Page 59 of Dirty News
Finally, I took my seat at the desk and opened my laptop to see what kinds of emails had come in. I found way too many of them and found the whole thingoverwhelming.
The first one I opened said the person was ready to be a fan-for-life of Duke and me. We were so natural together, it seemed like we’d known one anotherforever.
I closed the laptop and dropped my head on top ofit.
What have Idone?
I had no idea how long I lay there like that. When a knock came to my door, I jerked my head up and looked atit.
Could it behim?
I pressed the button under my desk to open the door, and there stood Nina. “Hi, I thought I’d come up and say hello before getting busy on your social media stuff this morning.” She came in and took a seat in the big comfy chair on the other side of my desk. “Wow, are you okay, Lila? I mean, you look out ofsorts.”
“I feel out of sorts.” I leaned my head back in the chair instead of taking my old position of lying on the laptop. That one looked a little too pitiful for anyone else tosee.
“And why is that?” she askedme.
“I can’t really talk about it.” I turned my chair a bit so I could look out the window. All the skyscrapers out there usually made me feel happy inside. But nothing wasn’t making me feel happy. Nothing atall.
“You can’t talk about it?” Nina asked as she got up and went over to the coffee maker to make a pot of coffee. “You need some caffeine, girl. I’m going to make us up a pot and help you get out of this funk you’ve gotten yourselfinto.”
I didn’t want any coffee; I wanted Duke to come and tell me it wasn’t really over. But that didn’t happen, and all too soon I was looking at the steaming cup of coffee Nina brought tome.
She stood there, waiting for me to take it out of her hand. “Thank you,” I told her as I took it from her. She wasn’t about to leave until I drank some of it, that wasobvious.
Taking her cup back to her seat, she went right into the interrogation phase of our conversation. “So, spill it, Lila. Something’s not right, I can see that. Is it about a familymember?”
“No.” I sipped the hot coffee. She’d added some spices and cream, and it was pretty damn good. But I guess I didn’t want anything good because I set it down on mydesk.
Nina wasn’t about to be put off. “Is this about a member of the oppositesex?”
I nodded. “Yep,” but kept my eyes on the swirling mist over the coffeecup.
“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.” Nina placed her cup on the desk too, as if she were really ready to get to work on me. “Is this man aboyfriend?”
“He was,” I admitted that much toher.
“Did this boyfriend break up with you?” She was onfire.
“Yep.” My eyes moved up to hers. “So, now you know the reason for my melancholy mood, Nina. Is this question and answer session overnow?”
She smiled at me. “Far from it. Now, to get to the meat of the problem. Why did this boyfriend break up with you? Was it jealousy over your newfoundsuccess?”
“Not at all.” I spun back and forth in my chair a bit, feeling fidgety. I would’ve loved nothing more than to spill my guts to Nina. I didn’t have anyone else to talk to about this thing, and she had admitted her own struggles with the stupid rules to me. But I had gone a hell of a lot further than merely lusting after Duke. No, he and I had acted on that mutual attraction, and that had either been the biggest mistake we’d both ever made, or something else. What, I didn’tknow.
Nina wasn’t about to give up. “Okay, so not jealous. Did he find another girl he’s interestedin?”
“Not that either.” I hoped that if I answered enough of her questions then she’d just leave mealone.
She’d never get the real reason my boyfriend had dumped me. Who would ever get the answer to thatquestion?
“I can’t really see you being this way, but were you bitchy to him?” She leveled her eyes onme.
Had Ibeen?
“I don’t thinkbitchyis the right term.” I picked up my coffee again, taking a bigger sip of it now that it had cooled off some. “By the way, it would be a crime if I didn’t compliment you on this coffee, Nina. It’s better than any I’ve ever tastedbefore.”
“Thank you. I was a barista before I got this gig. If I’d had more to work with, I could’ve made you an even better cup ofjoe.”
