Page 3 of A Roommate for Christmas
But just five minutes earlier, she had received an email from her boss with information about her new client—a local plumbing company whose brand was quite literally in the shitter.
Sure, her office had fancy boardrooms, but she never got assigned the type of clients that were given catered meetings there.She was stuck in the cubicle farm and, even with her promotion nearly two years ago, still forced to work on the agency's C-list projects.
As her cubicle came back into focus, she stared at the photos pinned next to her computer.There was a picture of her with her parents at the top of Willis Tower, taken last summer.She looked equally like both of her parents.She had her dad’s green eyes and pointed nose, and her mom’s oval-shaped face and dirty blonde hair.
The other picture was of her and Nadia, her best friend and roommate.It was a photo from their trip to Nashville a few years ago.They had gone all out with the cowboy boots and bedazzled jean jackets.Neither of them had worn the boots since, but they made for a cute photo in the moment.
Paige was waiting to leave work to meet Nadia for a Pilates class, followed by their weekly Thursday sushi and reality TV night.Their current show wasLove is Blind.
Nadia and her boyfriend, Linus, had gone on vacation for two weeks at the end of October, and the girls hadn’t had much time to catch up on the trip or their TV shows, so Paige was looking forward to some uninterrupted bestie time.
Friends since high school, Paige and Nadia were practically inseparable.Not only were they roommates, but they also worked a couple of blocks away from each other, making it a no-brainer to meet up for after-work activities.
Paige looked at the time in the corner of her computer.She still had ten minutes to kill to ensure she wasn’t leaving at the same time as Chance and Diana, a ridiculous practice she had gotten used to over the past eleven months.
After all the drama that happened with Chance last year, everyone expected her to leave the company.And the thing is that she absolutely wanted to, but on her own terms.
Paige dreamt of being able to build her own marketing consulting business and being her own boss, but she didn’t want to quit after the breakup and have it look like she was trying to escape Chance or Diana.
Besides, she barely made a livable salary and had little savings to fall back on at that point—especially after buying the last-minute flights back to San Diego last Christmas.So she told herself back in January that she would stick it out one more year to give herself more of a cushion before branching out on her own.
Another twelve months of her salary plus the hefty end-of-year bonus the company always gave out would give her a more stable footing for freelance life.
That’s not to say the last eleven months haven’t been awkward as hell.In the days after last year’s Christmas party, Chance apologized profusely and begged for another chance.He went on and on, swearing it was just a one-time thing, a stupid late-night slip.There was nothing between him and Diana, and it was a terrible mistake he wished he could take back.
It was far too soon for Paige to even consider forgiving him, and in more or less words she told him to fuck off.Chance was the guy she had pictured in her future, and his affair shattered everything she thought that future would look like.
And though it sounded dramatic, his confession shattered her favorite holiday too.
Paige had spent Christmas with her family in California to take some time and distance to process what had happened.But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get into the holiday spirit, which was a first for her.
As angry as she was at him, she couldn’t help but miss him as she opened up her stocking on Christmas morning.They were supposed to be swapping stockings and gifts together at Chance’s parents’ house in Wisconsin, and being apart for the holiday gave her some new perspective.
When New Year’s came around, she felt ready to sit down and talk with Chance about reconciling.She loved him, and even with this betrayal she felt like their relationship was worth a second chance.
She sent him a text right before her plane back to Chicago took off and switched on airplane mode.When she landed four hours later, she expected to see his grateful response, but only a welcome home text from Nadia came through.It wasn’t until she was clicking through her Instagram stories that she saw posts from colleagues who had gotten together for a New Year’s Eve party, with Chance and Diana cozying up in the corner sharing a midnight kiss.
Paige sunk into the airplane seat and replayed the story about ten times before finally believing what she had seen—Chance’s deep regret for his actions apparently had an expiration date.
By the time everyone was back in the office a few days later, the gossip was buzzing, and Paige couldn’t avoid the looks of pity being thrown her way no matter how hard she tried.
Meanwhile, Chance and Diana made no effort to hide their new relationship.It was like nothing changed at all for Chance.He took the same coffee breaks, ate his same turkey sandwich at lunch, but instead of doing these things with her—like he had for the last three years—it was Diana at his side.
Despite her heartbreak, Paige was determined to maintain her composure at the office and stay focused on her work just long enough to build up the savings she needed to leave it all behind.
And on days like today when she got assigned to a crappy client like this plumbing company, she couldn’t help but check the countdown on her calendar to January, when she was planning to give her two-week notice.The company should be sending its end-of-year bonus email any day now.This is the email she was anxiously awaiting—the email that would give her an exact idea of how much of a cushion she could have for her freelance venture.
As much as she complained about her company and her below-average salary, they certainly gave out above-average bonuses each Christmas, in addition to their annual over-the-top and lavish holiday party.It was the single thing that had kept her going this past year.
Well, that and the support of her parents and Nadia.
It was twenty after five and time for Paige to make her way to the Pilates studio.
She glanced at her email one last time before shutting her laptop, packing up her purse and grabbing her gym bag.
***
“These guys are just saying what the girls want to hear,” Nadia said with a mouth full of California roll.“Ten bucks says Josh has a girlfriend outside of the show.”
