Closer

Valentine's day.

She huffed at the thought that stuck to her mind like that obnoxious chewing gum on the sole of her elegant, far too expensive, way too uncomfortable stiletto. The right one, to be precise. That was just awesome. Not enough that she was already late for work, since her alarm hadn't gone off, which of course had made her miss the train and she had been forced to pay half a fortune for a cab; now she had that thick, slimy, revoltingly green, spat out gum on her shoe.

With a mix of irritation and that panicky feeling one gets when time is mercilessly ticking and the meeting had already started thirty minutes ago, Natalie tried to get rid of that gross, sticky nuisance by sliding the sole of her fancy high heel along the curbside, rubbing repeatedly against the cement while fishing for her phone in the bottomless pit that was her purse.

Deodorant, a pack of tissues, lipstick, hand sanitizer, keys, wallet, some old, crumpled notes, and a few cough drops. She grimaced in disgust as her hand grazed the gummy remnants of one of the drops that had glued a couple of post-its together. But no phone.

Adrenaline rushed through her body. Had she lost it? Maybe in the back of the cab? Or had someone stolen it out of her bag? No, this couldn't be happening! Her entire life was stored on that device! Pictures of her family, appointment reminders, phone numbers she hadn't backed up, not to mention her passwords for her email and social network accounts. Of course she was aware that it was not a good idea to save passwords on her phone, but who didn't do it? It was most convenient to always have them accessible with one finger swipe. Well, only that now probably another person also had them readily available. If they could hack her pin, that was.

Her mind was racing so wildly that she hadn't paid much attention to what her foot was still doing, namely trying to wipe the bile-green gum off her shoe. The sudden familiar tune of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, the very same melody she had set a few days ago as her ringtone, did little to deescalate the situation. Just the contrary. It startled her so much that she tripped, couldn't get a hold since her foot was still dangling down the curbside, causing her ankle to twist painfully, and she landed with a shrill yelp on the ground.

Mind you, none of those incredibly busy business people who shared the sidewalk with her, blurting life-altering investment information into their overprized cell phones, helped her get up. They didn't even glance her way. Not one. In fact, some even just hurriedly stepped over her to rush to the next meeting.

Great, simply great. Natalie rolled her big, green eyes and heaved herself off the concrete. She cringed as her bubble gum stiletto touched the ground. A sharp pain shot through her ankle, and her leg gave in, not able to support her weight.

"Fantastic," she hissed, squatting down to inspect the damage. Yep, probably sprained. At the very least, it was swollen.

Sighing in defeat, she slipped out of her shoe. In this state she couldn't possibly balance at that circus height. She picked the black stiletto up, only to discover that the heel had broken off.

"Dammit," she yelled, a little bit too loud, since now she did have the attention of at least one man in a dull, gray suit, who regarded her disparagingly. "What?" she spat at him angrily. "I had to save for months to be able to afford them."

The guy shook his head disapprovingly and went his way.

"Ugh." Fuming, she finally found the persistently ringing phone in her purse and tapped the green button. "Yes?"

"Ms. Grayson, where the hell are you?" A similarly enraged voice blasted in her ear. "You should have been here thirty minutes ago. Where are the files? Where is the contract? And most importantly, where is my freaking coffee?"