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Today was supposed to be a good day—one of the best. So why did I feel so shitty? Why couldn’t I feel proud of myself, too?
Queen Leisah’s team had a designated conference room: The Bloom Room. It was one of the smallest in the building, but it had a great view of the ocean. I personally preferred the coziness of the brown wood table and creaky office chairs to the sleek glass rooms the other teams met in.
The walls were a muted yellow that reminded me of dawn, and there was a little cart equipped with an electric kettle with an assortment of teas. I felt like I’d walked into a bed and breakfast instead of a meeting.
“God, I hate this freaking room,” Seline complained when she fell into the empty seat beside me. “It's so stuffy.”
“I’ll say.” Tyson moved his collar up and down, trying to create a breeze. He went to the row of windows; the first two wouldn’t budge, earning a collective sigh from him and Seline.
I furrowed my brow, pretending to agree, even though the heat was welcome. Every other part of the office made my fingers so cold, I could barely bend my knuckles. I was convinced I was the only one who appreciated a reprieve, because the next person to walk in—Harry, according to my memory of his photos—let out a deep groan.
“They tucked us away real good this time.” He tossed his binder onto the table before yanking off his jean jacket. “Oh, hey. You’re the new kid, right?”
The frown he wore melted away. I couldn’t tell if his eyes were green or gray, so I decided it was the perfect mix between the two. They reminded me of my mom’s garden during winter.
“That’s me.” I stood, reaching over the table to accept his offered hand. “I’m Noah.”
“The artist who almost gave Sage a run for her money last week?” He pointed at me to confirm.
I laughed hesitantly and tried to think of how to change the subject. Yesterday, Sage and I exchanged a few heated words. Today, I was going to be on my best behavior. I was going to be the bigger person—at least while on the clock.
“You read my comic?” My stomach turned to the familiar set of nerves I got whenever I came face-to-face with someone who’d consumed my work. I always felt they had a piece of me they could chew up and spit out at a moment’s notice.
“Hell yeah.” Harry released my hand. "Your work’s mind-blowing. Even my sister was hooked, and she’s a tough critic. She barely thinks I deserve to work here.”
I smiled, my nerves fading. “Ouch.”
“That’s because you barely do,” Seline teased, not even looking up from her phone.
Harry chuckled and shook his head. “Who asked you, Sip? By the way, have you turned in your files?”
“Nope,” Tyson answered for her.
Seline rolled her eyes. “I’m almost done. End of day. The more interesting question is, have you finished filling out your dating profile?”
Something crashed near Tyson, and we all looked over to see if he was okay. He waved his hand, not meeting our concerned gazes as he picked up a knocked-over fern. Once Tyson's safety was confirmed, Harry answered Seline's question with an incoherent mumble.
“I didn’t catch that.” Seline dumped her phone on the table, committing her focus to the guy sitting across from her.
"Working on it," Harry said with a tight jaw. “I’ve been busy, you know, raising a pre-teen.”
The door behind us opened to who I assumed would be our final team member, Sage. I sat straighter and tried to be subtle about adjusting my top, but my assumptions went out the window when I saw two of the top editors at Harpy enter the room.
“Noah, you remember Tommy and Quinn, right?” Tyson asked from his spot at the window. He was still struggling to get it open. “They’re going to join us and help bounce some ideas around.”
“Or steal some.” Sage was finally in the room. She wore red heels today, paired with baggy black cargo pants and a Queen Leisah t-shirt. Her hair was shrunken in a tight afro, allowing her sharp features to take center stage. I smelled the cocoa butter on her as she walked by. The conflicting emotion I got from seeing how soft she looked versus how hard she actually was would never cease to confuse me.
“I thought we shared around here?” Tommy smiled. He was the kind of guy you’d see in mall ads marketing high-end watches. His dark hair was laid back with the right amount of gel, his skin perfectly tanned from the Florida sun. He chewed on the end of his pencil, doing a god-awful job at suppressing the flirty grin on his face.
Like me, he watched Sage walk around the table to Harry’s side. I chewed on my bottom lip, trying not to think too hard about how easily she passed up the empty seat beside me. Did I think she was going to come in here and present a united front? She hadn’t even responded to my email this morning asking to have a mini-meeting before this one to catch me up to speed.
“Is that how you pronounce theft in your world?” Sage asked. There was slight teasing in her tone, even if her eyes were serious. I wanted to scoff at how nice she sounded, how pretty she looked.
Sage made a face at Harry, who playfully tapped his watch to indicate her lateness. Seline knocked twice on the table, the sound enough of a prompt to get Sage to pull a pack of gum from her back pocket. She tossed it to Seline easily before opening her laptop.
“Tyson?” Sage asked.
He pushed away from the window without a word, joining her side to help set up the projector.
