Forever Yours

A Ride on the Wild Side [5]

5. A Ride on the Wild Side

Ryan

...Ring...

...Ring...

I stuck a hand out to grab my cell phone from the side-table next to my bed. Whoever was calling at this frigging hour of the morning had a death wish.

"Hello?" I pressed a pillow to my head to block the sunlight coming in through the window.

"Ryan?" It was Maureen. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

Crap. Maureen.

I bolted upright and threw the pillow to the floor. "No, 'course not. I was just..." I peered at my clock. Eight frigging thirty. Dang it. "I was, um... getting dressed."

"Right..." I could hear what sounded like gospel-style music playing in the background. "Well. I'm sorry for waking you." She said and I grinned. Her overly sweet voice said it all. "Anyway, I was calling to ask if you were planning on showing up to work today... do you think you can be here in about forty minutes? Or will you need more time to wake up?"

"Forty minutes would be fine," I said. "Listen, I'm really sorry, by the way. I didn't mean to- I wasn't planning on being late, um..." I stopped. This was bull. Might as well ask her right out. "Am I fired?"

She actually snickered. "No."

"Oh, good," I said, relieved. I ran a hand through my hair, trying to straighten it after catching sight of it in the mirror through the open bathroom door.

"I was going to ask: is it mandatory to wear the suit?" she questioned. I was already yanking the black dress pants up my leg. I stopped, confused.

"I don't know. I mean, it's what they told me to wear."

"Do you think I can tell you to wear whatever you want, or would that be unprofessional?" She said and she sounded worried.

"I'm miserable and you're worried about professionalism. Awesome."

She laughed. "When you put it that way..."

"I don't have to wear it?"

"Wear whatever you want... Although, I must say, that the suit does look very nice on you," she added. Score.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second... You were checking me out?"

She was laughing but there was a scoff in her voice when she said, "Don't flatter yourself."

"You were checking me out," I surmised.

"I wasn't!"

"You must have trouble sleeping at night."

"Shut up," she said but she was still laughing. "I'll see you later."

"Okay, see you," I said. She clicked off but her laugh was still playing in my head when I yanked on my jeans and grabbed a tee shirt from a drawer. I was still grinning when I called my buddy, Darren.

It rang a while before he picked up.

"Hello?" He groaned. The fact that he was barely awake made his English accent ten times more prominent than usual.

"What's up, bro?"

"Are you frigging serious?" He said incredulously. "Ryan, I'll tell you what's up, I'm trying to frigging sleep, that's what's up."

"Listen, I called to tell you I won't be able to come to the party tonight. I have a class."

"Aw, bollocks."