Chapter Twenty
It was a Wednesday in the middle of hell week at work.
Becca slumped over my cubicle. “Your place is adorable.”
I looked at her. “It’s the same as yours. Just flipped.” We had had this conversation before.
I wasn’t in the best mood. I had a list of clients that had major problems today. I didn’t want to discuss my new paint colors. I didn’t like it when AJ worked late and left early. I had barely seen him all week.
“I know, but I love what you and AJ have done with it. Two months in and it looks like you are the most perfect newlywed couple. Picture perfect.”
I stared at my computer screen. The client I was working with had a virus that had wiped out half of their human resources department. I was trying to find a way to clean it up without losing any more of their files.
“It takes at least two months to set up a new place,” I answered absently. “And wait. We’re not newlyweds. Stop saying shit like that, Becs.”
“Sorry,” she grumbled. “Are you and Travis really doing TV night again?”
I stopped typing and looked up. “I guess so.” We had watched two shows together. It wasn’t as if I wanted to binge an entire season with him. Now that it had started, it just kept happening.
“Maybe I should try to catch up on one of the shows and then I could watch with you.”
“Sure. That would be great.” I didn’t mind the extra company. It was that I didn’t want to get locked into a viewing schedule. I already felt the confines of suburbia latching on.
“Do you think AJ will want to watch too?”
I shook my head. “His schedule is too crazy. I watch everything without him. I learned months ago that we can do movies together, but not TV shows.”
“Does he work like this all the time?” she asked.
“It just depends on the case.” I couldn’t tell her what his assignment was. He was guarded with the information he shared with me and I didn’t want to violate that trust by telling Becca even a small morsel. “It’s been rough this week, but I hope next week is better.”
“Yeah, Travis said he missed practice all last week.”
“What?”
“You know, spring soccer has started up.” The break between their club seasons wasn’t long enough in my opinion.
“Yeah. I know. He told me he was playing.” I didn’t like the way the hair went up on the back of my neck. I remembered last week the two nights he told me he had to go straight to practice from work.
“Maybe he forgot to tell you he didn’t go?” she suggested.
My stomach bubbled uncomfortably. “Maybe.”
“I’ll go back to my cube. I have three shitty clients today.”
I faked a smiled. “Good luck. I’m working through mine too.”
“If AJ works late again tonight do you want to do drinks after work and just ditch Travis? He won’t care if I tell him we need a girls’ night.”
I frowned. “I might have to work late too. These viruses have gotten worse. I don’t know how long it’s going to take.”
“Why don’t you ask Billy to help you? He’s the best virus defender on the team.”
“Because I don’t want to hear about how amazing his girlfriend is for five hours.” I sighed. I think we had pinned it down to Billy using his relationship to make him seem more interesting than he actually was. Without Dina who was he?
Becca shrugged. “Ok, I would just suck it up and ask him so you can get out of here at a decent hour. He’s not doing anything right now.” She pointed to him on the other side of the room.
I was annoyed. Billy was in the middle of a ping-pong match while I was piled under a virus war I was losing.