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CHAPTER 9
Laura
The afternoon is starting to feel like a lesson in purgatory. Have I committed some sort of ghastly crime against the universe? Am I being punished for being alive, for sinning against someone? It’s the only thing I can imagine. I can not fathom how my day could be going so terribly if it wasn’t some sort of cosmic punishment.
The last week has been a whirlwind. I’ve enjoyed it, the backbreaking work, the reprieves with David, the gossip with Alice—it’s been everything I imagined when I was seventeen and picturing being a lawyer like my brother, mixed in with a bit of fantasy from watching teen dramas.
But as good as fucking David in his office, trying to be quiet and fast, getting wetter and wetter because I knew that I shouldn’t be doing it and that’s just hot on its own…. As good asthatis, nothing could have prepared me for how hard it is to catch up at work.
I shouldn’t have done that. I should have kept things separate.
Even just being behind by twenty minutes, I feel like I might drown. Josh has officially gone on his paternity leave, which is great for him, and terrible for me. It’s been nearly impossibleto feel like I can doanythingexcept work. My hours have been longer, my days heavier. It’s why David and I even succumbed to office sex—I haven’t seen him since that night that I slept over.
He walks past me, eyes straight ahead and back straight. I can see the flush of his skin beneath his hairline before his suit jacket covers him. It’s just a strip of skin, but it’s pink and incredible.
I am so drawn to him, it’s like I almost stumble when he walks away. I wouldn’t feel any different if we were literally tied together at this point.
“Earth to Laura,” Amber says, snapping her fingers.
I jolt. Smiling in apology, I refocus on the documents in front of me.
I knew that my job would have a ton of busy work, mostly condensing and condensing and then condensing more so that the higher-up attorneys wouldn’t have to go through piles of casework. My brother had warned me plenty, not to mention the mentors from law school and my internships. But…
There’s still something a bit discouraging about it. I want to do somethingfun.I want to do something worth doing.
Instead…
“Okay, so if Rutgers V. Pennsylvania says that no one is allowed to re-purpose the articles, then—” Amber stops cold. Her eyes widen. “Who isthat?”
I turn my head fast enough that it hurts, straining to see. Alice is walking in, waving to me, but other than that, there’s no one.
“Who?”
“That!” Amber’s voice is hushed and strangled. “That Certified Hottie!”
“Where?” I demand. “Alice, move out of the way!”
Alice jumps to the side. I crane my neck.
“I don’t see anyone,” I tell Amber, disappointed. When I look back at her, her jaw is dropped.
“I obviously meant that woman,” Amber whispers furiously. “You know her? Who, oh who, is this glorious Alice?”
I laugh. The sound is sharp and loud.
“Oh, man. Okay, sorry, I totally misunderstood.” I wave Alice over and she plops down on the corner of the desk Amber and I are working at. “Alice, this is my co-worker, Amber. Amber, this is my best friend, Alice.”
“Hello,Alice!” Amber bats her eyelashes at Alice.
Alice smiles sweetly. “Nice to meet you.”
Amber is preening. I feel a wave of sorrow for what could have been.
“Alice and her long-term boyfriend, with whom she is with because she is heterosexual?—”
“I mean, that’s not theonlyreason,” Alice defends.
“Have been my buddies for a long time.”
