“Uh, well, how much time do you have?” Vivian asked.
“I am headed into the office,” she said. “You will meet me there and explain yourself.”
“What?” She glanced around her office. “Elena, I can’t. I have to work too, you know.” This was not the entire truth. Her team was more than capable of handling her responsibilities in her absence.
“Is that supposed to deter me from demanding your presence?” Elena’s voice drawled over Vivian’s phone. “Because honestly Vivian, I believe you can do much better in the way of excuses.”
“You’re probably right.” Vivian knew it was pointless to argue or deny anything. “But I haven’t been awake that long, so my creativity is lacking.”
“Then shall we bypass the nonsense and simply agree that you will be in my office within the hour?” Her tone of voice made it obvious that her words were more of a command than a request.
“Uh, well, let’s see,” Vivian began but was quickly cut off by a loud and enduring sigh. She could hear the anger in that sigh.
Elena was not the type of person to hash things out over the phone. She liked to be face to face, if for no other reason than that she could be much more intimidating in person—what with her power suits and her authoritative stances, her sharp enunciations and her icy glares.
“Vivian Abigail Warren, do not test me. I haven’t a clue as to what exactly you have done, but I believe I can safely assume from your willingness to avoid me at all costs that I am not going to like it. As such, I suggest you be more agreeable, because I can guarantee that if you are not in my office within the next hour and with a perfect explanation for whatever it is you’ve done, you shall surely be sorry.”
Vivian snorted with laughter even though she could tell Elena was seriously angry. Her friend’s speech got even more severe when she was angry—long, harshly enunciated sentences and a threat or two tossed in. Still, Vivian couldn’t help pushing her buttons sometimes. “Oh? What are you going to do to me, Elena? Disinvite me from Christmas dinner this year?”
“Worse.” Vivian could hear Elena locking her car and making her way toward the elevator. “I doubt you would even want me to say it over the phone.”
“Damn.” Vivian sighed, tapping her nails against her desk. Give me a hint.” They had a tendency to play horribly embarrassing pranks when they were upset with each other. “Like, would it be worse than the time you abandoned me at that gala with the buck-toothed guy that kept spitting on me when he spoke and so I lied and told everyone that you left because you had diarrhea?”
“I still cannot believe you did that.” Elena groaned. “And yes, much worse.”
“Shit. I’ll be over in around twenty minutes depending on traffic.”
“Wise choice.”
* * *
As soon as the elevator jolted to a stop and the metal doors pulled apart, Elena tore through the office, her heels clicking furiously as she went. Various workers flitted around the busy environment, several ducking out of her way as she lit a fire through the room with her pace. They had all seen her in a mood, and none wanted to provide her any reason to direct her fury at one of them.
They peeked over their cubicles or gawked at her from behind papers, printers, and coffee cups. Some even whispered behind their hands as she passed, likely wondering what had set her off. Elena had a reputation for being a bit of a hard-ass at work, though she knew her employees respected her completely; well, most of them did.
She was demanding. She liked to assert her authority but she was also fair. She offered her employees massive bonuses during holidays, an adequate number of sick days, constructive feedback on their ideas and designs, even if they were of a poorer quality, and enduring respect. She rarely stooped to verbal blows with an employee, though it was common knowledge to stay out of her way if she entered the office with steam practically spewing out of her ears—much like today.
“I suggest you all stop gawking!” Elena snatched a cup of coffee from her personal assistant, who shot to her side as soon as she came off the elevator. “These shows do not run themselves, nor do the lines design themselves! I want sketches on my desk within the hour and pitches scheduled before lunch! This is a place of business, people, not a goddamned zoo. Get to work!”
Elena rarely cursed, but she was hardly in the mood for people’s staring or whispering today. She had begun her morning in complete bliss, only to have it possibly shattered by whatever it was her best friend would soon be confessing.
The entire floor exploded into activity at her words. Nearly every walking, breathing creature in the room spiraled into action—running back to their desks and jumping into their work. The place was like a swarming cloud of bees, all of them spilling back into their hive.
