The Truth & Other Lies

Dear Mia: From, Your Opportunistic Boss

I make it to my desk precisely at 8:25, feeling a sense of calm that I wasn't running late. After a weekend full of surprises, it's nice to return to a steady routine. I hum as I tuck my purse away in a desk drawer and swivel in my chair to turn on my computer and check my emails, but I'm kept from typing in my password when Casey comes bounding up to my side, a little out of breath and her eyes wide.

"Lilian's been asking for you," she says quietly, as though it's a huge secret.

The statement wouldn't have surprised me had it not been first thing in the morning. Lilian Adler is perpetually late.

"She's here already?" my heart stops beating out of fear. I'd set three different alarms so that I'd wake up on time this morning. This couldn't be happening. "Am I late again?"

"Nope," Casey shakes her head, her expression grim. "She came in early."

That's not good. I'm certain all the color has left me cheeks. "She never comes in early."

The last time this happened, she'd discovered someone was spilling our story ideas to a competitor and she'd come in early to decide the best way to fire them. That was when I was an intern. Which meant that whatever she wanted to see me for was a huge deal. Like maybe she wants to fire me. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a reason why she has any cause to do so, but I figure that doesn't really matter anyway.

"I know," Casey breathes out, nodding towards Lilian's office, where the Editor-In-Chief is staring intently at her computer screen. "Probably better not to keep her waiting."

Nodding, I gulp and take deep breath before shakily pushing myself to my feet, sending Casey a worried glance as I headed towards the glass office in the center of the department. I knock timidly, despite the door being open, my heart pounding when Lilian looks up from her computer. "I was told you wanted to see me."

"Mia, yes, take a seat," she nods, and I perch myself on the edge of one of the super stylish but wildly uncomfortable low backed chairs, lacing my fingers together to keep my hands occupied as she turns her computer screen to face me. "I want you to explain this."

The screen shows an article from a celebrity news website, the headline reading, Who is Hunter's mystery girl?

Below the headline are two side by side pictures. The first one is a bit dark and a little blurry, as though taken with a camera phone and features a man and a woman kissing. The man is clearly Hunter - the distinctive forearm tattoos peeking out from beneath the rolled up sleeves of his shirt are a dead giveaway - but the woman's face is obscured. So my first instinct is to say I have no idea what's going on, but then I realize that my flame colored hair is recognizable from about three miles away, so there's really no point in shifting the focus.

Plus, the second picture kind of negates any argument I have about it not being me, seeing as it's a high quality paparazzi picture of Hunter and I sitting in a diner booth, smiling at each other over the tops of our menus. If the second picture had been the only one to exist, I could have said things between us are strictly platonic, but I'm out of options and I don't have any clue how to explain myself, so all I manage to whisper is, "Oh."

"That's all you have to say?" Lilian raises one perfectly tweezed eyebrow.

"What do you want me to say?" I ask quietly. I can't tell how she feels about the whole situation. Maybe she thinks I took the whole 'experiencing life' thing too far. Or maybe she wants me to take it further. Both possibilities have me terrified.

She sighs softly. "I don't know. To be honest, I didn't think you'd take it this far."

"Take what this far?" I have an idea of what she might mean, but I need further clarification.