Bittersweet Honey

14. Half of my Heart

Toni.

"I was born in the arms
Of imaginary friends.
Free to roam, made a home
Out of everywhere I've been.
Then you come in crashing in.
Like the realest thing."

-John Mayer

     Monday morning I walk into the office building like I always do. I have an uneasy feeling about today, but I try to keep calm. My anxiety levels have been so fluctuating for the last couple of days, I don't know how much stress I can take anymore.

     But I definitely need to focus. I hold my badge up to the scanner to enter the Communications Department, and head to my office which is almost at the end of the hall. Just as I'm about to arrive, I am completely ambushed by Alex and Ren out of nowhere!

​     "Get off me, you freaks!" I protest as Alex pulls me into his office.

​     "Spill everything babe, we gave you some time to process the whole thing, now please I can't go another day without hearing about your date with that delicious Ricciardo man." He basically pushes me into his chair as Ren closes the door.

     ​"Oh my God, you two are insane. Eleanor is going to be furious if she sees us." I say with agitated breaths.

​     "Who cares? We've got all day, you don't have to tell us everything right now, you can start at the beginning, dear." Alex already is sitting on his desk with expecting eyes. Ren joins him now and I feel like they are both ready to beat me up in exchange of information. But I just give in. I knew this was coming sooner or later.

​     "Fine. What do you want to hear?" I question as I put my bag on the floor.

​     "Everything. From the top, darling." Alex sighs.

     ​"Alright, well...he picked me up, he was...a true gentleman." And with only that sentence Alex and Ren are already sighing obnoxiously.

     ​"And we went to Fiorentino's and...we...we talked for hours and hours. I didn't know we would talk so much." I find myself sighing quietly as well. Ren and Alex squeal again like a couple of teenage girls.

​     "Well what did you talk about? He sounds like a great guy already." Ren asks.

​      "I mean...I wouldn't even know where to start. He is a great, great guy. We...actually have a lot in common." And just as I'm about to go on to tell them more details, Eleanor suddenly slams the door open, catching us completely off guard.

​     "What is going on here?! This is work, not brunch at the Hilton!" She exclaims. I instantly shoot up from my chair and so do Ren and Alex.

     "Sorry Eleanor." I mutter and I'm not even sure if she heard, I just need to get out of there. I walk quickly past her and into my office, my heart is absolutely racing. I can hear some more hollering from Eleanor through the walls, good thing I moved quickly.
​

     ​I know these next couple of days are going to be insane, so I get straight to work on assignments I have to complete. I work on my laptop mostly, going over plans for conferences, to-do lists and contact information I'm going to need. As soon as I get off from a call with someone from PR, my personal phone buzzes with a text message.