Chapter Seven

“I just said that Mr. Marshall is unavailable on Thursday,” I snapped angrily.

The other line on my phone was quiet for a second before blaring to life. “Yes I heard you, but you must be mistaken. I had plans to meet with him that day. Perhaps you ought to check with him and then tell me that I’m –”

“What?” I interrupted. “Sorry the line must be breaking up, I can’t hear you.” I quickly ended the call and turned off my phone. Sighing in relief, I adjusted my bag on my shoulder and quickened my pace to the door.

A couple of people passed by, some sending me strange glances and others smiling at me warmly. Someone who I didn’t recognize even said hello. What was going on? I thought curiously.

“Hello Jessica,” Bill said with a weird smile on his face.

I eyed him carefully. “Hey. What’s going on?”

His forehead scrunched together in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Everyone’s looking at me weird.”

“Ah. Well I think you should see for yourself,” he said with a smile spreading across his face. “Go on in.”

My eyes shifted nervously from him to the door. Even though the front was made mostly of glass, it was hard to see inside because of the glare on the glass from the sun. Bill tilted his head, urging me to go in. I reached for the door handle slowly. Opening the door, I took cautious steps inside. The lobby was bustling with people and almost all of them turned to look at me. Their eyes flickered from me to something in the front of the lobby. Following their gaze, I looked up. Hanging from the ceiling in front of the wall of the lobby, over the main desk, were 3 large posters of the pictures I had taken from the photo shoot. On the bottom of the middle poster, in big letters were La Ballerine 2011 – Jessica Bryans.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

Bill suddenly appeared beside me. “Pretty neat, huh?”

“Yeah,” I said in a daze.

“You better get to work. You’re almost late,” he said, tapping on his watch.

“Oh right,” I nodded, not taking my eyes off the pictures. With a final wave at Bill, I made my way to the elevator. Some people actually shuffled out of my way and left a clear path for me to walk. Jeez, this feels like high school all over again.

The ride on the elevator wasn’t much better than in the lobby. Occasionally the door would open and someone would be able to step in. But of course, they see me first and stand there gaping. After a while I’d have to urge them into the elevator, or the doors just close on them. If I’m lucky, someone would strike up a casual conversation. Since I have to go all the way up to the 35th floor, there were a lot of awkward moments. I could probably write a book on today’s experiences, titled: Awkward Elevator Moments 101.

Finally, I got out of the elevator and walked to my cubicle. Thankfully no one stared or gaped at me, probably because they already knew and well, I see them everyday. Putting my stuff on my desk, I looked towards Jake’s room. I felt a pang of disappointment when I saw that he wasn’t there but quickly shook it away. I slid into my chair and turned on my computer.

A Starbucks paper bag flew onto my desk and I lifted my head to see who threw it.

“Hey,” Jake said. He was leaning against the wall of my cubicle and had a lopsided grin on his face.

I picked up the bag and shook it. “I already got you muffins.”

Jake laughed and took the bag from my hand. He pulled out a piece of marble cake and threw it to me. “These are for you. Chocolate marble cake – your favourite.”

“T-thanks,” I mumbled, breaking off a piece of cake. I examined the cake for a second before popping it into my mouth.

“So,” Jake said after a moment of silence. Awkward silence.

“Soooo,” I repeated.

He cleared his throat. “You – uh, you looked nice in those pictures.”

“Thanks,” I said again. I looked up at him, waiting for him to say something else.

“I didn’t think Anthony could take such amazing pictures,” he joked.

Way to ruin the moment, Jake. I rolled my eyes and turned back to my computer. “He’s great.”

“Are you still going to see him?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Why do you have such a problem with me seeing him?”

Jake brought his hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. I just feel uneasy seeing you with other guys. Guess the old habits are kicking in.”

I smiled. “Well, you did save me from a couple of bad relationships.”

“Ben and Jerry’s and chick flicks all night long for the ones I didn’t save you from,” he laughed. There was a twinge of sadness in his voice, but I didn’t question it.

“Yeah,” I sighed.

