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"Thanks, Farah."
Toni swivels her chair to face me as soon as I get to my cubicle. "Are you alright? What happened?"
"I wish I knew, but he only asked me for my name, and that was it."
"Seriously?" Toni looks just as unconvinced as Farah was earlier, but I just have this hunch that the less I say, the better.
"Yup."
"I see."
"Does anyone else know—-"
Toni looks at me in surprise. "Everyoneknows."
Shit.
"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"
The question turns out to be rhetorical, since Toni's already talking.
"The good news is that you're no longer That Girl."
"And the bad news?"
"Hold on." Toni opens her phone and types something. "37% thinks you'reThat Girl Who Made It to the King's Shit List, 32% thinks you'reThat Girl Who Rejected a Prom King Because She's After a Real King,23% says they don't know whoThat Girlis—-" Toni snorts after saying this. "—-while 8% is playing safe by saying 'no comment'."
"You just made those numbers up, didn't you?"
Toni looks at me with faux pity. "You poor soul. Is this your first time to hear of polls and online betting?" She shows me her phone but quickly hides it behind her back when I want to have a closer look.
Huh.
I look at her suspiciously. "You didn't make a wager yourself, did you?"
Toni wheels her chair back to her cubicle. "What's that again? I didn't quite catch it—-"
"You don't even have your headset on!"
Toni places said headset over her ears and mouths, 'Sorry, I've got incoming.'
'Liar',I mouth back.
Toni faces her monitor and makes a show of answering a call. "Good afternoon, this is Antoinette of Nox Customer Support. How may I help you?"
The rest of the day proceeds as expected, with people from other departments making up all sorts of excuses just to pop by and have a look at That Girl. While being stared at doesn't bother me like it used to, the whole thing is still crazy exhausting, and I'm out of my chair as soon as the hour hand strikes twelve.
It's lunch break, and that means freedom.
Finally!
I'm almost tempted to throw my arms wide open as I step out of the building and breathe Night Bloom's, fresh, chill,gossip-freeair.
It's the first week of November, and while New York in autumn has always been a mood, Night Bloom at this time of the year is on a whole different level. The contrast between the city and fall's foliage is stark but almost mystical, with the all-black structures somehow finding a way to magically blend with nature's vivid splashes of reds, oranges, and yellows.
It's been a while since I last had lunch out here, and I temporarily shove all of my worries away as I start cart-hopping like a pro: a burger from this food cart, cheesy nachos from that food truck, and finally, a cup of specialty coffee from the pop-up booth across the street.
There's a small, secluded park at the back of the Nox, and I'm relieved to see that my favorite bench facing the stone fountain is unoccupied. I take a relaxing whiff of my coffee, and the aroma alone from my regular-sized Americano is relaxing.
