Page 3 of Simply Irresistible
Meredith: Well, I know that you’re at work!
Melanie: And how about the moment after you said yes??
Seriously, didn’t she understand the first rule of girls’ club? Well...maybe it wasn’t the first rule. Okay, maybe there wasn’t a rule at all, but still. I couldn’t believe she waited a full day to tell me, and then she told me via text message.
Meredith: We were sort of up to other things then.
Melanie: You’re gross.
Meredith: It’s only gross because you’ve been single forever.
Ouch.
Meredith: I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.
Melanie: Yes, you did.
Meredith: Any prospects?
I thought about telling Meredith about the guy in the elevator. Then I remembered that I couldn’t even make eye contact with him, and there was nothing really to tell. I heard Brianna stirring in her office.
Melanie: No. Look, I’ve got to get back to work, but expect a Facetime call when I get home from work!
Meredith: Roger dodger.
I tucked my phone back into my desk drawer right as Brianna stuck her head out of her office. “Any word from Bradley?”
“He’ll be here tomorrow morning at eleven.” I’d just received an email back from his assistant confirming the change.
“Perfect. You are an angel, Melanie.”
She disappeared again, and I reclined in my chair, looking up at the fluorescent lights above my desk. This wasn’t my dream job, but it was a foot in the door of the fashion world, and I was damn good at it.
At that moment...that was enough for me.
3
Tyler
“I really don’t think it’s that difficult of a concept to understand, Scott. When she calls, tell her I’m in a meeting.”
Reason four-hundred-thirty-eight why I hated my boss…he called me by my last name. I wasn’t sure if it was because he called everyone by their last name—because he did that, too—or if it was because he was just a dick.
Reason seventeen why I hated my boss—I learned this one early on—he was a cheating pig and didn’t deserve his sweet wife, who he was asking me to lie to for the thousandth time while he went out with some girl half his age. Roger Hoffstadt was in his mid-forties, balding, with a beer belly and a peaked in high school vibe.You’re the Mandidn’t use female models very often, and when they did, Roger had nothing to do with it, so why this girl and the others before her wasted their time with him, I’d never understand. He wouldn’t and couldn’t get them in the industry the way they wanted.
He left with the too thin girl hanging on his arm and as soon as the elevator doors slid closed behind them, I popped earbuds in my ear, choosing a nineties pop playlist on Amazon Music. Spice Girl’s “Wannabe” started playing, and I was immediately in my happy place. There was nothing the nineties couldn’t cure, in my opinion.
I worked all morning, making notes on article submissions and reviewing ad copy; things Roger was supposed to do yet never did. He reviewed what I put on his desk and approved my changes, rarely ever making additional edits or giving me proper credit. I didn’t care though, not really. This job was just a stepping stone to a career as a journalist. I wanted to be the one writing the articles and making the submissions. I wanted to see my work with red ink splattered all over it…well, maybe notallover it.
I only thought about elevator girl once. It had been two days since I’d seen her last and I wondered when I’d see her again. I decided I’d ask her to lunch the next time I saw her.
Speaking of lunch…I paused my music app and pulled out my earbuds, deciding it was a good time to eat. I logged off my computer and stood, pocketing my cell phone. Since Roger was out of the office, I didn’t have to report my departure to anyone, so I took off across the floor towards the elevator, weaving through the dozen or so cubicles filled with writers and ad staff.
Someday,I promised myself,you will be part of the pit.
Once in the elevator, I punched the lobby button and the doors closed. I watched the numbers change on the small screen above the doors as the elevator descended, then paused at the floor below.
Could it be?I hoped it was her…
