Chapter Eleven

“Oh my God and the way he punched him…that was amazing!” Stacy said grabbing my shoulders.

We were sitting at a small table at our favourite café inside the food court at the bottom of our building.

“Yeah, yeah, so Jake came to the ‘rescue’.” I made air quotations with my hand. “Big deal.”

I didn’t want to make such a fuss in front of Stacy. She already thinks that me and Jake are destined to be together. Why add oil to the flames? Besides, I myself rather not think about what happened yesterday. First, because it’s quite traumatizing, I mean Anthony was all up in my face. Second, because it was weird that Jake did that. He’s usually the reserved type, or if you want me to put it truthfully, Jake’s just all talk. I’ve never actually seen him punch a guy except for in the 8th grade but that’s a different story.

Stacy gaped at me. “Big deal?! The man practically risked his career for you Jessica and all you can say is big deal?!”

Rolling my eyes, I waved her off. “He’s done worse.”

I thought back to all the times Jake’s gotten into trouble – not for fights of course, as previously explained – but just for all the dumb stuff that he comes up with.

“How would you know?” she asked slowly.

In my head I was throwing myself off a building. “Uh…I just – you know, just had a hunch.”

Stacy narrowed her eyes at me. “Well, obviously that’s not the case because you just stuttered like forty times so now I know you’re lying. Seriously, what’s the deal?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

I sighed. “It was just a hunch, okay?”

“Jessica, I’ve been your best friend for almost a year now. That might be short but in adult world, that’s like centuries. So don’t think that you can lie and get away with it,” Stacy told me stubbornly.

Darn it. I’m caught. I channelled through my brain, looking for a possible excuse.

“Okay, if I tell you, you can’t tell anyone,” I improvised. To be honest, I had no idea what I was going to say.

Stacy smiled deviously. “Ooo secrets.”

I gave her a reprimanding look. “Yes, but you have to keep your mouth shut.”

She pretended to zip her lips shut, and threw away the key. Only Stacy can be that cliché. “My lips are sealed.”

“So um…”

What was I supposed to say? Oh by the way Stacy, me and Jake were best friends when we were younger and I just left him because he was always with his girlfriend who had the brain capacity of a spoon. And also I failed to mention this, but I think I kind of like him. Uh, no way. If I told her that, she would blow up like a volcano.

“So um?” Stacy said.

“Um…well the other day, I was walking to Jake’s office to bring him his coffee.”

“And?” she asked expectantly.

“He was on the phone and I don’t know with who.”

Stacy’s evil grin turned even eviller. “Did you hear something you weren’t supposed to hear?”

I stared blankly at her. Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. “Yeah,” I nodded.

“What did you hear?”

Ugh, I really didn’t know what to say. There was nothing that I could take from experience. I had always known that Jake had a bad side. Heck, I knew it for years. That’s how we became friends anyways. I found out that he was in some trouble and I tried to help him. Granted, he thought I was extremely annoying at first, but after a while, he got used to me always being there. Even afterwards, he would tease me about being a nosy girl because I had…overheard him talking to his mom on the phone!

My facial expression must’ve given away my sudden clarity of thought because Stacy leaned towards me.

“Okay,” I said. “He was talking to his friend on the phone about Anthony and how he had to be careful not to get into any more trouble. Apparently, he couldn’t “afford anymore trouble on his part”. That’s exactly what he said.”

“Did you hear anymore?”

This girl just doesn’t leave things alone.

I looked around uncomfortably. “Nope. I left cause it just didn’t feel right listening in on his private life.”

Stacy wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “I’m sure Mr. Marshall would be more than happy to share his private life with you.”

Glaring at her, I took a sip of my coffee. “You’re just…I don’t even know what to say about you.”

I didn’t want to admit it, but what she said brought back the memory of that night in Jake’s office and when I hugged him. A burst of butterflies erupted in my stomach, giving me a tingly feeling.

When Stacy coughed purposely, I thought for sure she was going to make some more innuendos about Jake.

“Just get it out of your system already,” I said tiredly.

“Oh, no that’s for later,” she smiled like a child. “But I think it’s my duty to tell you something. Don’t look, but Anthony’s at your6 o’clock.”

I turned from right to left. “Which way is my6 o’clock?”

Smacking her forehead lightly, Stacy shook her head. “Behind you.”

“Oh.” On instinct, I turned around and made immediate eye contact with Anthony, standing by the door which lead outside, who just happened to be looking at me in the first place. Now, I know that’s not a coincidence.

A smile cracked across Anthony’s face and I whipped back around to face Stacy.

“We need to get out of here. Now,” I said, feeling mortified.

Stacy threw a couple of bills on the table. “Already ahead of you.”

I glanced towards the other exit that led towards the inside of the building. In a millisecond, we both grabbed out bags and semi-ran towards the door.

“Jessica!” I heard Anthony call behind me but I ignored him.

We didn’t stop until we made it to the elevator.

“Where are you girls going so fast?” Bill asked us curiously.

“We’re running from this creep that’s in love with Jessica,” Stacy said out of breath.

I sent her a look and she shrugged. “What? Bill’s got a right to know.”

Bill glanced at me worriedly. “I already do. Mr. Marshall filled me in. Do you want me to watch out for him?”

“Please do.” I nodded furiously.

The elevator opened and we said our byes to Bill. Relief washed over me as I watched the doors close. At least I didn’t have to deal with Anthony for this little while. If Bill actually makes sure that Anthony doesn’t come up to my floor, then I think I’d like to live in my cubicle forever.

“So,” Stacy said after a few minutes of silence. “Back to Mr. Marshall.”

“Will you get over it?” I told her sternly. “What happened with Anthony and Jake was like last week.”

“I was just going to talk about how close you and him are,” Stacy explained defensively.

“We’re not close,” I muttered.

Stacy laughed out loud. “Yes you are.”

“How?”

“For starters, you spend way more time with him than you did with Jamie,” she pointed out.

“Jamie was a Class A b-tch, you know that,” I argued.

“Okay fine. How about the fact that you call him Jake when everyone else calls him Mr. Marshall?”

I looked towards the floor. “You guys can call him Jake. I’m sure he won’t mind.”

“And that too!” Stacy exclaimed. “Sometimes it feels like you two have known each other for forever even thought you’ve only met like less than a month ago.”

“I’m his receptionist. That’s my job,” I said shrewdly.

Stacy glared at me until I felt uneasy. “Fine, then how do you explain why he always wants your help? You’re just his receptionist yet he asks you about everything. You’d think a guy with his job would have a little more brains.” The last part was more to herself than me.

“Stacy, please,” I said in exasperation. “He doesn’t always ask –”

Before I could finish my sentence, the elevator stopped at our floor and the doors opened. Jake was standing on the opposite side. When he saw us, he smiled politely then directed his attention to me.

“Jessica, I was wondering when you’d be back. I need help with this report. Do you think you could look it over for me?”

I could almost feel the smile radiating off Stacy’s face but I ignored it. “Yeah, sure.”

Jake smiled. “Okay. Come with me to my office. See you later, Stacy.”

“Bye Stacy,” I said quietly, not wanting to look at her.

“Have fun Jessica!” she said almost laughing. “Bye Mr. Marshall.”

Following Jake to his office, I turned to see Stacy standing with her hand over her mouth. When we made eye contact, she wagged her eyebrows and sent me a wink. Just a second after, I got a text from her. There were 24 other messages from Anthony but I ignored those and went to her message.

From: Stacy the Coolest

Have fun with Jake. Don’t help him too much ;).

I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I closed Jake’s door behind me.

“So, what do you need…my assistance on?”

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