It was Ross. "My office." He barked. "Now."
I groaned, took a big gulp of cold coffee, and slumped into his office.
"Have a seat." Ross said pleasantly. I sat.
"So."
"Yes, sir."
"It's time for your annual review." He didn't even look up. "You happy here?"
"Um..yeah, I guess."
"Good.We're glad to have you. Get back to work."
"Um..okay." I walked back to my desk. What? I asked myself.
"Hey." Joe leaned on the side of my desk. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." I mumbled. "Go away."
"Okay...but first can you pull the Marina Restoration Project for me? I need some numbers."
I glared at him. "Get it yourself."
"Yikes! Who switched your coffee to decaf? What is it? You can tell me. Bad date? No date?"
My glare iced up a notch. Joe got the message. "Fine. Come find me later, we'll talk."
"Yippee." I yanked on my headset as my phone rang again.
"Rough day?"
It was Daniel the Douchebag. He didn't know he was a douchebag and he probably didn''t man to be. But he couldn't help it. Because he was my friend. And that was not good enough for me.
"Not particularly." Don't flirt, I instructed myself. Don't laugh.
"Someone switch your coffee to decaf?"
I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. "Something like that. I'm also still hungover."
"Yeah, you probably have a few more days of that to go," Daniel said. "I have never seen anyone go at a bottle of tequila like that before."
"Please don't remind me."
"Ahem." Lainie was standing over me. "Uh-uh." She wagged her finger at me.
"Oooh, Daniel, I gotta go. Talk to you later." I hung up. "What?"
"I thought you wanted to get over him!" Lainie scolded me. "Stop talking to him!"
I pulled off my headset, marched into Joe's office, and slammed the door. "What is wrong with you freaking people?"
I flopped down in a chair. Joe looked up at me. "Guy issues?"
"Shut up, okay? I just don't get it! Is he that dumb that he does not know how I feel about him? Is he ignoring it? Do you think he might like me?"
"Relax, okay?" Joe leaned back in his chair. "You have to TALK TO HIM."
"No way."
"You're so non-confrontational, it's so annoying!" Joe said. "Like with Ross. Did you want to say anything to him about your raise, your hours? Did you?"
"Don't mix up the issues."
"They're the same issue!" Joe argued. "Speak up for yourself. Talk to this guy and tell him how you feel. And talk to Ross. Because no one is going to do it for you."
Grumbling, I stood up. "Thanks."
"Marina Restoration?"
"Yeah. Five minutes." I went back to my desk, pulled the files for Joe, and then continued to stare into space. I was so FRUSTRATED. I want to feel like I'm important. I want to feel like I matter. And I want a freaking boyfriend.
"Hey, um.." Lainie turned from her terminal and glanced uncertainly at me ."Have you...have you spoken to David lately?"
"Yeah, he came by my apartment, said he wanted to talk later, borrowed some eggs, and left."
"Oh."
"Why?"
"Just curious." Lainie gave me a strange smile. My phone rang again and I tried to muster up some cheer. "Moxie."
"Babe." It was Jax. "Have you heard about David?"
"What?"
"David and Allie got engaged last night."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"David...and Allie."
"I'm sorry, Jax, I thought you said David and Allie."
Jax was silent.
"Evil Spawn didn't even call me!"
"Well, he is the evil spawn."
"He's worse than Alex Karev."
"Look, you should call him."
"No."
I hung up the phone and buried my face in my hands. Could this day get worse?