“But well, good,” he said, standing up from his chair. “That’s settled then. Is that all you wanted?”
“Are you kicking me out?” I looked at him quizzically, now beginning to feel amused.
“I don’t know, last time I checked, it was still my office.”
“So, you are kicking me out?” I pressed, trying not to laugh out loud.
“I have a bank to run, Aria, so if there isn’t anything else you need from me today—”
“My paper,” I cut him off. “Remember the paper I was telling you about? That you so nicely volunteered to help work me on? Well, the deadline for that is coming up, so I was wondering if you were up to helping me out?”
“I seem to be making a career out of helping you out.” He snarled at me trying to look menacing, but simply appeared comical to me.
“I mean, you don’t have to help me. I was just reminding you because you volunteered.”
He sat back down and played with his stress ball for a bit before speaking. “We will do it tonight,” he eventually said. “Now for the rest of the day, please just let me be, okay?”
“Gladly.” I smiled and walked out of his office.
---
Later that night, I told the whole story to Nick and Stacey, who for some reason found it hilarious and burst into a chorus of laughter.
“Oh, my supportive best friends,” I said sarcastically. “It wouldn’t be so funny if you were in my place, would it?”
“No,” Nick said, trying to straighten up his face. “It wouldn’t at all. And it’s not funny that this is happening to you, Aria. Not at all!”
“That’s not the impression one would get based on your uncontrollable laughter,” I snapped.
“It’s just that,” Stacey, who had finally managed to catch a breath, spoke. “What are the odds, you know? Very, very low. But then, you’re not going to believe,” she started laughing again. “I can’t, Nick, you tell her.”
“Well, after you and Zayden had gotten over your last set of – uh – complications, Stacey and I were talking about it – we were glad!” he added immediately upon seeing the expression on my face, which wasn’t exactly that of glee. “We are always happy to see you happy, Aria, you know this. But Stacey and I were talking about how, well, theatrical this whole thing between you and him has been. So full of twists and turns and popcorn-worthy. He’s a handsome billionaire and your boss. How often does stuff like this happen in real life?”
“I don’t understand why any of it is funny yet,” I said, still annoyed. “Enlighten me?”
“Okay, okay.” Nick sighed. “So Stacey and I were talking about it and she jokingly said, ‘What’s next, we find out that Aria’s dad banked with South National before he went bankrupt?’
and we just laughed about it.”
“That is eerie,” I said with my mouth hanging open, and then burst out laughing myself. If this hadn’t been so utterly bizarre, perhaps I would have been really pissed. “My goodness, Stacey, you should become a fortune teller!”
“No,” she gasped. “It’s not like I was predicting this or would ever wish for something like this to happen to you. The reason I had even said it was because it seemed so absurdly far-fetched to be true.”
“It is. Too absurdly far-fetched to be true. And yet it’s true. If this wasn’t all happening to me, I wouldn’t believe it could happen to anyone in real life.”
“Are you okay though, Aria?” Stacey now looked serious, as though only just registering the full implications of what I had told them. “What are you going to do?”
“I am going to pay him back.” I shrugged. “Eventually.”
“Oh God, Aria. This is ridiculous! You shouldn’t have to. You’re not the one that lost him all that money!”
“He knows that. He is just angry right now and you can’t exactly blame him. I did for a bit, but then I put myself in his shoes and it kind of makes sense why he is so frustrated, with the money he is paying for my mom and everything.”
“You are so mature about this, Aria,” Stacey said in amazement and looked at Nick. “If you ever made me pay you 500,000 dollars for something I didn’t do, I would dump your ass.”
“That is never going to be a problem, since I doubt either one of us will have that kind of money anytime soon. And if we do in the far, far future, it won’t matter, cause it will be both our money since we’ll be marri—” he immediately stopped talking. His cheeks flushed hard. I turned to look at Stacey, who seemed to be about ready to pass out.
“So, you guys ready for when I invite Zayden over for pizza?” I asked brightly, trying to change the subject and making a mental note to ask Nick if a proposal was coming up. It was essential that I helped him pick out a ring that Stacey would like, or else she would never forgive me for not fulfilling my best friend duties.