LUXURE

15. IT'S NOT WHAT IT SEEMS

The rest of the weekend seemed to fly by. I spent Saturday and Sunday baking cookies and cupcakes with mom while Jordie hung out with some of his friends from school at the park down the street. Jordie's last day of school was only a few days away and then it was summer break, so mom wanted to celebrate his summer time with homemade baked goods. Jordie loved lemon cupcakes for some reason, so mom was in charge of making the icing and decorating while I mixed the batter and poured it into the little cupcake tins. We decided to save the cookies for Jordie's last day of school.

That night, we sat around watching some terrible romance movie with really cheesy lines while we pigged out on cupcakes. The next morning I woke up feeling like death. I woke up feeling really anxious, I'm not sure why though, but I quickly got ready for work. On my way out the door I tripped on something on the floor. Luckily, I caught myself mid-fall. I looked back at what had attacked me, and it was Jordie's school supplies scattered across the floor. I could afford to be a few minutes late, so I packed up Jordie's school bag really quick and left him a note.

"Have a great day, Love you! -S" I grabbed my bag and ran out of the door after his note was tucked nicely in his bag. When I left the apartment building down the street where that SUV normally parks, it still wasn't there. I felt relieved.

When I got to the coffee shop, literally no one was there. The early morning rush usually starts around 6am. I set my bag down in the back room and started unloaded the boxes of coffee that we were short on. The shift went by agonizingly slow. I guess no one wanted coffee this early on a Monday? I mostly sat around doodling on a sticky note and daydreaming about being in my bed, sleeping.

After the shift I changed into my business attire. I settled for a tight fitting dress that landed on my mid thigh with a stupid black blazer on top of it. I think I was unnecessarily angry with my outfit only because I had been told by Mr. McConnor multiple times what exactly business professional looks like. I rolled my eyes just thinking about his voice yelling at me about how I wasn't "professional enough." All while looking me up and down like I was a piece of candy to be devoured.

"Scarlett! Mr. Russo will be here later in the afternoon, please have these done before then." He said as he handed me a layout of an itinerary. He wanted me to create a neat and put-together itinerary for Mr. Russo so they could go over details and change anything he didn't like. I took the folder from him and began forming the neat itinerary, starting with the flight and going through the details of his trip. I finished the itinerary in a few hours with only a few more hours to spare before I had to face Giovanni again. When the itinerary was finished printing, I put it in a nice folder with "TNM Travel Agency" labeled on the front and gave it to Mr. McConnor who approved it. I nodded at him before leaving his room. I went to the bathroom, not because I needed to, but because I needed a break from this place. I put my hands on the sink and leaned on it facing the mirror. I heard a knock on the door.

"Occupé" I said in French. I listened as the heels clicked away. I took a few deep breaths before looking at myself in the mirror. My hair looked disheveled again. The bun was lopsided with pieces of hair falling out.  I let it out of the bun and the loose curls cascaded down my back. If Mr. McConnor wanted to say something about my hair being down, so be it. I adjusted my makeup before I left the bathroom to a very angry Carmin staring at me with her arms crossed. Why were her panties in a twist? I raised an eyebrow at her as I continued walking to my desk. I twirled a piece of hair with my finger and held a pen in my teeth when I heard the large glass doors open. I nearly spit the pen out of my mouth.

"Hi, welcome to TNM Travel Agency." I said rather monotonously looking down at the piece of paper I was working on. When I looked up Giovanni stood there with a straight face as he looked at me. Today he was more casual in dark jeans and a black shirt. My eyes wandered around the room in an attempt to get out of his stare. "Um, I'll take you to Mr. McConnor." I looked at the clock, he was early.