The Unbelievable (Book Two)

Chapter 8

"Look, what I said..." I began as I sat nervously at the bar with Harry pouring drinks for some scrawny alcoholic on the other end.

"You don't have to apologize, Callie," Harry scoffed and acted as if my choice of words the other day didn't even bother him.

"Yes I do, because you need to know I didn't mean them," I clenched my hands together on the sticky bar top. The tone of my voice was low so no one could over hear our conversation but my eyes were working over time to get him to believe me.

A couple came in and ordered something from Harry and sat on the same end where I was sat, only two seats away from me. What cock blocks...

"Listen, I need you to go. Ok?" Harry leaned over to me resting his elbows on the counter top and his face merely inches from mine.

I took the inside of my bottom lip between my teeth and rolled my eyes. I coughed when my eyes started getting teary and picked up my things and left. While I was walking down the street I ran into a coworker from Elle. She'd been into my "office" a few times and when she saw me walking back she ran to me to have a quick hello.

"How are you?" I asked politely and gave her a small hug.

She talked on and on about how she just got engaged last night. It made me think about all the happy relationships surrounding me, Alex and Gage, Mike and Katie, and the upcoming marriage of Alaric and Minnie. Of course I was happy for all of them, but it made me stray from being able to engage with them about it. As happy as they all were and how selfish it may seem of me, I didn't like hearing about their latest trips and adventures they'd all taken. It made me seem minuscule and I thought many times to completely give up on love like that and have eighteen puppies come live with me. Then again, that itself might be a nightmare.

So I stood there with my fake smile and fake giggle as my coworker talked on and on about her beau. When she finally let me free, I walked down a few more streets and conveniently it started drizzling, then raining, then soaking every inch of me.

By the time I arrived back at my apartment it was late in the evening and I decided to get ready for another work day in the morning. Hailey stopped by for a bit then left after bringing the news that she would be flying to Paris for the weekend with a new guy she met at a shoot. Of course, I really was excited for her, but my heart strings pulled and when she finally was out my door, I sunk into some pj's and drank half a bottle of wine.

Work was the same pretty much everyday. Go in, give Lorraine her mail, have lunch with Fiona, reply to some letters, and then go home. Not hard, really.

Just as I was grabbing my purse to leave, Lorraine stopped outside my door reading something on an iPad.

"Have a nice weekend," I smiled politely as I turned the lights off in my office and locked the door behind me.

"Steele, am I correct?" she smiled as she looked over my outfit. Suddenly, I regretted setting out these shoes. They were strappy heels that looked like something a Kardashian would wear to a red carpet event, except for the hot pink color. My black skirt clung to my waist and hips. The designer brilliantly gave it an asymmetrical cut to make my legs look longer and for my thighs to look smaller. The pale pink blouse I wore was sleeveless and I knew I would get in trouble for it. And here was my reckoning with the queen bee herself.

"Yes," I choked completely astounded that she knew my last name when my old boss couldn't even get my first name correct.

"Why are you working here?" she asked flatly.

"Well," I fidgeted under her stare. "I wanted to explore possibilities. I'm fresh from school and I wanted a career that I knew I would prosper in. Elle serves both refinement and grace in fashion, all of which I admire."