“Hey listen…” Jake said quietly.

“Hm?”

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you since the first day,” he said.

“We talk everyday,” I told him, laughing.

“I meant a different kind of talk.” He raised his hand to stop me from speaking. “Look, before you interrupt me, just hear me out okay? I know that a lot has happened between us and it’s hard. I understand that –”

Before he got to finish, Stacy ran up to me and dumped a stack of catalogues on my desk.

“Oh my God, Jessica! You’re on the catalogue!” she screamed.

I blinked, changing my gaze from Jake to her. “Huh? What?”

“You’re on the cover of our summer catalogue!”

“So fast?” Didn’t I just have the photo shoot the day before yesterday?

“I know right! Apparently the people up there loved your pictures so much, they sent out a mass-production order to the printing company. They had to reprint all of them and more are still coming in,” Stacy said excitedly.

I stared at her with wide eyes. “You’re kidding.”

She shook her head furiously. “I’m not. Scout’s honour.”

“Alright, I believe you.”

Stacy grabbed my arm and pulled me up. “Come on, we gotta go celebrate!”

I looked at Jake. “But wait –”

“No waiting.” She pulled harder. “You and Jake can talk about your business talk after. Me and Jenna already made a cake for you.”

“Okay,” I reluctantly agreed. Giving Jake an apologetic smile, I followed Stacy to the kitchen.

“Damn it Stacy, that was good,” I sighed, lying back in my chair. My hand rested on my stomach, feeling its fullness.

“Too good,” Jenna mumbled, her mouth still full of cake.

“Ugh guys,” Stacy moaned. She was hunched over in her chair with her face lying on the table. “Don’t talk to me. I think if I even move an inch, I’ll internally combust.”

Using all my energy, I stood on my legs. “I don’t know about you guys, but I gotta get back to work.”

“What? So you can see Jake?” Stacy teased.

“No,” I snapped defensively.

“Puh-lease. I heard your conversation. He’s been wanting to talk to you since the first day. That man is obviously attracted to you,” Stacy said.

“Yeah, even I can see it,” Jenna agreed.

I looked at both of them carefully. Did they know that me and Jake used to be best friends?

“It’s not that easy,” I said, choosing my words carefully.

“Not that easy? You guys barely know each other. How can it be hard?” Stacy demanded.

“Oh,” I said in relief. “It’s just…I’ll handle it okay?”

“Yeah you will. Or I’ll do it for you,” Stacy threatened.

I rolled my eyes. “See you later.”

I walked out of the kitchen and shut the door quietly behind me. The office was still empty since lunch wasn’t over yet. On the other side of the office, I saw Jake sitting at his desk. Feeling a wave of inspiration, thanks to Jenna and Stacy, I quickly walked over there. The closer I got, the more excited I felt about hearing what he had to say. Maybe, after all these years, this friendship was fixable. Just as I reached his door, something horrible sounded.

“But Jake! You promised,” a whiny voice, which I was sure belonged to Scarlet, rippled through the air and attacked my eardrums.

“Okay fine,” Jake said (in annoyance? I couldn’t tell). “Just let me grab my jacket.”

So he was going out to lunch with Scarlet. If I had come any later, then he would’ve been gone and I wouldn’t have been able to talk to him. Once again, he had chosen her over me. Whether he did it on purpose, or unknowingly, it didn’t matter. He still did it.

Suddenly feeling sick to my stomach, I had an urge to just go home and curl up in my bed. I turned on my heel and grabbed my bag, stuffing my phone, water bottle and notebook into it. My hand moved over the marble cake that was still on my desk. Without a second thought, I threw it in the garbage.

“Where are you going?” Jake asked from behind me.

“I’m not feeling well,” I said briskly, zipping up my back.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“Yeah well you seemed preoccupied,” I snapped. I threw a glare at Scarlet.

“You don’t understand,” Jake sighed.

I laughed humourlessly. “I never understand, do I?”

