“Tell him how much fun you’re having. Tell him you are on your fifth cocktail and are about to hit the dancefloor with Bob from human resources.” Juniper laughed stupidly. She was very pay day drunk, and I wasn’t that far behind. “And then tell him after you’ve finished dancing you’re going off to eat cake, plan the Christmas party and have sex!”
“Maybe not the last part,” I giggled as I typed him a much more toned-down version of the message and pressed send.
I put the phone down on the bar counter and we all waited for a response. I sipped on my tasty pink cocktail as my phone beeped again. We all leaned in.
Ryan:I need you to come to the site meeting with me on Monday. I’ll send you the address and time.
“Oh my God!” Juniper pointed at the phone. “I told you he was just trying to spoil your fun.” She made a loud booing noise at the phone. A few trendy-looking hipsters turned around and looked at her disapprovingly.
Ayanda shook her head. “I think he’s really trying to torture you. He never takes his assistants to site meetings.”
“Really?” I looked up at them in horror. “You think?”
They both nodded at me. “But despite that,” Ayanda said, “I wouldn’t mind having your job.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I’ve been working there longer than anyone else and I’ve never gotten any kind of a promotion. It’s not my dream to be a receptionist,” she said. “I’m thinking of leaving. I need to move up in the world so I can drink champagne on pay day, not this crap.” She held her cider up and we all laughed. Without planning it, we all leaned in and clinked our glasses together.
“To champagne,” Juniper said. “And lots of it.”
I looked down at my phone again and wondered if they were right? Was he just trying to ruin my fun and torture me with this meeting on Monday? Juniper reached out and snatched my phone away.
“Let’s put that thing away and dance.” She jumped up and pulled us both towards the dancefloor. Ayanda followed us, laughing and tripping over our feet in that way that lets you know you’ve probably had a few too many drinks and need to slow down.
I slowed down pretty soon after that, when I caught an Uber home and climbed into bed at around eleven thirty. The others were all still there, drinking and dancing. I was just about to turn my light off when my phone beeped again. It was Ryan. He’d never messaged me this much before. Ever. And never at this time.
Ryan:Change of plans for Monday, meet at 8:30, not 8.
I messaged him back immediately. Did this man never sleep? Did he eat, breathe and dream work?
Me:Noted.
Ryan:Are you still out?
The question caught me off guard. What did that have to do with him anyway? This conversation was starting to irritate me. Maybe it was because I’d had a few drinks and all I wanted to do was climb into bed and sleep.
Me:No. Why?
There was a long pause before the message came back.
Ryan:Just wanted to make sure you would remember this and I didn’t need to remind you on Monday morning again.
“What?” I hissed out loud, feeling somewhat insulted by this not so subtle insinuation of his. I typed a message back, hard.
Me:Excuse me! Are you implying that I’m drunk?
Ryan:Well, it is called pay day drinks, not pay day snacks.
I stared at the message. I didn’t even know what to say back to that! My brain wasn’t as sharp as I would have liked and I couldn’t think of a snappy, quick comeback.
Me:I didn’t drink that much. Not that it’s any of your business btw.
I typed the message and pressed send, feeling the buzz of Dutch courage rushing through my veins.
Ryan:I should hope not, if you drove home. Because that would be irresponsible, not to mention illegal. I don’t want to have to come and bail my assistant out of jail in the middle of the night.
And now I was just confused. I looked at his message and read it, over and over again. Did this man hate me? Did this man want to punish me? Or did he, in some strange, bizarre way, care? The kind of “care” that a madman holding someone hostage might exhibit when they tossed some stale breadcrumbs through the basement trapdoor. But before I could reply, a message came back to me.
