The Functional Arrangement

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

~3 days later~

"Morgan!"

Morgan jumped slightly and blinked, looking over at Justin standing at the head of the conference room table. "Yeah?"

Justin glared at her, and the seven or eight other people sitting around the table were looking at her too, causing her to blush. "Are you even paying attention?"

Morgan glared back at him, her resentment rising. He knew her mind had been drifting through this boring-ass meeting. "Yeah, you were talking about the new project management software."

"Yes, and I'd appreciate it if you followed along like everyone else," Justin stated firmly, gesturing toward his PowerPoint presentation. "We all need to know how to log billable time in the client lists."

Morgan looked at the notes he gestured to. "You mean the task lists."

The room snickered as Justin looked at his slide, seeing that she was right. He scowled as he motioned for the room to quiet down. "Yeah okay, the task lists. This is why it's important we learn this new software. Let's finish this up so we can get back to work..."

He continued on with his PowerPoint presentation, and everybody settled back into their previous state of listless attentiveness. Morgan tried to appear invested in what Justin was saying since she didn't want to be called out again, but her resentment toward him and his attitude couldn't help but take over her thoughts, distracting her. Having that little comeback was satisfying, but it did little to actually help her situation here at work.

Marcus's offer came back to her, as it often did since they met for lunch three days ago. She hadn't reached out to him yet, but if she was honest with herself, she was seriously considering it. Days like today, where Justin decided to be extra annoying, made Marcus's proposition all the more appealing.

What would it even entail, though?

Would they present themselves as a couple just to her coworkers, or to everyone in general? Would Morgan have to lie to her friends and family about him? He said he wanted to present her as his girlfriend to his family, so that meant she would potentially have to lie to a group of strangers. Could she really go through with that?

Was she actually considering doing this?

Justin finally wrapped up the boring meeting, and everyone got up from their seats to head out the door. Morgan saw two girls from the SEO department walking ahead of her, talking quietly with one another. One of them said the word 'ex-girlfriend' before they both covertly glanced over their shoulders toward Morgan. They quickly looked away, snickering and hurrying ahead back to their desks.

Morgan's stomach twisted. She really was sick and tired of this.

Once back in her office, Morgan closed and locked the door before collapsing into her chair. Unconsciously, it seemed, she pulled out her pencil drawer, where she kept all her pens, paper clips, and various knick knacks. She plucked up the piece of paper with Marcus's cell phone number on it and gazed at it thoughtfully.

He'd told her this was his personal cell number...

Throwing caution to the wind, Morgan took out her phone and entered his number into her contacts. She debated on calling him, but opted instead to text:

Morgan: Hi Marcus, this is Morgan

She only had to wait for about a minute before he answered back.

Marcus: Hi Morgan. Good to hear from you, tho I believe I told u to call me? Chickened out with a text I see ;)

Morgan had to bite back her giggle.