Jily oneshots

Calling Her Bluff

by wotcherpotter

Lily was typing furiously away at her computer on an article that had nothing to do with "How To Find The Perfect Nude Lipstick" and more to do with the latest bill the Conservative Party had presented that morning in Parliament. She knew it was a long shot for something like that to be published in the magazine she worked for, but it was what she was passionate about. And even though the perfect nude lipstick was an important part of life she was finding it quite a dull topic to write about.

Footsteps sounded behind her, and in a panic Lily closed out of the Google document she was working on, forgetting that she had a Facebook tab open as well and that would land her in equal amounts of trouble should her boss come up behind her. She should have known from the snuffles that accompanied the footsteps that it wasn't her boss, but her friend Alice coming back to sit at her own desk. Lily looked to her left and noted the puffiness of her Alice's eyes and the redness of her nose, and deduced she must have broken up with her boyfriend on her lunch break. Lily picked up the box of tissues on her desk and held them out towards Alice.

"Is it super obvious?" Alice asked her, self consciously.

Lily smiled sympathetically at her and Alice choked on a sob.

"God, I always seem to do everything wrong."

"Don't say that," Lily tried to console her.

"It's true! It's always the same story too. It starts off great; I mean, the first time I had sex with Frank, it was so amazing that I cried." Alice pulled several more tissues out of the box Lily held out to her and dabbed at her eyes. "And then it's like we hit the 10 day mark and it's over, and I have no idea why. I can never see it coming."

"You mean like, a single glistening tear, right?" Marlene, who sat to Lily's right, had joined the conversation.

"No, I was so emotional, I even told him I loved him," Alice admitted.

"After how many days?" Lily was almost afraid to ask.

"Five…" Alice answered, and Lily gave her a disbelieving look. "Okay two, I just really felt a connection!"

"Okay well… what did he say?" Lily pressed.

"He didn't have to say anything, I knew he felt the same way. But then he started acting all weird and he was so busy all the time, I never knew where he was. I tried calling him over and over but he never answered."

Lily shared a look with Marlene, which Alice caught as well.

"He didn't know it was me! I didn't leave a message and my number is on private."

"Right yeah, I bet he thought it was one of his friends. They always call each other 20 times and hang up," Marlene said with an eye roll.

"Anyway," Alice interjected. "I know why he dumped me; I'm too fat."

"You're not fat!" Lily and Marlene said in unison.

The next morning, Lily was sat in the conference room for the morning meeting. It wasn't exactly a conventional room; instead of a large table and chairs, there was an assortment of several lounges, a coffee table, and arm chairs. Lily was sat next to Marlene on one of the lounges, with Alice on Marlene's right. Their shoes were left at the door, and their editor, Rita, was sat in an arm chair cross legged.

"Morning team. Who wants to start us off?" Rita started, looking around the room.

Narcissa, a petite woman sat at the coffee table, started her pitch on "Botox for Beginners" whilst Lily and Marlene made faces at each other mocking her. Lily was in the middle of miming being shocked at the content of the story, when Rita called on Alice.