A few attempted to wish her a good morning, to which she merely nodded, and then, of course, Wendy, the resident suck-up, popped in front of her.
“Good morning, Ms. Vega!” she said. “You look wonderful today. I’m loving this ensemble. Classy yet spicy. It’s fabulous.”
Elena arched a brow at the woman. “A spicy Latina? How original of you, Wendy.”
Wendy deflated on the spot before slinking off to her desk.
Elena paid the hive no further mind as she glanced over the various papers handed to her by her assistant. When they reached her personal office, Elena crossed to her desk and dropped the files onto its surface, along with her coffee. She handed her jacket to her assistant, who hung it on the rack in the corner and closed the office door.
“Bad morning?”
“Strangely enough, Darla, no,” Elena replied, “but possibly worsening by the second.”
“Would you like an aspirin?”
“No, no, dear.” She shook her head as she moved to stand in front of the massive transparent wall of windows. She propped her hands on her hips and sighed as she gazed out on the enormous city she had always called home. The view calmed her.
“Vivian will be dropping by within the hour,” she said. “She and I will need a bit of time to discuss a rather important and private matter. Thus, I will need you to secure the pitch board by the time she arrives, and make sure I have no pitches scheduled before ten. Rearrange them if you have to, and if Elliot fights you on it, which he undoubtedly will, tell him that I have already reviewed his designs and have sent him an email with my thoughts. Then, schedule his pitch last.”
Darla smirked as she made a note in her pocketbook. “He’s not going to like that.”
“Precisely,” Elena replied with a wicked grin. “I could use the amusement today.”
Darla chuckled. “Shall we review your messages now then or would you like to wait until after Vivian leaves?”
“Let’s hold off.” Elena dropped into her cushy black chair and tapped her mouse to wake her computer from hibernation mode. “I have several emails to attend to first, unless there is anything pressing?”
“Nothing pressing, ma’am,” Darla told her, which instantly earned her a pointed look from her boss. “Sorry. Nothing pressing, Elena.”
Elena smiled. “Six months, and I still have yet to break you of that habit.”
“I’m working on it.” Darla laughed and turned to leave Elena’s office, then whirled back around. “Oh wait.”
“Yes?”
“There was a message about the newest model for the Spring Social line,” Darla informed, tapping her pen against her pocketbook. “Her agents would like confirmation that her new contract will be sent over with the included adjustments that were agreed upon prior to her first formal fitting and shoot.”
“When is the fitting?”
“In two weeks.”
“Very well, yes.” Elena nodded as she clicked to open her email inbox. “Have legal send the adjusted contract, and, Darla, have them double-check to ensure that the particular caveats we discussed are included and clear prior to sending.”
“Will do,” Darla said, making another note in her pocketbook. “I’ll head down to legal then. I should be back within the hour.”
“Thank you, dear.” Elena scanned through her emails as Darla quietly exited her office.
As soon as the door closed, Elena’s eyes shot to the clock on her desk. She had been in the office only fifteen minutes, which meant Vivian would hopefully be arriving soon. Not knowing was driving Elena mad.
* * *
Allison was surprised to discover her roommate’s absence when she finally tore herself away from Elena’s awesome car, and Elena’s intoxicating scent, and Elena’s soft hands, and Elena’s perfect mouth, and returned to her dorm. Then she remembered that Macy switched from her evening literature course on Fridays to the early morning time-slot on Wednesdays. She liked going out on Friday nights too much to spend those evenings trapped in a three-hour class that did nothing but bore her to tears.
Allison grumbled, disappointed. She needed someone to dish to but resigned herself to getting ready for the day. After a quick shower, she threw on some clothes, grabbed her books, and headed out into the quad. She had a nine a.m. seminar she would actually be early for. However, when she reached the auditorium where the seminar was held, she found nothing more than a stark, white piece of printer paper taped to the door and marked with a bold-faced notice:
Dr. Warner’s Integrated Seminar, SW 443, 9 AM, CANCELED
“For reals?” Allison groaned. She had walked all the way across campus for this class. Great. She pulled out her cell and checked to see if she had gotten an email notification of the cancellation and had simply overlooked it, but there was nothing—her inbox was empty. “The hell, Dr. Warner?” She glared at the notice. “This is what friggin’ email is for!”
