incandescent

vi

lorelai sinclair
october 26-27th 2023
manhattan, nyc

╰➤ ❝tolerate it.❞
☽༓･*˚⁺‧⁺˚*･༓ ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

𝐈 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊. I hate being the bigger person, I'm too petty for this and I hold grudges forever. So, when I heard Madelyn and her effortlessly gorgeous friends belittling me, I wanted to punch something, preferably their symmetrical faces. I mean, thrift store clothes? Horse girl?! How dare they! Was she so pathetic and insecure that she relied on tearing other people down to make herself feel better?

I clenched my jaw, preparing to yell at Madelyn for her blatant disrespect when I was greeted with an empty lobby. Ugh, as I was scheming my plan, they probably walked away. I probably did look insane, jumping out from behind the dress rack. Whatever. I still couldn't believe they bet on how long I would last.

I smiled at that, though. I couldn't wait for the look on their faces when they saw me working here for 3 months because of my contract. At least it came in handy now, I guess. But the second it's January 26, I'm so getting fired. Shit! Mr. Astor's lunch had been ready for 5 minutes now, and the Sweet Nothing reservation was very strict- if you aren't punctual, your view of the skyline and the gorgeous hanging plants were gone.

I learned from Aaliyah what the shortcut to Giovanni's was, quickly grabbing the bag and rushing past the usual crowd of people on the streets. 10 years, and I was still afraid I would get run over. Not wanting to receive dirty glares from lawyers today, I opened the doors of the courtroom quietly, suppressing the urge to sneeze.

It took me a few seconds to find him, since he literally stood out with his crazy height. I brought over the lunch, but he was in a heated argument with a judge and his lawyer was trying to cool him down. All the while, Genevieve was smiling.

"Theo," his lawyer (who managed to get even cuter in 12 hours) warned as he saw me approaching. "Theo! Drop it. You're not helping your case."

"Fuck off," he muttered, but listened. He turned around and saw me and I could've sworn his face soured.

"Your lunch, sir." I was more than eager to leave the stuffy courtroom. But it seemed like fate just loved to fuck with me.

"Have all of these done and forwarded to me by 5. No later." He handed me a crisp paper scrawled with more tasks. No warning. No hello. Great. Ugh, I really thought I was out of the woods. Instead of groaning out loud, I plastered a fake smile and cheerily said,

"Got it. Do you need anything else, sir?"

"No, that's all," he said dismissively before he conversed with his lawyer in hushed tones. Oh, thank the Lord. I shoved the tasks deep into my purse. I was only worried about getting to Sweet Nothing on time because I so needed a gossip session- anything to get my mind off work.

I finally reached the bakery and my spirits were instantly lifted when I saw Blair energetically rambling to Suki.

"Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late, I swear Mr. Astor is making me go insane," I groaned as I sat down and my work email dinged. The hour-long work-free breaks clearly meant nothing to him.

"Well, at least he's hot," Suki shrugged and offered me half of her muffin.

"His incredibly arrogant and unlikable personality cancels out his looks, though," I retorted, nearly moaning at how delicious the food was.