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Lauren pursed her lips and folded her arms as if I had somehow offended her. I didn’t care though, because I felt she was being ridiculous to cancel on me at the last minute like this. I had already paid for her ticket and our table was filled, so it was going to look exceptionally awkward for there to be an empty seat next to me. And at such short notice, I saw no way to remedy the situation.
“Anderson, don’t be a jerk,” Lauren said.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not the one being a jerk, Lauren. If you knew there was a chance you weren’t going to be able to go, you should have said something a long time ago.”
“Well, forgive me for not being able to predict the future,” she snapped.
I muttered under my breath, quickly losing my patience with her.
Lauren sighed. “Look—do you want me to give you your money back for the ticket?”
“Forget the damn ticket, Lauren. Just…whatever. Do what you gotta do.”
“I’ll make it up to you next year,” she said.
I laughed and rolled my eyes. She had another thing coming if she thought I was going to consider accepting her as my date the following year. I wanted to tell her to not hold her breath, but that seemed a little too harsh.
Lauren sighed and someone knocked on the door of my office.
“Come in,” I said, welcoming the interruption.
We both turned toward the door to see Tobias saunter in.
“Hi Tobias,” Lauren said, as she began making her way to the door.
Tobias nodded at her. “Hey Lauren. Nice job earlier today.”
She smiled politely. “Thank you,” she said, and then turned toward me. “See you later, Anderson.”
“Yeah, later,” I said, not even bothering to look at her as she made her exit.
“Uh oh,” Tobias said, coming in to sit at the edge of my desk. “Trouble in paradise?”
“Who said Lauren was anyone’s paradise?” I said, annoyed.
“I thought she was one of your…uh…escapades?”
I shook my head. “Nah, we were always just friends. We both agreed it was easier with no sex attached.”
“What happened?”
I folded my arms. “She bailed on me. Granted, she and I haven’t had much going on lately, but she was supposed to be my date to the gala. Now she’s claiming she can’t go. Some bullshit excuse about her sister suddenly needing help with her kids.”
Tobias shook his head. “I always told you that one of these women were going to get you back one day, man,” he said and then chuckled.
“Don’t laugh. You know how ridiculous that empty seat is going to look next to me?”
“Well, fill it with someone else,” Tobias said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Someone else like who?” I asked. “It’s too short of a notice to ask anyone.”
“Is there no one else in your life? No one you could ask?”
I’d been standing at my office window looking out at the traffic on the road when Tobias asked the question. I froze, feeling his gaze on the back of my head, but not daring to turn around. I stuffed my hands into my pocket. “No…” I said. “Why do you ask?”
“Just curious,” Tobias said. “The Anderson Lawrence I know just isn’t the type of guy to stress over getting a date, that’s all. What happened to the line of females you typically have, waiting their turn for a shot?”
I forced a laugh and chanced turning around to face him. “You’ve had me working too hard, that’s what. I don’t have time to keep up with them anymore.”
