Charlie's Web (A Romantic Comedy)

Chapter 8

It was definitely wrong for both Charlie and Thea to be craving a pint of white wine at 10am on a Monday morning but they were both having a tough day so far.

The tough day started slightly earlier for Thea, who got into the car with trepidation on Monday morning to find it was as if nothing had ever transpired between herself and Dave. He was his usual jokey self, she was rigid and her mind went blank. She literally couldn't think of anything to say, and she didn't understand why Dave could be acting so normal.

As if he had read her mind, he touched her shoulder as she was getting out of the car and said softly "I've been pretending for far longer than you have." Their eyes had met for a long moment and then she'd shut the door, breaking the spell. She'd watched the car driving away until it reached the end of the street and turned the corner, then she'd wandered up to her school, knowing her pupils were unlikely to learn much from her that day.

Charlie, on the other hand, was late for work. Mainly because she slept in (in the end she hadn't made it back from Jake's until 9pm), and then she was having trouble actually walking thanks to an unusual amount of exercise. She made it in at 9.15, sporting a mild case of stubble rash and a major case of exhaustion. She had barely even made an effort with her make-up, which just showed how tired she was.

"Is that a monday morning walk of shame?" Josh trilled from behind his desk. In most offices, HR would probably be called in for a remark like that, but Charlie wasn't offended. She was aware she probably did look like she'd just rolled in from a wild night out, and it was almost true. That being said, she was embarrassed and she found she couldn't help but glance towards Aaron's desk.

He wasn't looking over, much to her relief. She exhaled a sigh and sat down. She was aware she looked an absolute mess and, while she might be over the little prick, she'd prefer him not to look at her if possible.

Logging into her PC, she groaned as she realised there was an all-staff meeting in five minutes. So much for him not having to see her - she'd just have to try her best to get a seat nowhere near him then!

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Well, that was the plan. Unfortunately fate conspired against her and five minutes later she found herself sitting directly opposite him in the meeting room. She really wished she'd made a bit more effort with her make-up now but she'd thought she'd just be hiding behind her computer all day and it wouldn't matter. So much for that idea.

He looked unfairly good as well. His whole aura just sang of health and the outdoors, as if he'd been up a mountain at the weekend. She was unsurprised but unreasonably annoyed when she heard him say to the guy sitting next to him that he'd climbed Ben More the day before. She didn't even know where that was. She wondered who he'd climbed it with.

She suddenly realised she was glaring at him. Unfortunately, she only realised this after it became apparent that he'd caught her. He looked at her in confusion and then looked away with a shrug.

Prick.

"So we need a couple of people to organise the summer work party," Josh announced. "Any volunteers?"

Everyone immediately looked at the table. It was a well known fact that trying to organise any kind of social event in their office always turned out to be a disaster. In fact, they hadn't had a summer work party for several years for that exact reason. Why it was now being resurrected was beyond her.

"Oh come on guys," Josh chided. "The big CEO is going to be there so we need people to pull together and get a really good night going."

Ah, so that was why it was being dug back up from its grave. Everyone kept staring studiously anywhere but at Josh.