CATFISHING THE CEO

2| SMILE

The night decided to torment Zo. During a time when she wanted nothing more than to have a dreamless sleep, the skies refused to allow any shut-eye. Drops after drops pounded her little window, aided by thunder ricocheting her walls.

The sublevel had a habit of amplifying sounds. She twisted and turned until her own ruffling annoyed her. She considered smothering herself to death but dying in your parent's basement at 25 would be depressing.

Then, the thoughts came. Countless conversations with scottman69 haunted her mind. He wasn't the only one who regretted not asking questions. She would never know his name nor the color of his eyes.

His profile picture never changed. She also never dared to ask because then that could egg him on into asking her questions. She counted her blessings that he remained discreet.

By her own accord, she would send more pics of Clare. Zo provided continuous bait to keep him hooked but it was her that had been snagged.

This oddly specific personification was exactly what she had dreamed the entire night. A manly scottman69 fishing, struggling to pull out his prize. The horror was that Zo was the trout. She was going to be gutted.

Zo had no idea what time she fell asleep but she was sure she would stop eating right before bed. The nightmares were getting out of hand.

She felt the radiance seep into her pores. She protested as if she would be able to convince the sun to go back into hiding. But the sun was not supposed to be out.

Her alarm was scheduled for 6 AM. Her room should be lightly dimmed if that by the outside light. She jolted up, frantically searching for her phone. The screen displayed 7 AM.

Her legs moved into action. An hour was lost she could not afford. She wanted to make a good impression on her new team. Zo had even planned to straighten her somewhat wavy hair to at least appear as if she didn't simply roll out of bed.

She jumped into her laid-out black jeans, white blouse, and blue blazer in a nanosecond. She moved from side to side fetching her belongings until her stilettos came into view.

The shoes would have to strut another day. Her feet would need to run to the bus. A job her flats would be able to handle.

She began dashing upstairs but remembered she didn't brush her teeth. She lingered on the step briefly. "Nah."

Zo stomped into the kitchen. The family was awake and bustling to get their day started. The site riled her.

"No one had the decency to wake me up." Zo rushed past her grandparents who were consuming their first cup of coffee of the day. There will be two more rounds.

Her mother worked on the triplet's school lunches as they ate on the overcrowded table. "No. No. No. Don't go blaming me. I told you to sleep early."

Zo reached over her mother and opened the cabinet, fetching a thermo. Her mother didn't even have to duck. She filled the cup up to the rim of coffee before leaning back against the counter to see the table.

She locked eyes with Antonio. "Take me to my job."

He got up to place his plate in the sink and kissed their mother on her temple. "Thanks, ma."

He completely walked past Zo, ignoring her request. She grabbed a piece of sweet bread and flung it towards his head. The thud was incredibly satisfying. She snorted at his grunt.

The little boys laughed it up while her grandparents disapproved of such a waste of food.

"Ouch, Zo. You know I'm tender head."