After the Boys of Summer

Chapter 9- Ballroom Blitz

    The next day at work was a complete nightmare. Two servers called out sick, leaving the rest of us to manage the busy lunch hour. I ran around like a maniac while balancing trays of drinks in one hand and scalding hot plates in the other, all while dealing with cranky customers.

Relief settled in when my shift was finally over, until I was called in to Mrs. Caulfield's office.

"Have a seat Ms. St. James."

I hesitated for a second before taking a seat in the abnormally large chair across from her. She sat at her desk typing silently while I nervously twiddled my thumbs.

"Is this about the other day with Dorothy Winchester?" I finally asked when the silence grew to be too much.

"What happened with Ms. Winchester?" she eyed me suspiciously.

"Nothing."  I quickly recovered.

"Alright. Well I'm sure you're wondering why I brought you here today. I called you in here to speak about your performance. I spoke with Ms. Cho earlier in the week and she says you have been excelling at work. She says you show up on time and have a positive attitude. The new hire, a Mr... " she searched her paperwork. "Max Walters, is doing a fine job and says he owes it all to you."

My jaw dropped. "He said that?"

"Indeed and from what I've observed, I must say that I agree with them. Tell me, Ms. St. James, what do you know about our upcoming gala?"

"I know that this years gala is celebrating the yacht clubs centennial."

"That is correct. This will be bigger than any function we have thrown in the past and I want you in charge of it."

"You what?!"

"I'm placing you in charge of the entire thing. The food, the decor, the entertainment, all yours."

"Wow. Mrs. Caulfield I don't know what to say. Thank you. I'm honored, but are you sure about this? I've never planned an event before."

"Well after this you wont be able to say that anymore. You're a hard worker and I have a lot of confidence in you." Her face beamed at me proudly.

I gave a shaky smile as i shook her extended hand.

"I won't let you down."

"No. You wont. Good luck Ms. St. James. I am looking forward to see what you come up with."

I exhaled deeply as I exited the room, only then realizing that I was holding breath the whole time.

    I walked back to the break room slowly after meeting with Mrs. C to process what just happened. How did someone like me earn the roll of event planner? Mrs. C ignored me for the most part and I preferred to be under the radar but somewhere this year she started noticing me in a big way.

"Who died?" a voice from behind inquired. Broken from my reverie, I looked up to see Max changing out of his uniform. A bit of his chest peeked out from the top of his button up shirt and I shifted my eyes so he wouldn't catch me staring.

"Are you ok?" he came approached me with concern.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I guess I'm a little distracted."

"That's an understatement. Cynthia said Mrs. C wanted to see you. I take that it didn't go well."

"No it was fine. Better than fine actually."

"Want to talk about it?"

"I'm not sure. I'm still processing."

Max slammed his locker closed and finished buttoning his shirt. "Let take a walk and you can tell me everything."