“You okay, Fight Club?” Zach asked. He was standing up, looking down at me. I hadn’t realized that everyone was leaving the room.
“Yeah.” I quickly stood up. “And don’t call me that. I wasn’t in a fight.”
“Mhm.”
I really hoped that nickname didn’t stick. I looked over my shoulder to see James talking to some of the interns in the front row. It was only a few hours until lunch, but it felt like I hadn’t gotten to talk to him in forever. Or taste him. What? He wasn’t an addict. I was.
Monday
I was sitting in James’ favorite pizza place, Totonno’s Pizzeria, which had become my favorite pizza in the city. It wasn’t just that the pizza was amazing, the people were so nice.
“Hi, dear. Where’s James today?” Marie, the little old woman who owned the place sat down across from me with a huge smile.
“He’s meeting me here any minute.”
“I’ll go put your usual order in. I just wanted to come over and see how your first day was going.”
I smiled. I was glad I was on Marie’s good side, because she had seemed suspicious of me the first few times I had come here. That side of her was scary intimidating, but now she was as nice as could be. It was so sweet how much she seemed to care about James. “It’s good. Kind of overwhelming.”
“You’ll be used to it in no time.”
“I know. And the other interns seem nice enough.” They had invited me to eat with them in the break room, but I had told them I already had plans. Which resulted in Tavon teasing me about my overbearing boyfriend. If only he knew. Maybe tomorrow I should eat lunch with them, though. I wanted to be one of them. But right now all I wanted was a kiss from James and to tell him how much I loved him.
“Let me go put your order in so it’s ready when he gets here.”
“Thanks, Marie.”
My phone started vibrating in my purse a minute after she left. I pulled it out and ran my thumb across the screen. The caller ID said Hunter Technologies. Hopefully I hadn’t forgotten about some important meeting for all the interns or something. “Hello?”
“Hi, Penny, it’s Nita.”
“Hi, Nita. Do you know if James has left for lunch yet?” I looked out the window at the passing cars.
“That’s why I’m calling. He had a last minute meeting. He’s tied up and can’t make it.”
“Oh. Okay, thanks for calling, Nita.” I hung up and looked down at my phone. I wished he had told me before I had taken the subway all the way here.
***
I stepped out of the subway car with the pizza box in my hand and made my way up the stairs. The sun was blinding as I made my way outside after being underground. I wasn’t sure how often I’d be able to go to Totonno’s with James during lunch. My break was already almost over and I had quickly eaten a slice in the restaurant because I hated eating alone. I wasn’t sure why I thought leisurely lunches were in the job description for interns.
I walked into the building and got onto the elevator. The last thing I wanted was to be late getting back from lunch when I was already late this morning. Hopefully James’ meeting would be over and I could drop the pizza off for him real quick. I had five minutes to make my way through the cubicle maze. I quickly got off the elevator and walked up to the reception desk.
Nita wasn’t sitting there. Maybe she was on her break. I looked over at James’ office. The blinds were closed. I hoped he hadn’t left and tried to meet me down there anyway. I walked over and put my face close to the window to see if I could see him through the slants in the blinds.
What the fuck?! I grabbed the handle of his office door.
“Penny?”
I jumped. I released the doorknob and turned around to see Nita staring at me. “Sorry, I wasn’t sure if he was in…”
“He’s still in his meeting, Penny. He asked me to make sure no one disturbed him. I can give you a call when he’s free if you want?”
“No. That’s okay, Nita.” What the hell? I started to walk away but quickly went back over to her. “Could you give him this though?” I put the pizza box down on the reception desk. “Thanks,” I said and walked away without waiting for her response.
My heart was beating out of my chest. Maybe I was wrong. It was just the back of her head. Fuck. No. It was definitely Isabella. I kept my eyes on the ground as I made my way toward my desk. What was he doing talking to her? Did he seriously stand me up to have lunch with that bitch? I knew there was nothing going on between them, but I couldn’t help the jealously that seemed to surge through me. What on earth could they be talking about? After she had slapped me, I thought he’d never speak to her again. Instead they were having a nice, private chat in his office. Why couldn’t she just leave us alone?
“You okay, Fight Club?” Tavon asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Had that nickname seriously already spread to him too? I sat down in my chair without looking up. “I’m fine. Are you two seriously going to call me that for the whole summer?”
“That’s what happens when you ditch us for lunch,” he said. “And when you come to work the first day with a black eye.”
“It’s just a tiny little bruise, it’s not a black eye. You’re exaggerating. I just ran into something.”
“That’s rather vague. Did you run into something like someone’s fist?”
“Ignore them,” Sierra said. “How was lunch with your fiance?”
“Great,” I lied and turned on my computer. We were supposed to be doing research the rest of the afternoon and I had a feeling that meant all of us were going to be chatting while we did it. I didn’t feel like talking. I felt like killing Isabella.
“Where did you go to school?” Sierra asked.
“NYCU,” I said. Maybe conversation would help me not explode. “What about you guys?”
“I went there too,” Zach said. “I’m surprised we didn’t have any classes together.”
“It’s a big school.”