The Interview

Chapter Twenty-One

"Okay. Who is she?"

Glinda looked up from her laptop, only to find two female faces staring right at her from an uncomfortably short distance.

"Yolona is willing to bet fifty bucks that she's your girlfriend," Dayae informed her while failing to suppress her wide grin.

"My girlfriend?" Glinda repeated, her expression pure confusion. "Who the heck are you talking about?"

"The chick with the big, black car," the taller of the two reminded her impatiently, rolling her eyes. "The one who picks you up all the time."

"And sometimes even drops you off super early in the morning," added the other with a wiggle of her eyebrows."

"Who else do you think we could mean? Don't play stupid, it won't save you."

Her own brows raised, Glinda let her eyes dart from one woman to the other.

"Save me?"

"From her prying questions, she means," giggled Dayae.

The blonde continued to consider them in turns, then shook her head and trained her gaze on the screen of her laptop.

"Okay," said, then cleared her voice. She began to type again, ignoring their presence as best she could while still speaking to them. "I suppose I do know who you're talking about." Truth be told, she was amazed by the fact that both women had omitted to mention her supposed lover's odd skin colour. "Elphaba is my friend, and we're sort of working together. You could call it charity work, I guess. Hence, we spend a lot of time in each other's company. She picks me up, purely for efficiency's sake. Occasionally, after a long night of working,"—she made sure to stress the word—"I stay the night and she drops me off at the office so I don't have to get up even earlier to catch the public transport. There. Happy?"

Dayae seemed more or less indifferent, but Yolona was anything but satisfied.

"So, where does all your dating advice research come in?" she demanded, putting on a cheeky pout. "Don't forget that I caught you right in the act!"

"Boredom. Procrastination."

Glinda didn't even miss a beat.

The Munchkin at least nodded sympathetically; her partner crossed her arms and huffed. She opened her mouth to say something when Glinda's desk phone rang.

"Goodness, who still uses these?" Glinda murmured under her breath, setting out to locate it beneath the layers of papers spread out on her desk.

"Found it!" Dayae announced triumphantly and handed the handset over to her.

Glinda smiled her thanks.

"EC Financial Group, Glinda Upland speaking. How can I help you?"

"Hey, Glinda."

That voice. For the briefest of moments, her heart stopped, and her lungs threatened to fail her.

"Mr. Chuffrey," she managed to reply, her tone even and courteous, if a little stiff.

"Yes. The very same," chuckled the man on the other end of the line. "I'm thrilled you even recognise my voice."

 She turned her head away from the phone for just a fraction of a second to give air to an agitated groan. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed her colleagues, looking tense and listening intently. In this particular instance, she didn't mind. Perhaps it even made her feel a little better to know she was not entirely on her own. She glanced back at them and smiled weakly before continuing her conversation.