Dirty Sweet Cowboy

“This way,” I say, leading down the hallway on the left to the row of low partitions that divide the cubicles. Bea’s head swivels back and forth as she drinks it all in. It’s pretty nice. A brightly lit space, filled with twenty-somethings trying to battle each other for creative supremacy every day .

“What do you do here, exactly?” she asks in a low voice, like we’re in a library or something .

“Whatever they tell me to do,” I shrug. “Officially, my title is ‘producer,’ but that doesn’t really mean anything. Not like I’m a movie producer or something. I just, you know, produce things .”

“What kind of things ?”

“Mostly PowerPoint presentations,” I chuckle. “Sometimes I even get to produce copies !”

She opens her eyes wide, dramatically nodding as though it’s the most interesting fact in the world .

“You should be president by the end of the week !”

We keep our voices down, but the urge to giggle is almost overwhelming .

“Can I see the studio? Maybe meet the actors or something? I like that Blake guy .”

“Oh, do you watch these videos?” I ask her. Somehow the thought hadn’t even occurred to me .

“I love them!” she sighs. “New media. I’m all about it .”

“Well, when I really am president, I’ll be sure to give you a job,” I assure her. “Let me just get my purse and we’ll go have lunch .”

Bea plops down in my swivel desk chair while I log into my computer, checking for new emails before grabbing my purse .

“Oh my God,” I whisper .

“What is it?” she asks, stopping in mid swivel .

“It’s an email… from Ethan .”

She leans forward, intrigued. I scan the thing quickly. It’s a long email, more than I would’ve expected .

“What’s it say ?”

“He wants to… go out? Next week?” I answer, confused .

It actually says a lot of things. But it’s weirdly mechanical, almost like a corporate status update. He even mentions that Ben got the oil changed on his Maserati. It seems weird .

“Are you going to go out with him ?”

“No,” I answer softly, standing up .

“What you mean, no? Was it that bad ?”

I look around the office, nodding at my supervisor, a couple of the interns. I like this place. This is a good fit for me .

“No, I already had to take a sick day. I need to focus .”

“What does that have to do with anything?” she huffs .

“I mean, I don’t know,” I sigh. “I’m not sure what to do. I already broke things off with him. There’s no point going back to that, is there ?”

“Well, is he going to buy you dinner? You’re not going to say no to a free dinner, are you ?”

“I don’t know …”

“I mean, he is your boss. Maybe he just wants to check in? See how you’re doing ?”