She trudged back to her dorm and collapsed onto her bed. She had a good four hours before her next class, so she closed her eyes and tried to force her brain to quiet long enough for her to get a good nap in. Only about thirty minutes passed, though, before the door burst open and Macy popped into the room, kicking the door closed behind her so that it slammed, all loud enough to wake Allison. She jerked up with a snort, wiping at her mouth.
“Oh, sorry mate.” Macy laughed and tossed a red-and-white paper bag onto Allison’s bed. “Didn’t know you were sleeping.”
“What’s this?” Allison asked, reaching for the bag.
“Stopped by the Maccas. Got like fifteen of those burritos you like. I already ate like six of them.”
Allison chuckled and rubbed at her eyes. Despite having already eaten, her stomach rumbled at the mere thought of breakfast burritos. They were her favorite.
“Thanks.” She pulled one of the burritos from the bag, unwrapped it, and took a huge bite. “How is it possible that we eat as much as we do and yet neither of us weighs more than 130 pounds?”
“Haven’t got a bastard clue, but I’m not complaining.”
“Neither am I.” Allison cracked up. She was quite proud of her figure. She had worked hard for it after all—running and working out as often as possible, and Allison knew she attracted quite a bit of attention because of it. She didn’t care much for the gawking, though, unless of course it was a certain brunette doing the gawking.
The thought of Elena had Allison choking in her effort to swallow too quickly so she could speak, which caught Macy’s attention.
“You all right?”
“Oh my God, Mace. I have so much to tell you.”
“Ooh.” Macy grinned as she settled more comfortably atop her bed. “That sounds juicy.”
Before Allison could say another word, though, Macy continued. “Oh wait, lemme guess. You and hot-pants waited ‘til the kid was out like a light and then you did the do on every surface in her enormous fancy house. Am I right?”
Jaw practically smacking into her chest, Allison gaped at her roommate.
Macy barreled over with laughter at Allison’s reaction. “Your face, Alli! Your face is killing me!”
Snapping out of her trance, Allison reached for her pillow and chucked it across the room at her best friend. It smacked into the side of Macy’s head. “You are an ass.”
“Yeah, but was I right?” Macy asked. “Did you get naughty with the boss lady?”
“Well…”
* * *
“Explain yourself,” Elena stared her best friend down from across her desk.
Vivian ran a hand through her hair, sighing as she nodded and resigned to spilling her little secret. “It’s really not as bad as you’re acting like it’s going to be. Like I said, anything I did is at least partly responsible for the fuzzy love feelings you’ve got going on with the hot babysitter right now. So, just keep that in mind.”
“Stalling will win you no points with me.” Elena sat back in her chair, resting her elbows on the armrests, and steepling her fingers just under her chin.
Vivian rolled her eyes and launched into her story. “Okay, so the first date was completely natural. I didn’t have anything planned. I hadn’t even met Allison at that point.”
Elena nodded, signaling for her to continue.
“Admittedly, he was an ass, but that was all his own doing.”
Both she and Elena smiled despite the fact that one was mad at the other. “Then I met Allison that day at the museum with you and Lucas, and well, it was obvious.”
“What was obvious?”
“The chemistry between you two.” Vivian sighed. “It still astounds me that you were completely oblivious to it.”
“Was it really?” Elena whispered.
“Uh yeah. I’ve never seen you act with a stranger—or anyone, really, for that matter— the way you did with Allison. The way you spoke to her and about her and even your body language. You two looked like a couple, and, from the way some of the people in the museum looked at you, I’m guessing they thought you were. It was adorable.”
Elena tried to keep her expression stoic, but she couldn’t help herself. A smile tugged at her lips, slowly growing the longer Vivian went on. Had the connection between her and Allison truly been that obvious from the beginning? How had she missed it?
