before she cooled off with cold water at the end before getting out to dry herself. She changed, walked down stairs to have breakfast, before walking upstairs to do her hair and grab her phone.

When she left the apartment, she had about twenty minutes to get to work. She let out a sigh, deciding to buy a coffee for Shawn, even though she had a chance that she'd be late if she did. She did it anyway, and made it to Starbucks with fifteen minutes until she was supposed to start work.

By the time she collected the coffee got to her desk, she had five minutes to spare. She placed all of her things down, without even saying hello to Lainey or Edward, before making her way to Shawn's office. The both of them had noticed that something was wrong, but didn't say anything because it might only make it worse. They knew to only speak to her when she's spoken to them first, especially when she was in a mood.

The knocking on the door alerted Shawn, who had been speaking on the phone. He placed the phone against his shoulder, yelling out for her to come in. He placed the phone back against his ear, watching as Emery opened the door, and walked in after closing it.

The blonde noticed that he was on the phone, so she placed the coffee down on his desk without even a hello, before making her way back to her desk. Shawn frowned, because after knowing her for two days, he knew that she always greeted him, regardless if he was on the phone or not. But something was up. He just hoped it had nothing to do with her grandfather.

He figured to just let her be for an hour or so, hoping it was just something to do with not getting enough sleep or something simple. When it passed about ten thirty, he got up from his desk to go find her.

Emery had walked back to her desk after giving Shawn his coffee, taking a seat and booting up her computer. Lainey and Edward watched her quietly as she started working on whatever stuff she had to get done, not even acknowledging their presence. This is what she got like when she was upset, she wasn't responsive to anything.

"Miss Ellwood?" said a voice.

Not only did Emery's eyes, but Lainey and Edward's eyes, also flickered up to the source of the voice. It was Shawn. He was making his way over to Emery's desk, and she let out a small sigh. She hadn't finished all of the stuff he'd sent her an email about yet, she still had half a page or so.

"Yes, Mr Mendes? If you're after the work you emailed me, I won't be long. I've got half a page left," Emery explained.

Shawn just shook his head at her with a smile. He wasn't here for her work, he was here to see if she was feeling okay. She didn't look very happy when she arrived, she didn't even greet him either. For the past two days he'd known her, he'd picked up on the fact that she always greeted him. It was in her nature to.

"That's fine. I'm not here for the work. I wanted to speak to you privately in my office," explained Shawn.

Emery's mouth fell open slightly, letting out a "oh", before she nodded her head. She rose from her seat, grabbing her phone before she followed Shawn to his office. Lainey pulled out her phone, sending a message to Emery.

LAINEY GRAHAM:
Get someeeee 🤤😏😉 x
read at 10:38pm

Emery read the message from the brunette, sticking her rude finger up over her head for her to see, knowing that she was watching her walk away. She heard the giggles of Lainey and Edward, before she found herself in Shawn's office, with him closing the door after them both.

Her heart beat was quickening, and her palms were becoming sweaty. She really wasn't one to open up to people, especially not now, with everything that has happened in the past twenty four hours. How was she supposed to explain that the reason she was so non-responsive, was because her cat passed away?

Her eyes flickered up to Shawn as he made his way past her, taking a seat in the matching chair beside her. He placed his hands on his lap, studying her as she fidgeted on the spot. He was really concerned as to why she was upset, because he couldn't figure it out.

"Miss Ellwood, I've noticed that you've been unresponsive today. Is everything okay?" Shawn asked gently.

Everything came out at once. Emery found tears streaming down her face at the thought of finding her cat lying unresponsive in the middle of the road. Her hands quickly covered her face to try and muffle the sob that escaped her lips at the thought. She couldn't handle it anymore. She just needed to tell someone.

She shook her head, not noticing how aware and concentrated Shawn was on how she was feeling. It broke his heart to know that she was bottling these feelings up inside, and not telling anyone. He knew what it was like. He'd been through it so many times in his life time, he should have been able to identify it on her.

Sobs wracked through her body, more tears free falling at the thought of Rogers. Shawn quickly got up from his seat, kneeling down in front of her, his hands gently placed on her knees. More than just concern in his eyes.

"Whatever is going on. You can tell me. I don't want any secrets between us okay? I don't like seeing you like this. You can take your time. Whatever you need, but I will listen. Okay?"

His voice was so gentle, it made Emery want to hug him so tightly. She nodded her head, pulling her hands away from her face to wipe at her eyes. Shawn turned around to grab a handful of tissues from the box on his desk beside him, handing them to her. She thanked him, wiping at her eyes.

"Y-Yesterday, I was at h-home, watching TV, w-when I-I realised that I hadn't s-seen my c-cat since the m-morning before. S-So I went looking for him, a-and, I found him, o-on the road. H-he'd been hit b-by a c-car. He d-died on i-impact," she sobbed.

"Oh, honey," he whispered.

Shawn pulled her into a tight hug, where she quickly wrapped her arms around him tightly. She buried her face into his shoulder, sobbing as he rubbed her back gently to comfort her. They stayed there for probably fifteen minutes, before Emery pulled away, much to her dismay, to wipe at her eyes.

Shawn reaches out however, holding her eyes as he brought his rumba up to wipe under her teary eyes. Her eyes flickered up to his, adverting quickly to notice the different coloured flecks in them. They were a brown, with small flecks of green. They were so gorgeous under the light.

"You have really pretty irises," mumbled Emery.

Rumbles vibrated her body, and that was when she realised that Shawn was chuckling at her. She let out a small giggle, rubbing at her eyes again. Shawn held her shoulders gently, looking into her eyes with nothing but concern.

"Take the rest of the day off. I don't want you working with everything that has happened," said Shawn.

Emery shook her head. "I-I can't."

Shawn shook his head. "Paid leave. Now go home, relax, watch TV, whatever. Do whatever makes you happy, and I'll see you Friday morning."

Emery just nodded her head, smiling at him gently. He just smiled back, leaning over to kiss her temple in a friendly manner. She flushed bright red however, making her way to the door of the office, when Shawn yelled out.

"Thank you, for the coffee by the way. It was lovely."

"You owe me four dollars sixty," smirked Emery, which was returned with a wink.

"I'll make it up to you on the weekend."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
How was this chapter? I have more oneshots and short series on my tumblr account, which is @ spermendes . I would love some feedback. I cried about four times writing this. Poor Rogers 😭
N.E