“Jessica…”

I pushed my chair in and swung my back over my shoulder, not looking at him. “Listen Jake. It seems like every time we talk, we get into some stupid argument. I don’t think we should talk anymore, okay?”

“What?”

I met his eyes slowly. “I don’t think we should talk anymore. Just pretend I’m your receptionist. No history, no nothing. Like we’re total strangers who just met a few days ago.”

“Jessica, don’t be like this,” he said in a small voice.

My lips quivered. “Why shouldn’t I? You’ve hurt me so many times. Give me a reason.”

Jake stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Okay, um. Well, remember when we were –”

“Jake? What are you doing? I’m waiting,” Scarlet shrilled from his office.

“I’ll be there in a second,” Jake said angrily.

“It’s now or never, dear husband of mine,” Scarlet sang in her annoying voice.

Jake looked at me with pleading eyes.

“It’s okay,” I said and began to walk away.

Jake grabbed my elbow and turned me around. He pulled me closer towards him and I stumbled a bit. Both his hands steadied me and we were just inches apart. “Jessica,” he breathed out. He smelled good. It was surprising that after all these years he still smelled the same – Aeropostale cologne. Tacky, but it suited him perfectly.

“Don’t touch me,” I told him and pushed him away. I swiftly turned around and fast walked to the elevator. On my way there, I passed Tyler and Johnson who were coming back from work.

“Hey Jessica, saw your pictures. Lookin’ mighty fine.” Tyler stuck his hand up in the air for a high five.

Feeling no energy to say my usual insults, I reached up and slapped his hand. “Thanks Tyler.”

I jumped into the elevator just in time. I heard Tyler shout a “Dude, I think she’s totally into me now” before the doors slid close.

At this point, I’d be into anyone as long as it got my mind off Jake.

Jake’s POV

“You couldn’t have given me 5 more minutes?” I hissed at Scarlet who was lounging on one of my chairs.

“Nope,” she said smugly.

“You’re impossible,” I said, flopping onto my chair.

I was just about to talk to Jessica and finally tell her that…I didn’t even know what I wanted to say to her. But that didn’t matter; I could’ve worked something out. Staring at Scarlet now, I feel like sinking into a hole in the ground. I don’t even know why I did what I did. It’s just I hate it when Jessica’s right because I never listen to her and I never apologize for being wrong. It was too hard to start now.

“But you love me.” Scarlet beamed at me.

“No, I’m pretending to love you,” I corrected her.

She pouted her lips – an attempt at being sexy? I don’t know – and crossed her arms. “Same thing.”

“No it’s not,” I said. I can’t believe I was such a fool for ever thinking I loved this girl. Maybe when I was younger, boobs and money did the job for me and Scarlet had both, a good attraction at the time I guess.

“You can love that pathetic Jessica Bryans but you can’t even love me? Get real Jake,” Scarlet said sharply.

“I don’t love her,” I retorted.

Scarlet rolled her eyes. “Could’ve fooled me. The way you talk about her to me on and on, it’s awful.”

“I don’t even talk –”

“Yes you do. ‘Oh she looks so different. So much better now, not that she ever looked bad, but you know what I mean, Scarlet? Maybe because I haven’t seen her in so long but she looked amazing in her skirt today.’” she imitated me, throwing her hands in the air dramatically.

It was true. Jessica does look amazing everyday. I hadn’t noticed back when we were younger but now it seems like I can’t stop noticing. I always catch myself staring and thankfully she hardly ever looks at me. It’s not like I have feelings for her, it’s just I have seen her in so long and it’s all so new to me. I was so busy thinking that I didn’t even realize Scarlet standing in front of me.

She cupped my face with her long manicured hands. “You belong with me, Jake. Imagine the future – your future, and you’ll see yourself with me. I promise.” Without giving me a chance to argue, she strutted out of my room.

I sank back into my chair, putting it on a lean. Closing my eyes, I thought about 10 years from now, what I would be doing. All I could think of was a quiet Saturday night, sitting on the couch with Jessica, Ben and Jerry’s to the left and a pile of chick flicks on the right. I couldn’t shake that image out of my head.

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