“So, anyway, it was obvious that neither of you had clued into what the rest of the free world had already picked up on, and I was afraid that nothing would develop if I didn’t intervene at least a little. So, you see Elena, I was doing it for you, because I’m such a wonderful friend. You can’t really blame me for that, can you?”
Though Elena’s anger quickly leaked away, she did her best to remain stern as she cut her eyes back to her best friend and pursed her lips. “That would depend on what exactly you mean when you say you ‘intervened’.”
“Nothing major,” Vivian swore. “I simply coached the next two dates you had, and only a little.”
“Coached?”
“I told them how to act,” Vivian said, biting her lip. “Admittedly, Garrett went overboard; though in my defense, I didn’t tell him to wear a toupee. He actually has hair, so I’m not even sure how he managed to get the thing to stick in place. He apparently thought it was a hilarious addition, though. He even sent me a selfie with an all-caps ‘LOL’ when he was on his way to your house.”
“Vivian!” Elena couldn’t even believe what she was hearing.
Vivian laughed. “I know! I know. I’m sorry. Listen, I only told him to be clingy and crass. Again, in my defense, I never said he should bring up anything even remotely related to his bowels. I said crass. He chose how to fulfill those requirements.”
“Vivian!” Elena reached for the box of tissues on her desk and chucked it at the blonde. “I can’t believe you! Do you have any idea how embarrassing that entire ordeal was for me?”
“Well yeah,” Vivian mumbled. “I can imagine. Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was going to take it that far.”
“What was the purpose of even doing such a thing? How would that have any bearing on my relationship with Allison?”
“Allison mentioned at the museum that you complained to her about the first date. I thought that if the dates were bad enough, it would not only show you the stark contrast between those horrible dates and the good-looking, funny babysitter waiting for you at home, but that it would also give you a chance to bond with her over ranting about each date.”
“But Alexis was—”
“I know,” Vivian interjected. “I originally planned to set you up on a string of bad dates, but then, the day of the show, you joked that you thought I was setting you up on bad dates on purpose, and well, I panicked. So, I decided to set you up on a good date instead, and I coached Alexis on the topics of conversation.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I told her to ask you what you were looking for in a partner,” Vivian explained. “I hoped it would help you realize on your own that you had already found someone who fit the bill, but, even if it didn’t, I was at least ninety-seven percent sure that the mere sight of Alexis on your doorstep would make Allison jealous. I wasn’t positive she had figured out her feelings for you yet, but then I thought she might not have even known that you are into women, so then I—”
Elena waved a hand for Vivian to stop. She heard all she needed to hear.
She could not believe that Vivian had concocted this elaborate, and actually rather genius, plan for no other purpose than to bring her and Allison closer together, to give her a real shot with her. As angry as Elena wanted to be, she had to admit that she found her friend’s actions endearing. In fact, it was undoubtedly the sweetest scheme Elena had ever heard of and, furthermore, the plan had actually worked. She and Allison had found their way to one another, and Vivian’s actions certainly aided in the journey; that much was undeniable.
“Please don’t be angry with me, Elena. I know I shouldn’t have gone behind your back, but I know how you are. If I outright mentioned the possibility of you and Allison, you would have dismissed it, and then you would have overanalyzed everything to the point of panic. I didn’t want you to give up on the idea before you ever even gave it a chance. I just wanted you to be happy. That’s what I still want.”
Elena sighed as she shook her head and looked up to meet Vivian’s eyes. They stared at one another for a long time, Vivian’s eyes cautiously mirthful despite her worry that Elena was actually upset with her. Elena held her serious expression a bit longer just to toy with her before she finally dropped the act and let a smile spread across her lips.
Vivian mimicked the expression as Elena said, “You are a complete pain in my ass, Vivian.”
“But you love me.” She jumped up from her chair and rounded Elena’s desk, wrapping her arms around Elena from the side. “Right?”
Elena tilted her head to rest it against Vivian’s. “Right.”
