This wouldn't be weird, right?

Emmeline was pretty sure that this was friendly protocol; after all, she'd received presents from friends on her birthday all the time, and none of them had wanted to snog her! Well. She assumed so, anyway! This shouldn't be any different from all those other times, then. She and Edward were coworkers who happened to enjoy each other's companion, so of course she'd get him a birthday present!

The fact that she hadn't gotten the nerve to give him the present until there were only five minutes left in the work day left something to be said.

It was just that--her cousin was there all the time, and if Patrick saw her giving Edward a present it would end up in relentless teasing and then Edward would never speak or look at her again and---not that she cared if he looked at her but sometimes it was nice and why was the clock ticking so loudly? Emmeline let out a breath and rummaged for the wrapped gift in her drawer. She turned to present it from across the room to Edward, but saw that he wasn't there. Had he gone home! Wait! No, he was in the supplies closet, he'd just said!

She hurried up and kept the gift behind her back with one hand, moving down the short hallway until she reached the door of the supplies closet and peered in, "Almost time to go," she said, feeling warm already.