How Karma Found Jesse Again|18+

TWENTY FOUR

Part 1

"Okay, so that concludes today's meeting," I say as I plaster a fake smile on my face as I look at the faces of my coworkers and watch as they all begin to stand up from their seats as the hour-long meeting where we discussed this months issue is over as we are finally in April.

I stood at the front of the board room watching everyone as they walked out of the door except for Leslie who stayed behind as she continued to jot down a few notes on her iPhone. Or at least that's whats she should be doing. She really could be texting her girlfriend.

Carter stood to my right as he talked to Kevin, a photographer who works for the magazine. They seemed to be in deep conversation and the last thing I wanted to do was interrupt. Kevin, Leslie, Carter, and I are in the same room when the room clears out, and I could not feel any more awkward.

The last time that Carter and I stood in a room together...well... you already know what happened.

I quickly rush over to Leslie and where she sits at the back of the room as she continues to text and I pull out the chair closest to her and speak to her in low whispers

Without even looking up from her phone she says, "You ready to go, boss?" her acrylic nails tapping against the screen could be heard as she continues to stare at it.

"No, I'm not ready to go," I say keeping my voice hushed as I avert my eyes to my far right to glance at Carter as he's deep in conversation and quickly shift my eyes to look back at Leslie who hasn't looked up from her phone, "I think I wanna take this as an opportunity to talk to Carter about...you know what and you know who.' I say in reference to Jesse

Leslie sighs and finally looks up sparing me a glance as shakes her head slightly."I don't think you should. Karma, I feel like he'll talk to you when he's ready." she pauses to look up and glance at him quickly, "He didn't say anything to you during the meeting I think that's a hint that he's just not in the mood." she says and I sulk my shoulders sighing to myself

"He'll come around eventually. As for right now? I wouldn't hold your breath." she says lowly to me.

Besides Ryan, Carter was the only guy friend that I could depend and I ruined it by dragging him into a shitty love triangle. When he asked me out I just knew that something would go wrong. However, I have no one to blame but me for my indecisiveness. So much for having your cake and eating it too.

It took me a while to realize that I want Jesse so much more.

I just wish I didn't hurt Carter in the process of making that realization. He deserves a lot better than me

Leslie makes a hushing sound and I'm brought back to reality as I look at her and realize that the voices of Carter and Kevin have stopped. I turn my head to see Kevin walking ahead of Carter as they both head out of the conference room.

Should I say something before he leaves?

He wouldn't ignore me in front of Kevin and Leslie, would he? I know Leslie is telling me not to but I can't help but look over at him and just feel like saying 'Hey' or something

You know...to test the waters.

Leslie hits my shoulder and I turn to look at her and she mouths at me to shut up

I turn away from her to see Carter almost at the door, biting my lip I say out loud hoping that he doesn't pretend to not hear me like he usually would, "Hey, Carter?" I call out as I mentally kick my own ass for saying anything.

I hear Leslie suck in a quiet breath from next to me quietly saying, "God, I can't watch."

Carter slowly turns to look at me and stares at me. His mouth opens slightly without any words coming out and I already begin to feel even more stupid until he finally speaks, "Karma." he says giving me a small smile that I can tell is fake as it doesn't reach his eyes at all. And that's all he says until he awkwardly turns back around and heads out of the door without another word shutting it behind him.

Leslie lets out a loud breath, "Fuck, that was the hardest thing I've ever done." and I turn to look at her with my eyebrows raised

"Excuse me?" I ask her, "I'm the one that just got embarrassed."

"Bitch so did I. You never heard of second-hand embarrassment?" she places a hand over her heart, "I told you to leave him alone, and no. You didn't listen."

"I can't believe I did that." I cover my face with my hands and cross my arms, resting them on the table laying my head on top

"I can't believe he spoke. I mean he only said your name but that's progress right?" she rubs my back gently, "It's not all bad. However, I recommend you never do that again...at least not with me in the room. I can't do that again." I laugh under my breath at that because I definitely understand the cringe she must've felt when I did that

"On the bright side at least you only have one man now. You're a one-man woman again. Up top!" she says but my head is still resting on my arms on the table and I'm pretty sure she has her hand raised waiting for me to give her a high five

"Shit, I'll do it myself." and the next thing I know, a small smacking sound is heard and now she high fived herself in my place.

"I haven't talked to Jesse since he called me that day," I confess

"I know. He's been checking up on you through me. Did you know he likes to rant? You give that man space to talk, he talks." she chuckles to herself, "You should call him, girl. He's a keeper. Any man that can deal with you and all your shit--" I cut her off when I raise my hand turning slightly and smacking her hand off of my back and she laughs loudly

"As I was saying, any man that can deal with you after all this definitely brings something special to the table." she says, "But I don't have to tell you that...it seems like your heart already knows."

-----------------------------------

[A/N] Guess who passed Calculus 1 YAYAYAYAYAYAY

If you're in college and value your mental health, I don't recommend a math or science class in the summer.

Part 2 is a special one ;)