crème glacée [the fate of coincidences 1]

1: Glen

To be a functioning member of society, you had to wake up early. That's what Glen's grandmother always told him every time he didn't want to wake up for school. Now, years later, he didn't need to be reminded anymore, even when he only got four hours of sleep the night before. Running a company was a lot harder than school ever was, and he graduated as co-valedictorian from an exclusive Manhattan prep school.

At least he had his own office on the top floor with a really nice view. He stumbled out of the elevator to get to that nice office, passing the secretary desk on the way, occupied by a pretty and deceitfully innocent-looking blonde.

"There's a call waiting for you on line one," Ella said instead of a greeting, like she usually did. "And she doesn't sound very happy."

"Is it Vendi?" he asked, a twinge of panic rising up through the mess of his work-cluttered mind.

"She said she wanted to talk to you about something very important." She narrowed her eyes at him as she furiously typed into her computer. "Did you do something stupid like ditch your date because of work?"

Before she finished speaking, he already speed-walked into the office and picked up the phone.

"Yes, hello? Vendi?" he spoke into the receiver, a bit of desperation seeping into his tone.

"Glen, I tried calling you on your cell but you didn't pick up."

"Oh." He stood up straight and took out his phone from the breast pocket of his suit. It was still turned off. "Sorry, I forgot to turn it on in the morning. Did you-"

"We need to talk, Glen." She sounded serious. But then, she always did, so no surprise there.

"Sure, go ahead."

Ella peeked into his still open office with a curious expression.

Where's Zack? Glen mouthed at her.

"Can we meet?" Vendi asked after a pause. "It's kind of important."

Ella shrugged. At the same time, the elevator pinged. Glen made a hum of acknowledgement into the receiver.

"I- I don't think..." Vendi continued, voice catching. "The wedding, I don't think I can go through with it."

Zack, Glen's personal assistant/best friend since middle school walked into the office just as Glen's world shattered. Or maybe just fractured. He should have seen this coming.

There was a long silence on both ends of the line as Ella and Zack kept on throwing him questioning looks.

Finally Glen spoke, brow furrowed. "Let's meet for lunch and discuss it then. I can't think this early in the morning."

"Right. Peet's at 12:30?"

"Ok. See you then."

He put the phone back in its place and buried his hands in his hair, messing up the perfect styling. Slowly, he sunk into the swivel chair behind him.

"Ten bucks on Vendi breaking it off," Zack stated, startling Ella into punching him in the shoulder.

Glen took in a long breath and quickly started smoothing out his hair. "Yeah, go ahead and make fun of the situation, Zack."

"Just so we're clear, Ella already put money on the time you would break up," Zack said, casting a nervous glance at her. "And it was this week-- ow!"

"Snitch," Ella hissed, letting go of Zack's arm that she twisted just moments before.

"What are you guys doing here?" Glen asked with distaste. "Why are you still working for me? Where are my firing papers?"

Zack just smiled, albeit a little painfully, as if he got firing threats every day. Which he did. "What would you do without us? Work yourself to death?" he handed Glen his morning coffee that miraculously didn't spill during Ella's physical abuse. "And constantly be late to meetings? Like the one we have in less than ten minutes with the potential company face model?"

Glen looked up at his assistant with wide eyes and jumped up to his feet. "Oh, crap." He grabbed the coffee and Zack and rushed to the elevator. "We can't be late to that."

"A wonderful day is ahead, Mr. Oswald!" Ella called after them cheerfully, sarcasm honed to the perfect level of subtlety. "I'm looking forward to hearing about it."

Glen didn't have time to come up with a witty comeback before the elevator doors slid closed and Zack opened his black leather-bound planner.

"So, Argon's agency reviewed the contract and they had a few questions," Zack began, seamlessly slipping into business mode. "They're also not fully satisfied with the commission fee so we'll need to redo the negotiations."

Glen nodded and mentally prepared himself for the "wonderful" day ahead.