A Business Love

chapter 46

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Jessie stressfully entered Mariana's office. She sat in front of her and slipped her a note. She then nervously shook her legs.

Mariana picked up the piece of paper and saw four names written on it: Melissa, Christina, Hailey and Jennifer. "What's that?" she asked confused.

"The name and phone numbers of four girls that I want you to invite to my birthday party. I know it's tomorrow and they probably won't come, but I have to try."

"Ooookay," said Mariana confused.

"I know it's weird. Trust me. But I'm already seen as the workaholic girl. If I celebrate my birthday party and there are only my coworkers there, they'll truly say that my life only revolves around work."

"But it does!"

"But I don't need everybody to know! It's embarrassing."

"Dude! What's the deal with your birthday party?! You should be excited about it. You've been stressing non-stop!"

"Mar, if it was up to me and only me, there is no way in hell I would have had a birthday party. I am scared shitless right now!"

Julian had insisted for her to celebrate her twenty-fifth birthday with her friends. She had refused time and time again, but he was very persistent about it, promising her that he, or rather Nancy, would be organizing the whole thing, and that she wouldn't have to do or know anything about it. She eventually gave in, but she had been stressing from that moment on.

"It's gonna be a fiasco. I can feel it in my soul and in my body. Why did I agree to this!" she exclaimed in a good old drama queen way.

"What's the matter with you, you mad woman?!"

Jessie exhaled deeply. "Look. I need to tell you about my sweet sixteen birthday nightmare. It wasn't sweet at all. It was bitter. When I was back in high school, I was a nerd. I didn't look like one, so I had, quote unquote, friends. But they all knew I was a nerd. When I was about to turn sixteen, my mom forced me to have a sweet sixteen birthday party. Fine. I invite my friends, they confirm, all is good. Well, two days before my birthday, one of the girls at school organizes a party at her house because her parents are gone for the weekend. Guess what happens? No one shows up to my sweet sixteen. Like literally no one. They all went to her party, because she was obviously cooler than me and I was a nerd! So, the whole night, consisted of me, my mom, my dad, and one of my cousins, in this big ballroom, with a confused DJ and a ridiculous amount of food. It was the most embarrassing, hurtful experience, and now I'm traumatized forever."

Mariana looked at her with a pitying look. "Ouch. That's pretty rough."

"Yes! And I don't want to celebrate my birthday, ever again! Why can't people respect that? Julian knows about my trauma, and he still insisted on doing it! I should have kept my ground and say no!" she said even more disrupted now that she had recounted her sixteenth birthday.

"But you're not a teenager anymore. People have matured, they know you're fun. Now you're the cool kid. You're hot. You're dating a hot guy. You're just about to turn twenty-five and you're already a director."

"Associate director."

"Still! You are the popular girl now. Relax. Your birthday will look nothing like your sweet sixteen. Julian, Nancy and I have taken care of everything," proudly said Mariana.

"Fine. But you can't stop me from stressing. Call these four girls, please," she said while leaving Mariana's office.

Mariana shook her head and laughed. Jessie had no clue that her birthday party had taken ridiculous proportions. Many people at work wanted to be invited when the word had spread out to the point that they needed to create a guest list and investigate who Jessie really knew and who was just nosy.