The Girl From Spain (girlxgirl)

Day 47/182: Sally

"I can do more than this."

"I'm sorry?" Sally's boss tore his eyes away from his computer screen and studied her through his glasses.

"I can do more," Sally repeated. She waved around with the file she had received that morning. "This is ridiculous. You are wasting my time and your resources."

He grimaced slightly. Sally was briefly worried that she had gone too far but he only said. "Are you sure you are capable? You just started, it's perfectly acceptable if you want to test the waters at first." His voice was soothing and full of fake understanding as if he was talking to a child.

"What about Coby? Why do you give him real work?"

Her boss chuckled. "Well, Coby is-"

He stopped himself and glanced at her. Sally raised her eyebrows, silently daring him to say what they both knew he was about to. Male.

She begrudgingly took Mila's advice, at least partially. Admittedly, it was a better solution if she didn't want to get fired. "I was at the top of my class," Sally said calmly and nonchalantly settled down in the chair in front of his desk. "I did everything I was supposed to without problems. You don't know what I'm capable of because you haven't seen me doing anything. Just give me a chance."

With the greatest overcoming, she forced herself to say, "Please."

He sighed and nodded. "Okay. Let me see what I can find. I have a meeting in a few minutes but I'll come by your office later."

Sally jumped up and beamed. "Thank you. You are not gonna regret this." Thanking him felt wrong but she did it nevertheless.

She walked out and closed the door behind her. A melodious voice greeted her. "Someone's in a good mood."

Sally grinned and leaned against the desk of her boss's secretary. "It's a lovely day, Emily. How are you?"

"Disappointed with the male species."

Sally nodded. "I can imagine."

Emily leaned forward and told her, "A friend convinced me to try out this dating app. In the last 24 hours, I have received more pics of dicks than I have seen in real life."

Sally laughed out loud. "So bad?"

"I just deleted it," she confirmed.

Slowly, the wheels in Sally's head began to turn. Even though she hadn't known her for long, she quite liked her. Emily was gorgeous, had a kind charisma, and was easy to talk to. "I could set you up," she said slowly. "My best friend is single."

"That would be great," Emily gushed. "You know... If he'd be interested."

Sally almost hear Jake's speech as to why he didn't do blind dates. She forced a smile on her face. "I'll check in with him later but I'm sure he'd love to. Are you free tonight? How about we make it a double date and go to dinner?"

With an enthusiastic nod and smile, Emily confirmed. Sally excused herself and, on the way back to her office, pulled out her phone. Now she only needed a fake date. Without thinking, she clicked on Mila's chat.

She hesitated before inviting her, knowing Mila would hate it that she set Jake up without his approval.

Sally could just ask someone else but somehow, the thought of asking anyone else from her limited contacts in Brighton wasn't appealing. Either they were not on that level of friendship that this invitation would be appropriate or the dinner could be mistaken as an actual date.

And she just wanted to see Mila, tell her what happened with her boss, spend time with her. She would worry about the consequences later.

***

"Why are we at such a fancy restaurant?" Jake looked around the place with raised eyebrows.

Sally's eyes immediately searched for Mila. She was frowning, studying Jake in confusion. "A friend of mine suggested this restaurant," Sally said quickly. "She'll be joining us."

Jake nodded and returned to reading the menu. Even without looking at her, Sally could feel the glare Mila was sending her the second she realized he had no idea that he was about to be on a date.

She avoided Mila's eyes and kept hers on the cutlery in front of her instead. Only seconds later, something kicked her shin, sending a sharp pain through her body. Sally barely managed to keep herself from cursing and sent the furious woman across her a pleading look, silently begging her to play along.

Mila narrowed her eyes but nodded curtly, making Sally breathe in relief. Now she could only hope that this date would be good.

Emily appeared a few minutes later. Despite herself, Sally felt a weird kind of accomplishment that Mila introduced herself with the nickname she had given her. Proudly, she grinned.

"So, how do you guys know each other?" Jake opened the conversation.

"Sally and I work together," Emily replied.

She and Jake launched into a chipper conversation causing Mila to shoot Sally a reluctant yet impressed look. The interaction was quite amusing to watch. Jake, who still had no idea this was a date, continued to lightly talk to her in an attempt to be friendly to his friend's friend while Emily's flirting became more and more obvious.

Sally could barely refrain from laughing and she even caught Mila with an occasional smile. As the dinner came to an end, Emily excused herself to take a phone call. Sally leaned over to Jake and asked, "What do you think of her?"

He nodded. "She's cool."

"Good," Sally said contently. "Cause you are in the middle of a date with her."

Jake's eyes widened. "What?"

Mila kicked Sally underneath the table, informing her that Emily was on her way back. Her leg slowly began to hurt.

"Be cool," Sally hissed to the still dumbfounded Jake and plastered a smile on her face.

"Sorry guys," Emily said, sitting back down. She seemed flustered, her face sour. She emptied her glass and slammed it back on the table more violently than necessary.

"Are you okay?" Mila asked carefully.

"Yes." She let out a shrill laugh that made Sally flinch and waved to the nearest waiter to order another drink. "This was just my ex."

An awkward silence settled over the four of them before she huffed, "He can't just call me, can he? I mean, he broke up with me."

Luckily, no answer was needed as someone came over to bring her the beverage, which she half emptied at the first sip. Sally was slowly starting to regret having told Jake about the date.

"But then he tells me he misses me," Emily said with another shrill laugh. "What am I supposed to do with that information? Does he want to get back together?"

She took another sip and continued, "But I'm over him. This won't happen. I'm on a date after all."

Emily took a deep breath and smiled at Jake who uncomfortably squirmed in his seat.

What was following would be amusing if Sally didn't know that two of the three people present would blame her for this failure and if she wouldn't feel so sorry for Emily. She ordered one drink after another, becoming gradually drunker and constantly switched between complaining about her ex and trying to flirt with Jake.

"I think we should take her home," he said eventually.

"Why don't you go ahead," Sally said quickly. "I'm gonna take another drink and walk later."

He nodded slowly. Standing up, he smiled innocently at his roommate. "I trust you will take care of the bill?" Without awaiting an answer, he turned to Mila and offered to take her home as well. She hesitated, searching for Sally's gaze before declining. "Another drink sounds good, thank you."

Sally rolled her eyes, she wasn't in the mood for a lecture.

Jake and Emily left, the latter clinging to his arm to maintain balance.

After the door fell close after them, Sally sighed and turned back to Mila. Instead of the expected glare, she was met with an inquisitorial pair of eyes piercing into hers.