Me: What do you do when you see your hot boss in a towel?
Jade’s response was immediate like I knew it would be.
Jade: U share it with ur best friend. Duh.
Me: Slightly creepy.
Jade: Why? Did u see Cameron naked?
Me: Took some files he wanted to his house and he was in a towel.
Jade: Was he still wet?
Me: Texting you was a mistake.
I sighed and rested my head on the steering wheel again. I should have known she wouldn’t have anything constructive to say or actually help me. I was crushing on Cameron Reid big time, and now I had to look him in the eye and hope I didn’t see his abs when I did so.
Right.
Now every time I thought of him it wouldn’t be of him in a gray suit.
It would be half-naked, in front of the fridge, in a towel.
I was so screwed.
***
“So he didn’t come into the office? All day?” Jade nursed her frozen margarita like it was a baby.
I shook my head, pulling my mango one toward me. She’d realized I was in trouble for real and dragged me to our favorite Mexican restaurant to talk over the fact I fancied my boss.
“Nope. But he did have a packed day, and he wasn’t supposed to come in this morning anyway.” I stirred my drink with the straw. “Honestly, I’m glad he didn’t come in. I don’t think I can look him in the eye ever again.”
“It can’t be that bad.” She dipped a chip in salsa. “It’s not like you’re a virgin and you’ve never seen a man before.”
“It’s been two years. I may as well be a virgin,” I grumbled.
“Two years? Ouch. We need to get you laid before your vagina drags you across your office and clamps onto his penis.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen.” But just to be sure, I had to start wearing pants to work. “I need help to deal with this, Jade. You’re the people person in this friendship. Help me.”
“All right, all right.” She held up her hands. “As your best friend, I’ll sleep with him instead.”
“And people say I’m the problematic one.”
She rolled her eyes as our food was brought over. She had quesadilla; I had nachos. “Okay, listen. There’s nothing you can do, Mal. You have to suck it up. It’s not like you saw him in secret, is it? He knows, and from what you said, he didn’t seem to be bothered by it at all.”
“No. He was laughing at me,” I muttered, focusing on my food. “I don’t get it. Like, he didn’t care that I was there and basically looking at him naked. I wanted to die.”
“Yeah, but you’re easily embarrassed.” Jade shrugged one shoulder. “A hairless cat would embarrass you.”
“Funny.”
“It’s just part of being Mallory. This stuff just happens to you. Look at all the random, embarrassing things that happen whenever you’re around.”
As if on cue, like she’d put the challenge out to the universe, the entire restaurant quietened as a guy several tables over got down on one knee.
“Really? A Mexican restaurant?” Jade said under her breath, gaining herself a nod of approval from the girl on the table next to ours.
The air was thick with tension, and not because she was taking ages to answer.
“Uh-oh,” I whispered as she got up and walked away.
“Ouch,” Jade whispered in return.
The guy stood up awkwardly, still holding the ring box, and after a quick look around, went after her, and the noise in the restaurant returned to normal.
“That was not my fault,” I said quickly, dipping a chip in sour cream. “You can’t even blame that on me.”
“No, but you’re a magnet for disaster. You know that.”
“I know. That’s why I’ve never had a successful relationship, have to live with my parents, and every job I’ve ever had I’ve been let go from because the business has shut down.” I sighed, piling sour cream and guac onto a chip. “Not to mention all the other things that happen.”
“Like almost getting run over by your new boss, spilling coffee over his desk, then seeing him half-naked.”
I groaned. “At least I made it through Saturday night like an adult.”
“Yeah, but now you’re being a baby, so it doesn’t really matter.”
“Helpful, Jade, thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Now, here’s what you have to do: go into work tomorrow morning, smile, say hello, and ask if he’d like a coffee. Business as usual. It’s only a big deal if you make it one.”
“Making things a big deal is basically the only skill I have that means anything.”
“Well, drama does go hand in hand with being a klutz.”
“Exactly. You take that away from me and you leave me with nothing.” I grinned. “But you’re right. I know that. So I’ll go into work tomorrow and act like everything is fine and I don’t want to draw patterns on his abs with my tongue.”