Ask Me (Mess with Me 2)

* * *

“I am not having this conversation.”

I pick up my headset, completely prepared to ignore the inappropriate conversation happening behind me. I’ve been working as a receptionist at Mirage Advertising for two months now and as cheesy as it is, I feel I’ve finally found home. I can wear business-casual attire, I have plenty of free time to do the assigned reading for my online classes and the office manager, Anya Petrova, is quickly becoming my best friend. Even though she loves to make me really uncomfortable.

“Why not?” Anya puts a piece of paper down on the copier tucked in the corner behind me. “Seriously, I miss sex. Don’t you? When was the last time you got laid?”

“You want a timeline?”

She rolls her eyes. “That tells me you don’t remember. Which is a problem. We need to go out this weekend.”

“The only place I’ll be going this weekend is the refrigerator for more ice cream, not to some bar to pick up strangers. I’m staying away from men remember? It’s kept me out of trouble so far.” I adjust my headset and pull my chair closer to the desk.

Anything to distract myself from thoughts that it wasn’t too long ago that I got really up close and personal with a stranger.

And it was definitely trouble.

“Who said anything about a stranger? Friends with benefits is a thing for a reason.” Anya pushes another button on the copy machine. A second later there’s a crunching sound and a piece of paper shoots out wrinkled and torn.

“Damn this place! I told Law we need a new copy machine.” Anya grabs the sheet of paper and crumples it into a ball before throwing it in the recycle bin. “That man can’t see what’s right in front of his face.”

I wisely choose not to comment. Anya has a not-so-secret crush on our boss, James Lawson, which causes her no end of frustration.

“Friends with benefits only works if you have friends. I’m not exactly Miss Popular.”

I’ve always been something of a loner but since moving to the city it’s been even harder to meet new people. Sure, I could probably hang out with my roommate Ariana but I don’t want to wear out my welcome. It isn’t that she hasn’t been nice to me, she has. But I sometimes get a vibe that she’s not interested in hanging out or getting too close with me.

Plus, to be honest that girl is into some weird stuff. I cringe just thinking about some of the things I’ve come across by accident in the apartment.

Let’s just say I’ll never borrow clothes from Ari again.

“You haven’t met anyone since you’ve moved here?” Anya shakes her head like she can’t understand the concept. “Not even a hot neighbor walking his dog or something?”

The way she says it makes me feel like even more of a loser. Most of my neighbors work long hours. I only see them in passing as they come to and from work. The people I see at the grocery store and on the subway seem to change daily.

It’s such a stark contrast to Gracewell, where everyone knows each other and crime is almost nonexistent. The entire atmosphere of city life is different. My first week on the job, I thought everyone was talking to themselves until I realized they all had little bluetooth earpieces in. Some of the women in the office even wear them in the bathroom. I can’t think of anyone I want to talk to that badly.

It’s no wonder I have trouble fitting in.

Anya puts something on the desk in front of me. It’s an internal memo for the Preview Gala, a company event that showcases the agencies best design work for the past year and introduces our newest campaigns. It’s all the marketing executives have been talking about for the past few weeks.

“The Preview Gala is the perfect opportunity for you to meet people. Obviously Law doesn’t want us dating current clients but lots of our past clients come and they’re fair game. This will be a good chance for you to network. You know, now that you’re working with the marketing team.”

Recently, I’ve been given some marketing duties in the afternoon while Anya covers the phones. I still can’t believe it. This is the kind of chance I didn’t think I’d get until after I graduated. I’ll get to work on some interesting projects and gain experience for my resume. It also gives me a break from the tedium of being stuck behind the reception desk.

“I’m really excited about it. This is the first time I’ll actually get to use some of the stuff we’re learning in school. Hopefully I don’t screw up too badly.”

Anya waves that away. “Don’t worry. Mya is so cool to work with. I assisted her a few times before I got promoted to office manager.”

Mya is married to one of the other team leaders, Milo Hamilton. Tall with piercing blue eyes, he looks more like a model than an advertising executive, something that seems pretty common around here. I fidget and adjust the buttons on my new blouse. Since so many of my clothes didn’t fit properly I was forced to pony up the dough for some new ones. But sitting at the reception desk gives me a front row seat to what everyone else is wearing. What worked in Gracewell definitely doesn’t cut it here.

I need to step it up.

An hour later, it’s time for lunch so Anya comes back to relieve me. As I’m getting ready to leave, Mya stops by.

“Hey, Casey. I know we were supposed to start you on our next project but I think we should postpone it. I don’t want to throw you into the deep end right away and the client that’s coming in tomorrow is a little…difficult.”

“An asshole,” Anya mutters behind us.