Dumped!

Dumped (6)

[PHOTO OF BRADLEY COLE------------------------->>>>]

6

It was finally the night of the merger party. We were having it at the Sheraton Hotel and Resort, in the Pavilion Gala. We’d had a set designer re-design it to suit our new company’s appearance and everything. It seemed like it was a really big deal. I had thought it would just be the office staff, sharing bottles of champagne in the hall downstairs. I hadn’t even gotten a dress and it was about three hours to the party. I groaned as I looked at the clock again. 4.22pm.

I was trying to put together the final guest list to send to Jeremy Harrington. I had no recall of this being in my job description. It was actually Stacey’s job, but apparently she had an ‘emergency’ today and couldn’t come in. When I called her boyfriend, he said she was at a yard sale in Sacramento. Apparently, she’d told him she’d asked me for the day off. Honestly, if she wasn’t my friend, I’d have fired her AGES ago!

There was a knock on my door. “Come in”, I replied.

In walked Bradley Cole –  looking like the heartthrob that he is – in a dark grey suit and wingtips.

“You do know this whole charade is mandatory right?” he asked plopping into the desk across from me.

He was an entirely happy-go-lucky, good-natured guy, so we’d quickly become friends. He still didn’t approve of my behavior towards his best friend, but Jeremy was still a jerk, and it didn’t seem like that’d be changing anytime soon.

“Yeah. I’ve just got to finish up this list”, I replied, looking back to my work.

He peered over the desk, to see what I was doing. “Isn’t that supposed to be Stacey’s job?”

I sighed. “Yeah, but she’s got an ‘emergency’.”

“Another one of those? Isn’t this like the fifth time in two weeks?”

“Yeah. But, she’s really been there for me. I could never fire her”, I said. Stacey was really one of the best friends I had. Before Matthew, I’d had quite a few jerky boyfriends; and every time it went south, it was Stacey that’d come knocking on my door with ice-cream and comedies. I never ever got emotional and weepy, and she knew that, but it was just the gesture.

“Okay. Well, I could help”, he said moving his seat over to my side of the desk.

“You sure? Don’t you have to be like the first one there?” I asked, hesitant.

“Yeah, but if I help, we’ll finish it faster. Who knows? I might even get two dates”, he said grinning widely.

I chuckled, shaking my head and passed him one of the lists. We were mainly trying to put together a list for the guards at the door, to keep party crashers away. Who would want to crash a boring merger party, I do not know.

Brad was right; we finished with lots of time to spare. I stapled the new and edited list together and stuck it in a manila envelope.

“So, how do you plan on paying me back for this?”, he asked, sitting on my table, right in front of me, a wolfish look on his face.

“Seriously? Brad, I told you not to hit on me”, I said, getting up.

“What did I say?” he asked, an innocent look on his face.

I shook my head. “Don’t you have two dates to pick up?”

“You were number two”, he replied, a cheeky grin on his face.