A Very Friendly Fiasco

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)><em>Sometimes the friend zone is breached...</em></strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>He's her office crush and she's the colleague he can't stop thinking about. But with HR's no-fraternization policy breathing down their necks Lizzie and Matt have to get creative if they want to explore what's brewing between them...</span></p><p></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Lizzie:</strong></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>I've been stuck in a corporate rut for years but it's not all bad-there's Matt. Smart funny drop-dead gorgeous Matt whose eyes make me forget how much I hate filling out toxic material regulation paperwork.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>It's not like anything can happen between us. ChemTech's relationship rules are stricter than a chemistry final and honestly I don't think I could survive the embarrassment of submitting a detailed dating log to HR.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>But then Matt invites me to dinner and a concert-as </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>friends</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Fake friends to be exact.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>He claims it's the perfect loophole and I know I should say no. Except...he's Matt. And who am I kidding? I want to go out with him more than I want a handful of my favorite chocolate-covered almonds.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Caught between the thrill of potential romance and the fear of corporate consequences I find myself at a crossroads. Matt's offer is tempting leaving me questioning everything I know about risk and reward.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Navigating dinners and concerts and movies as fake friends seems harmless enough but with every glance and shared laugh every conversation and tender moment the heat between us turns into a bonfire and the façade of friendship crumbles.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>And now I have to decide: Is our connection worth risking my career?</span></p>