Grumpy Best Friend

I assumed I’d work as a waitress like her. I figured I’d wait tables at one of the diners near Levittown, and if I was lucky, I’d marry a nice boy from the area, and we’d get our own little Levittown house and raise little Levittown kids, and I’d always be a local. I never bothered to dream beyond the confines of my neighborhood.

Until I met Bret. He was so angry, at his abusive father, at the world for not noticing him, at everything, and I liked his anger. It was so different from my house, which was quiet, and calm, and empty, and drained. Bret was fire and emotion and excitement. I fell in love with him when I was ten years old, and we spent every single day together until he decided to move away.

Even with him, I didn’t dare dream that one day I’d be sitting in my own corner office. I didn’t bother to picture myself in decent, if a little inexpensive, business clothes, watching as men set up cubicles and built furniture in my office, under my direction, because I made it all happen. Never, in a million years, did I ever dream it was possible.

Bret came by around noon. The place was halfway up by then, and he poked his head into my office with wide eyes. I had a desk ready, a big wooden thing, with my own bookshelves and filing cabinets, and a couple chairs for guests, and a small couch against the right wall. Everything was brand new and empty and smelled like paint and the factory in which it was made, but it was all mine.

“I seriously didn’t recognize this place,” Bret said.

“I know,” I said, and gestured for him to come in. “Sit down, be my first guest.”

“Gladly.” He sat with a sigh and stretched his legs out. “This isn’t so bad.”

“I know.” I laughed, despite myself. I should’ve been warier around him, but I couldn’t help it. Watching this office come together was like magic. “Can I confess something to you?”

“Please do,” he said, leaning forward. “I’m your captive audience.”

I leaned back and twirled a little. “I’ve never actually worked in an office before.”

He laughed and rapped his knuckles on my desk. “You’re joking, right? Seriously?”

“Seriously,” I said. “I worked retail for a little while, and then I started working for Lady Fluke. It was sort of an accident, I just fell into it and got lucky, and I always worked from home.”

“Lucky’s right,” he said, smiling to himself. “When I first started my company with Neal, he was the indoors guy, and I was the one running around the world, working on-site. That changed though. I mean, you can’t be the boss, and constantly show up at the factory. Sooner or later, I had to head into the office.”

“Clipped your wings,” I said, grinning.

“Tamed me like a housecat.” He sighed and shook his head. “But it’s all right. You get used to it.”

“I’m excited, honestly,” I said, and gestured at the desk. “I mean, this is mine, you know? And all that out there, that’s all me, too.”

“You had some help,” he said, giving me a look, and I only laughed at him.

“Hardly any,” I said, and he rolled his eyes at me. “Seriously, when we were kids, I never imagined something like this.”

He went quiet then and shifted slightly in his chair. The light struck his lips and eyes, and I thought of that kiss, that stupid kiss, and the way I’d blurted about that stupid thing about my virginity—it must’ve been from the trauma, because now, in the harsh light of day, it seemed absolutely insane and random. And yet he hadn’t seemed upset about it.

In fact, I think he liked it.

“I know what you mean,” he said, speaking softly. “Back home I always figured I’d become an auto mechanic like my dad.”

“I knew that’d never happen,” I said. “You hated him too much. And besides, you didn’t really like cars that much.”

“That’s because I couldn’t afford one,” he said, and looked at me with a mischievous grin. “If I could’ve, I would’ve driven you all over the place.”

“I bet,” I said. “And I definitely would’ve taken advantage.”

“Too bad it never happened,” he said, and sounded genuinely wistful, then stood up. “All right, enough remembering the good old days. Let’s go out and celebrate.”

I chewed on my lip. “They are almost done in there,” I said, looking in at the guys as they began to wind down setup. There was more to be done throughout the week, but the outline of the office was almost in place.

He waved a hand. “Come on, what are you doing anyway? Just sitting in your office and basking in it?”

“Pretty much,” I admitted.

“Lunch is on me.”

“Good,” I said, and pushed my chair back, “because Lady Fluke hasn’t actually paid me yet.”