Page 12 of Company Ink

Monique's laugh vibrates the sectional. "I take it he's as good looking in person as he is online?"

I spring my body upright and pout. "He's even better in person! I swear the universe is playing some sick cosmic joke on me."

Monique tilts her head. "Oh, no! You poor sweet girl. How will you ever survive? What a cruelcruelworld you live in!" she exclaims, sarcastically.

"Mon!" I whine, digging around the chip bowl in her lap and popping one into my mouth. "It's not funny. What am I supposed to do? I have to see the man every day!"

"Hmm..." Monique taps a sassy finger against her lips. "Youcouldgo to work, do your job,notsleep with your boss, and then come home? That's what us normal people do."

I fling a chip at her chest. "Your boss is a fifty-five-year-old woman with a mustache. I think my situation is a little bit different than yours!"

Monique rolls her eyes. "Cass, you might be bending yourself out of shape for no reason. How do you even know he wants to sleep withyou?"

My jaw drops. Did she really just ask me that? "Oh, please! He was basically eye-fucking me during our entire meeting. I swear my bra clasp snapped open at some point."

Monique face-palms herself. "The fact that you were able to say that with a straight face worries me, cher."

"Whatever!" I let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm going to bed." I stand up and stretch. Even though it's only 6 pm, I feel like I've been awake for days. "And when I wake up tomorrow all of these stupid feelings will be gone. You know why?"

"Why?" Monique asks, her eyelids drooping with annoyance.

"Because I am in control of my emotions," I explain sternly, more so attempting to convince myself, rather than my roomie.

"Cass, I've known you since you were fourteen," Monique says. "When have you ever been able to control your emotions?"

I clench my teeth and grunt internally. "I'm doing it right now." Old Cassie would have dumped the entire bowl of party mix on Monique's head, but new and improved Cassie is just red-faced and vibrating violently. That's progress if you ask me.

"Cassie, breathe," Monique chuckles. "You're going to pop a blood vessel."

I huff and storm down the hallway to my room. "Goodnight!"

Monique's laugh echoes behind me. "Love you!"

"Mew mew," I mock her, shutting my bedroom door.

I hurl myself on my queen size bed. Monique thinks I'm being dramatic, and in her defense, I sort of am. But this situation is simply unfair! He's like a piece of forbidden fruit.

I now understand how poor Eve must have felt.

Adrian is my apple.

But since Eve took a bite... why can't I?

Just as I'm flipping open my laptop to re-watchScandalfor the third time, my phone rings.

"Hi, Auntie Lucy," I say into the speaker. "How's it going?"

"Oh, it's going alright, same old same old. I was just calling to see how your first day went."

I still haven't told my parents I was laid off from NVP, but I called Lucy as soon as Nadine hired me. I trust her with my life, and I know she wouldn't rat on me to my dad; they never got along anyway, not even when they were kids.

"It was pretty good. I met a few of my co-workers, did some training, got all my passcodes and stuff," I laugh. "Met myboss."

"Is your boss nice?" she asks.

I blow a raspberry. "Is he ever."

"Oh, Cassie, I think there's a story here," Lucy observes with a soft chuckle. "Can I take you out for lunch tomorrow to celebrate? I'm picking Ness up from the doctor's around 12:30 pm. Maybe we can meet at around 1 pm? You get a lunch break, right?"

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