Page 97 of XOXO

Great.

Walking through the office, I’m relieved seeing it’s business as usual, until my eyes meet Bobby’s. Our eyes lock for a moment before he looks away. My heart sinks seeing him; he looks as broken as I feel. My jaw quivers watching him walk away. I want to chase after him and tell him I haven’t stopped thinking about him, but I know we could never be. The elevator dings behind me, and I don’t have to look to know who it is. I can feel it. Nigel is the last person I want to see right now.

“Okay woman, start talking,” Colleen says as our server walks away.

“What are you talking about?” I take a sip of my water, avoiding eye contact with her.

“I’ve been trying to get you alone for three damn days. What the hell happened at the party? You were dancing with Nigel when Dave and I snuck off to fuck on his desk,” she says without taking a breath.

“Wait, you and Dave had sex on Nigel’s desk? That’s fantastic.” I laugh.

“Eh, figured he was busy.” She shrugs. “We came back to the party to find Nigel proposing to Liza and people saying you left with someone. Can we talk about how hideous her dress was? The purple flower didn’t even match Nigel’s suit.”

“He proposed? I thought he did that in Hawaii.” I feel like I’m being gut punched all over again.

“Everything is for optics with people like her.” She shrugs.

“People noticed I left with someone?” My heart sinks into my stomach.

“Yup, right after you both got frisky at the bar.” She winks.

“I hate knowing people were talking about me.” I exhale.

“Gossip moves fast. You’re old news now.” She laughs. “So, who was the lucky guy?”

“First, I thought it was Nigel.” I exhale.

“Yeah, yeah.” She sighs before taking a drink of her soda.

“Bobby,” I blurt causing her to choke and gag.

“Oh my God!” I jump to my feet and pat her back as brown liquid spews from her nose and mouth as she coughs.

“Holy shit,” she says, recovering. “Damn, you just about killed me.” She sniffles, wiping her nose with her napkin. “Did you say Bobby?”

“Yes,” I wince.

“From accounting? Mister jolly himself?” She leans into me with narrow eyes.

“That’s the one,” I nervously laugh.

She stares at me while her eyes blink in rapid succession. Her face looks like her brain is overloading and may explode at any moment.

“Bobby?” she questions before bursting into a fit of laughter. “Oh my God, that’s fucking classic. Let me guess, he was like ‘oh golly gee, I’m comedidliuming.’” She snorts.

“Shhh.” I look around. “People are staring.”

“Oh, relax.” She swipes the air. “Did he have that goofy smile on his face the entire time?” She laughs.

“If you don’t stop, I’m going to leave.” I huff.

“I’m sorry.” She wipes tears from her eyes. “I can’t believe you went through with it. How drunk were you?”

“We left the masks on.” I look down. “It was my idea.”

“We did too. Fucking hot.” She nods.

“I didn’t know it was him until I woke up the next morning.” I close my eyes and rub my temples.

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