The Ex Best Friend

Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

“I just said that Mr. Marshall is unavailable on Thursday,” I snapped angrily.

The other line on my phone was quiet for a second before blaring to life. “Yes I heard you, but you must be mistaken. I had plans to meet with him that day. Perhaps you ought to check with him and then tell me that I’m –”

“What?” I interrupted. “Sorry the line must be breaking up, I can’t hear you.” I quickly ended the call and turned off my phone. Sighing in relief, I adjusted my bag on my shoulder and quickened my pace to the door.

A couple of people passed by, some sending me strange glances and others smiling at me warmly. Someone who I didn’t recognize even said hello. What was going on? I thought curiously.

“Hello Jessica,” Bill said with a weird smile on his face.

I eyed him carefully. “Hey. What’s going on?”

His forehead scrunched together in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Everyone’s looking at me weird.”

“Ah. Well I think you should see for yourself,” he said with a smile spreading across his face. “Go on in.”

My eyes shifted nervously from him to the door. Even though the front was made mostly of glass, it was hard to see inside because of the glare on the glass from the sun. Bill tilted his head, urging me to go in. I reached for the door handle slowly. Opening the door, I took cautious steps inside. The lobby was bustling with people and almost all of them turned to look at me. Their eyes flickered from me to something in the front of the lobby. Following their gaze, I looked up. Hanging from the ceiling in front of the wall of the lobby, over the main desk, were 3 large posters of the pictures I had taken from the photo shoot. On the bottom of the middle poster, in big letters were La Ballerine 2011 – Jessica Bryans.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

Bill suddenly appeared beside me. “Pretty neat, huh?”

“Yeah,” I said in a daze.

“You better get to work. You’re almost late,” he said, tapping on his watch.

“Oh right,” I nodded, not taking my eyes off the pictures. With a final wave at Bill, I made my way to the elevator. Some people actually shuffled out of my way and left a clear path for me to walk. Jeez, this feels like high school all over again.

The ride on the elevator wasn’t much better than in the lobby. Occasionally the door would open and someone would be able to step in. But of course, they see me first and stand there gaping. After a while I’d have to urge them into the elevator, or the doors just close on them. If I’m lucky, someone would strike up a casual conversation. Since I have to go all the way up to the 35th floor, there were a lot of awkward moments. I could probably write a book on today’s experiences, titled: Awkward Elevator Moments 101.

Finally, I got out of the elevator and walked to my cubicle. Thankfully no one stared or gaped at me, probably because they already knew and well, I see them everyday. Putting my stuff on my desk, I looked towards Jake’s room. I felt a pang of disappointment when I saw that he wasn’t there but quickly shook it away. I slid into my chair and turned on my computer.

A Starbucks paper bag flew onto my desk and I lifted my head to see who threw it.

“Hey,” Jake said. He was leaning against the wall of my cubicle and had a lopsided grin on his face.