“Why don't you just give her a chance?” His whiny tone is the same as every time he tries and fails at being my wing man. He must have seen me talking to Rebecca which sparked this again. I really don’t want to get into this now, but Wes has been trying to get me in the dating game since we’ve met. Long story short is that I don’t need or want someone to help me in that capacity, so he will continue failing until the end of time.
“I told you, dude. I’m not interested, and she’s not my type anyways.”
“Hotis not your type?” He wiggles his eyebrows at me, and I roll my eyes. While he has a point, it would never happen.
Yes, Rebecca is conventionally beautiful. I definitely saw some of the guys in the office checking her out today in her tight black dress, but, like I said, I am honestly not interested. She could probably be a model given her tall and slenderappearance, but I’ve never been one who only cares about looks over substance. I need to be with someone who is kind and has a sense of humor. If they’re attractive too, that’s a bonus.
Shrugging my shoulders, I do my best to end the conversation. “Overbearing and obsessive negate the hotness for me. Sorry, I guess I just like when women are hot and have good personalities, too.”
“He has a point, Wes.” Natalie cuts in, not looking up from her computer. “And if you stop bothering him, we can leave sooner.”
When they do our yearly meetings, I’m going to recommend a solid salary increase just for the amount of time Natalie gets me out of uncomfortable situations.
“Stop teaming up on me! We all know that Patrick is too picky!” Wes throws his tiny tantrum, but goes back to his computer. Even Wes knows better than to get between Natalie and her weekend plans.
His comment rings a little too close to the truth.
I am too picky, but a relationship is not what I need to be worrying about right now. My head is already flooded with this whole Ellie situation when I should be focusing on work. Instead, I’m stuck in this odd conundrum with no way out. As far as Greg knows, I have a very real girlfriend, but as far as everyone else in the world knows, I don’t.
Whatever happens, the first thing I need to do is talk to Ellie before I mess it all up.
Everything seems to be in order as I check the final documents on my computer. When I go out to see if everyone has done their part of the walkthrough, they all give me the okay that everything is working.
At least this part of my life is stable.
I contemplated driving to The Brew and talking it out with Ellie, but there is no way that she is still working today. No matter what I do, I need to talk with her because I can’t leave her in the dark on this. The only issue is that I saw her at The Brew every single morning this week, so it has to wait until Monday. I figure that it’s fine because that just means that I have more time to come up with something sensible.
For the entire drive home and the walk up to my house, I run through the options and determine that there are three potential solutions:
1. Admit to Greg that Ellie and I are not and never were dating.
This one felt the most right morally, but it’s not the best option. If we go through with it, not only do I look bad for lying to my new boss, Ellie will be back at square one. Although, if I go with this option, I’m going to stand up to Greg to let him know that he needs to treat people better, but based on what I already know about him, that will do very little. It would be surprising if he was open to any sort of criticism since he probably doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong when he makes others uncomfortable.
2. Lie (again) to Greg and tell him that Ellie and I broke up.
This will save my ass a little bit more than option one, but once again, it puts Ellie in the same situation. And, I don’t think I can do that to her. Just thinking back to her in the panic she was this morning makes me upset.
3. Ask Ellie to continue “fake dating” and come up with a better solution later.
It sucks that this is the most viable option, but it means that neither of us have to face the repercussions of our actions quite yet. This option gives us some more time to think all ofthis through. It seems so far-fetched and ridiculous to fake date someone, but I’m out of options that work.
My bad mood has been ruining my night.
After going through the options again and again, I am fully committed to option three. The repetitive nature of assessing each option and figuring out all of the potential consequences has been interesting, but that might be the data analyst in me. Despite my mulling, option three is still the only one that I can’t find a serious issue with—other than the fact that I need to convince Ellie to fake date me.
It would be nice if she didn’t shoot me down immediately, but I would understand.
Technically, it was her idea in the first place, but I’m sure she had no clue what that white lie could have amounted to. There’s no way either of us could have known that Greg was going to be my new boss; unfortunately, we are the ones stuck dealing with the consequences.
While my Friday night plans weren’t supposed to include obsessing over a problem I can do nothing about, it's not like I was doing anything anyways. Wes spent most of the day trying to convince me to check out the new bar our coworkers have been obsessing over, but the thought of having to pretend like I’m not going through a crisis is not something I want to do tonight. Laying in bed, I try to figure out how I will make it through the weekend.
The only thing I find comfort in is replaying this morning's interaction with Ellie.
The situation was awful, but I’m not going to lie, it felt good to help her. There was a sense of accomplishment that came with my actions, and her relief was palpable.
Closing my eyes, I can still picture the blush that rose to her cheeks when I flirted with her. While I’d rather not admit it, I can’t say that I’ve never thought of Ellie in that way.
When she first started working at The Brew, I might’ve developed a tiny crush on her, but it wasn’t a good time to pursue anything—it never is. Also, it would’ve been a hassle to find a new coffee shop if things went awry. Those thoughts and feelings have been long gone, but being so close to her might have stirred up some of those emotions again.
