Lie of My Life

8 The Date

I did exactly as she instructed and went to dinner with him that very night. It was pleasant. He told me about his patients, I told him about my designs, and we found that we had a lot in common but when he walked me to the door, gave me a peck on the cheek, and said goodnight, I felt a frustration that needed released. So I walked directly to the third floor and knocked on Emma's door. She opened it and, before she could say a word, I pushed past her, groaning in irritation.

"Am I unattractive?" I snapped. "Honestly. I mean, do I smell? Does this dress make me look fat? I mean, what is wrong with me?"

"Didn't go well?" she asked with a frown.

"I thought it did. He kissed me on the cheek and drove away. I know he's probably just being a gentleman and I can appreciate that but what does a girl have to do to get laid around here?"

I threw my hands in the air in frustration and, at that very moment, heard someone clear their throat from behind me. My eyes widened as I watched Emma wince apologetically. I felt my cheeks burning as I turned to see Shane having just exited Emma's bedroom. I closed my eyes, mortified.

"Ava," Emma started gently but I held up a hand.

"No," I stopped her. "I think I've embarrassed myself enough for this evening. Goodnight, Emma, Shane."

Then I ran, cheeks burning, from Emma's apartment up to my own.

The next day was Friday and I spent it entirely at work in the office. I did not leave my desk, partly because I had so much work to do and partly because I was so embarrassed about my outburst the night before that I wanted to avoid all witnesses of it. I was fully engrossed in a new set of blueprints I was working on and had been for hours when I heard someone speaking from directly in front of my desk.

"We were thinking we would leave here at ten tomorrow morning," they said. I looked up to see Emma standing there, looking down at me. I blinked at her in confusion, allowing my eyes to adjust to something other than lines and graph paper.

"What?"

"For the waterpark," she told me. "Remember?"

"Oh yeah," I said, leaning back in my chair with a sigh. "What are you wearing to that?"

"Do you remember that strappy white bikini I bought two years ago when we went to Cali? Well, since Shane is going to be there, I'm thinking that."

I snorted.

"You should wear your yellow one," she said. "Since you're looking to get 'laid'."

She raised an eyebrow and I groaned, letting my head plummet into my hands in mortification.

"I can't believe I said that," I groaned. "And I can't believe Shane heard me."

"After you ran out, he looked over and said 'been there'."

I chuckled.

"We get it, Ava," she said. "Everyone goes through dry spells. But, you know, if you're in... need, there are products that can be an excellent distraction in the absence of a man."

"Emma," I hissed, glancing around at the people hard at work around us.

"We're all adults here," she said.

"But this is an office. And we're the bosses. I'm not getting sued because you're talking about vibrators on the floor."

"Oh there's more than vibrators."

"Emma."

"Just check it out, that's all I'm saying."

Then she walked away, leaving me with that little nugget of wisdom to ponder. I got back to work and continued to work until late into the night. At around eleven, I finally took a break, leaning back in my chair and taking a deep breath. My little desk lamp was the only light on in the entire office. Everyone else was long gone. I rubbed my eyes and glanced over at my computer. With a sigh, I clicked on the internet browser, fingers poised over the keyboard. Was I really doing this? Of course I was. And there was nothing wrong with it. Honestly a twenty six year old career woman should probably already own a vibrator. It would be surprising that I didn't. After ten minutes of tense browsing, I just added one to the cart and checked out before I could convince myself otherwise. I sat back in my chair, staring at the confirmation. Well. I had taken charge of everything else in my life. Why not this too?