Invitation

The promotion

"Congratulations Josephine! We all knew you could do it! You'll be great!" The hotel directors and high up managers cheered.

I just got promoted to an Event Planning Manager at a hotel I've been at for less than 2 years. For my age, it was an accomplishment worth celebrating on my own with a bottle of wine and a bath. Through the last couple years of my employment here, it's been great. I've had plenty of amazing opportunities I never would have thought to have even considered as something able to do. I have met some amazing people, and some not so amazing ones too. The good outweighed the bad of course, with one extra person staying in my mind a lot longer than I had wanted.

Chef William. He was maybe 4 years older than myself, and gorgeously handsome. I had only really talked with him a handful of times, and each of those occurrences ended with my face 2 extra shades of red from blushing at a simple exchange of harmless words.

Last year, A friend tried to get us to go on a coffee date. I admire her trying, but it had only ended in him saying he was sorry because he had something going on with someone else.
Now I do respect him for that, but in the last year, not only did I feel myself mentally maturing, I tried to get him to notice I wasn't paying attention to him. I didn't talk to him as much, and I really just tried not to say anything to keep me from falling for him again.

Someone should have told me that wouldn't work, because I would've said they were right.
Here we are, a year later after that embarrassing moment of a proposed coffee date, and I am right back where I started. Completely, and utterly infatuated by William. Everything he did had some sort of glory to it. He made cutting vegetables or bread of all things, look attractive and appealing to the eye. He made mixing green beans with seasoning in a big platter... well. Hot. I didn't know how to stop. Every moment I could, I was in the kitchen. Watching the chefs cook or prep food for a banquet. I would purposely hand deliver things just to see if William had been working just to catch a glimpse of him smiling at me.

And now, to my surprise, came a moment and opportunity that I had to accept my future fate and go through with the task. I was invited to a party, and guests were welcome. As I took a shower this morning, I felt the sudden urge to make it a point to subtly ask William if he wanted to join me. I wanted him to see me outside of the work place, in clothes other than the same rotating pair of jeans and a sweater. I wanted him to see something different, and sexy to the point of him wanting more interaction with me. I knew he didn't date coworkers, but currently, that didn't stop my brain from slightly wondering if he would say yes to the invitation and show up in a well-dressed outfit that made him irresistible. But of course, this was just my wildest dream, right?

"Jo? Can you get me a signed copy of a tax exemption form? Your group from last week reached out asking why taxes were still applied to their total cost." The accountant Sharon asked. I snapped out of the fantasy I was wrapped in that involved none other than William.
"Of course. I don't know why they thought it was a great idea to wait until last minute to say anything about an exemption to taxes. It's usually the first..." I rolled my eyes and started typing out an email to the groups contact. Sharon walked away with a fake smile on her face and a 'thank you' that always seemed to linger because of how insincere it sounded. I sent the email in hopes to get a reply today. The only thing I disliked more than fake personalities, was definitely not getting a response to an email until way past the time it was needed.
I finished out my morning with more emails but of introductions to new groups arriving in the new year. Everything ranged from a small meeting, to a meeting of 500 for a corporate event that does a yearly goal setting, promotion and award banquet. This would be by far the biggest thing I was tasked to take on. I wasn't scared or concerned I couldn't handle it, but I was curious on what it would turn my mental state to, when it came to the planning phase, working with banquets on special requests and making sure the kitchen staff had enough food for some people to have dietary restrictions. It was all fine though, I did sign up for this after all.

Towards the later afternoon, I switched my attention to meetings with departments heads and going over menu prices for the next year. Although it didn't sound fun, it kept me busy.
By the time it was 4:30pm, the feeling of excitement shot all over my body. I get to leave. Not only was that my favorite part of the day... actually who am I kidding. It was definitely my favorite part of every day.
I made it home by 5:15 and walked in the door with a big sigh leaving my mouth. Home at last and my bed is calling my name! I put down my purse and kick off my shoes. I grabbed my phone from my bag and plopped down on my couch and started scrolling on TikTok. All I saw were couples being reunited for the holidays after long distance relationships. I rolled my eyes and went to instagram. First thing that popped up was a girl I went to high school with, just got engaged. How peachy. I turn off my phone and throw it to the other end of the couch. All I could think about was William. Curious about what he did outside of work, what his hobbies are, and possibly what girl he had lined up. I didn't peg him to be the player type, but with his looks, anything was possible. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up the next morning with my clothes from the day before still on. I guess I didn't realize that I fell asleep. I looked at the clock above the tv with the time displayed as 7:45am. Crap! I got up off the couch in a hurry and went straight to the bathroom. quickly taking off my clothes I jumped into the cold shower. throwing soap all over my body and through my hair I tried to make it as fast as possible. I got out and wrapped the towel around my body, leaving a trail of water as I walked to my room. I threw the towel on the floor and grabbed a sweater from my closet. throwing it on over my bra, my hair was still soaking wet, leaving that cold sensation of wet hair on my back. I grabbed black pants and slipped those on, doing a couple jumps to pull them up. I grabbed the first slip on loafers I could find and went back to the bathroom to see the damage. Outfit was acceptable, but could've been better. I brushed my long brown hair and quickly washed yesterdays makeup off my face. I took out my contacts that I stupidly left in and grabbed my glasses off the counter. with one last look at todays fate, I ran to the front door, grabbing my phone and purse. I locked my door and went straight to the car. Please, please do not let traffic be bad today. I pulled up my maps and clicked on my work address. 37 minutes. it was already past 8, and my first meeting was at 8:30. It was going to be one of those days...