“Yeah but they lump all the freshman into those huge lecture halls. We were probably at least in one of those together and didn’t realize it.”
“I wasn’t there freshman year though.”
“Where did you go before that?”
“The University of New Castle.”
“Why the switch?” Sierra asked. “I went to my state school in South Dakota and I loved it. Moving here has been quite the transition. I guess it was for you at first too?”
I had been right about her not being from around here. South Dakota was pretty far away. I shrugged my shoulders. “It was at first. I love it now though, you will too. And I wasn’t bashing state schools. I loved my old school at first too.” I was talking too much.
“So what changed?” she asked.
I turned my attention back to my screen. “Just… personal reasons.”
Tavon laughed.
Of all the things to say. I should have just made up something super believable. Like my parents moved. But no, I said personal reasons. I could feel my face turning red.
“Fight Club, you can’t just dangle that in front of us and not explain.”
My phone started vibrating. Thank God. I pulled it out of my purse and saw that James was calling me. I’d talk to him after work. I put it down on my desk, ignoring it. It took me a second to realize that all three of them were staring at me.
“What? I’m sorry, did you say something?”
“Secret fiance, secret troubled past, a secret black eye…” Tavon had counted off the secrets on his fingers so that he was holding them up in front of me. “You’re quite mysterious, Penny.”
“Shouldn’t we be working?”
“The boss said we’re supposed to bond. And the three of us already did while you were sneaking off somewhere secretive for lunch. Yet another secret.”
My phone started buzzing again. I didn’t bother looking at the caller ID, I just ignored it.
“And you’re trying to avoid someone.”
“Leave her alone,” Zach said. “Clearly she doesn’t want to talk about it.”
I couldn’t help but think he was being nice because he thought I had an abusive fiance. And he probably thought that I had tried to escape from the abuse by moving to New York. Why had I said personal reasons?
My phone vibrated again. I picked it up. “I’m a little busy right now. Can this wait till after work?”
James sighed. “I figured you saw her when I had pizza waiting for me. I’m sorry about lunch. Can you please come to my office real quick so I can explain?”
I tried to lower my voice. “After work. Please, James.”
“You’re upset. I just want to tell you why she was here. If you’re worried about people knowing, just say you need to go to the bathroom and excuse yourself.”
I didn’t care why Isabella was there. I didn’t care about anything she had to say. What I cared about was why he decided to talk to her and keep me out of the loop. He let me wander off to Brooklyn so I’d be out of the way. It felt dirty and I just needed some time to calm down about it. “Later. Please.” I hung up.
All three of my pod mates were staring at me. I glued my eyes to my computer screen and tried to read the article I had found earlier about one of Hunter Tech’s competitors.
“Was that your fiance?” Tavon asked. “Seems a little controlling.”
“Nope. Telemarketer.”
“The mystery grows.”
My phone vibrated again.
“Aren’t you going to answer James the telemarketer’s phone call?” Tavon asked.
“I’ll let it go to voicemail this time,” I said and continued to stare at the computer screen without actually reading anything. “Dirty spammers.”
“Oh my God, he’s coming over here,” Sierra said.
I looked over my shoulder. James was walking toward our pod of desks. I looked back at my computer. “I’m sure he’s on his way to talk to Anderson or something.”
“I think he’s coming to talk to us!” Sierra sounded way too excited.
“Chill out, stalker,” Tavon said.
“How’s the new marketing team getting on?” James asked as he stopped by my desk.
Son of a bitch. I glanced at him from out of the corner of my eye.
“Really great,” Sierra said. Her voice oozed with charm.
“And what about you guys?” James asked. “Settling in okay?”
They both nodded their heads. “This place is awesome,” Tavon said. “So much cooler than the place I interned at last summer.”
“Glad to hear it.” James tapped on the top of my desk with the knuckle of his index finger. “Can I have a quick word, Miss Taylor?”
“We have these assignments from Anderson that we really have to get done by the end of the day,” I said.
Sierra’s jaw visibly dropped.
“Trust me, Anderson won’t mind,” James said. “It’ll just take a minute.”
Now he calls him Anderson. “Of course.” I got up and followed James away from my desk.
“Fight Club has connections,” I heard Tavon say as I walked away.
It felt like everyone’s eyes were on me as I followed James to his office. This kind of thing was exactly what I hadn’t wanted. The other marketing interns were probably looking me up right now. I’d get back to my desk in a minute and they’d all know. I was going to tell them eventually. But I wanted to make friends with them first. I didn’t want them to judge me. Shouldn’t they though? The only reason I got this job was because of James.
He opened up his office door for me and I walked in past him. The pizza box was open on his desk and a few slices were missing. My anger and self doubt had made me hungry after barely eating anything for lunch. I grabbed a slice and sat down in one of the chairs by his desk, not making eye contact with him.