i’m much more classy now.

On Monday I decided that I was sick of dreading going to work so I was going to take my life back. If they wanted to go through with Whitney’s bullshit ideas then fine, that’s what we would do. One part of me wanted to stay out of it completely so that when it all blew up in her face I could say I had nothing to do with it, but another part of me genuinely cares about the company and doesn’t want Whitney to run in to the ground.

I decided that I would help, but also work on my own projects. I cannot possibly put my all into something someone else was going to put their name on.

On Monday afternoon I got an email from Mark that said, “It was so nice meeting you over the weekend. I would love to assist you in finding your first home. Let’s meet for coffee this week and discuss what you’re looking for.”

I totally forgot that I told Mark I wanted to buy a house. I replied, “Thanks for contacting me. I don’t plan on buying right now or in the near future, but I’ll let you know when I’m ready. And I don’t drink coffee, sorry.”

“You know, it normally takes people several months to find the perfect place. Let’s just meet. We can grab a quick drink since you don’t like coffee,” he replied.

“Fine. I’m free tomorrow after 5:00. And I’ll get a chai latte instead of coffee.”

For the rest of the work day, I planned a preview party for the night before the holiday warehouse sale. It would be held in the showroom and we would cater finger foods like bacon wrapped shrimp. Plus a lot of alcohol obviously. I was so excited to have my own little project to work on.

After work I met with Carly for mani/pedis so we could discuss the weekend’s events.

“I know you’re not really into weed, but you had fun right?” Carly asked.

“I did, but I ate five fucking slices of pizza in one sitting. That’s unacceptable and quite frankly disgusting. If that’s what weed is going to do to me then I want no parts,” I answered.

Carly giggled. “Then you don’t even want to know how many slices I ate. Thanks for the pizza, by the way. You were the life of the party!”

“Great. I’ll put that down as an explanation on my expense report.”

We finished our pedicures and headed to the manicure stations.

“Call me naive, but I didn’t even know Brady smoked or anything,” I said.

“You’re naive. Brady smokes with us all time,” Carly revealed.

Cool. So my boyfriend is a stoner and I had no idea. I guess I should’ve known though. Everyone smokes these days.

I started to say something, but the petite Asian girl doing my nails said, “You need manicure bad.”

I just blinked at her so she added, “Real bad.”

Then she started giggling. Isn’t that rude? Did y’all see that episode of Sex and the City where Miranda always orders the same Chinese takeout and the girl laughs at her? That’s how I felt. And honestly, I know it’s been awhile since my last mani, but my nails weren’t that bad.

I made sure to hunt down the manager of the nail salon to let him know how rude his staff is. I found him and told him what happened and he said I did “need manicure.” So whatever. Won’t be going back there.

Brady came over after work and I told him about his persistent friend contacting me.

“It won’t hurt to look. You might actually find something really great,” Brady said.

Fine. So I met Mark after work on Tuesday at a coffee shop near the office. He already had a chai latte waiting for me, which was nice but wasn’t going to make me any more inclined to buy a house/condo.

“Thanks for meeting me, Reese. How was your day?” he asked after he shook my hand.

“It was fine,” I said shortly. I was ready to get this little meeting over with so I could go home and watch the episodes of Snapped I had on DVR.

“That’s what I like to hear. What is it you do for a living again?” Mark asked.

I gave him a super brief summary of my job while he nodded.

“What an interesting industry to work in. I’m willing to guess your apartment is designed very nicely.”

That was true and I even had pictures to prove it, but I didn’t have time to show off. I nodded.

“Why the resistance, Reese? Buying a home is such an exciting thing that not everyone gets the opportunity to do.”

I took a sip of my chai. “I’m just not ready to buy right now. I probably can’t even afford what I want so I don’t want to get my hopes up,” I explained.

Mark’s face lit up. “You’d be surprised what you can afford at the same amount or less than what you’re paying in rent now. A unit in this building just went on the market last week. Why don’t we go take a look?”

The coffee shop we were in was actually in the lobby of an older apartment building with dark original wood, an ornate tray ceiling and lots of moldings. It was gorgeous. He took me up a rickety flight of stairs to the fourth floor and down the hall to the last unit. When he opened the door, my jaw literally dropped.

Even though the building was older, the inside of the apartment was completely redone. It had the same dark wood floor from downstairs and huge windows on two of the walls because it was a corner unit. The kitchen opened up the living area and was completely updated with dark cabinets, light granite counter tops, a sparkly dark blue back splash and stainless steel applicances. The bathroom had the same cabinets and counter tops with a separate glassed-in shower and jetted bathtub. Down the hall was the one bedroom, not huge but a good size for how old the building was. There was somehow a walkin closet with a customized built in shelving system. The entire place was beautiful.

“Wouldn’t you like to live here?” Mark asked. He hadn’t said anything the whole time I toured, letting me take the whole place in by myself.

“Yes,” I admitted. The place was way bigger and just as nice as my current apartment. “But how do I even know if I can afford it?”

“My clients usually work with an amazing banker who can crunch some numbers and find a budget you’re comfortable with. Why don’t you meet with her this week?” Mark suggested.

I said okay and looked around one last time. So now Mark has me seriously considering buying a condo. I mean, if my financial situation works out.

Brady came to get me after work so we could have dinner and drinks. He said he had a long day so I made him spill it over tequila spritzers. He explained that one of the long term patients at the hospital passed away. The man had cancer and wasn’t a patient Brady worked directly with, but they had grown close from seeing each other and talking everyday. I never know what to say when someone dies. I’ve never really had to go through that so I don’t even know what I would want someone to say to me.

Brady asked how my day was and I told him about meeting Mark and the awesome apartment I saw.

“I think you should definitely consider investing in property now. It’s the perfect time in your life,” he said.

I told him that I would look further into it.

We had a few more drinks and I started feeling pretty tipsy. Brady stopped after drink number two because he was driving, but obviously I kept going well past that. By the time we left the restaurant, I was feeling happy and horny as hell.

While Brady drove home, I rubbed his thigh and kissed his neck hoping he would pull over so we could partake in some skanky car sex. He wasn’t very responsive since he was focused on the road, but then Drunk Reese got a wonderful idea.

I quickly unbuckled his belt and pants before he could safely stop me and pulled his penis out. He was hard so obviously he wanted some action too. I was going to give him road head. I haven’t done that since probably high school because I’m much more classy now, but this was the perfect opportunity.

“Reese,” Brady moaned once I got started, but he didn’t stop me.

I kept going and he grabbed a fistful of my hair like he was going to pull me off, but he let me keep sucking. After several minutes, I felt Brady’s body start to tense.

“I’m…gonna…” he started but couldn’t even finish his sentence before he came.

The rest of the car ride back to his place was silent and when we got to his room he pushed me back on the bed and started kissing me. He pulled my shirt over my head and started kissing my neck.

“What are you doing to me?” Brady mumbled into my neck.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he responded so I don’t know what he meant by that.

Either way, we spent the night hooking up so no complaints from me.

i can’t believe i’m thinking like this.

BJ must have felt bad about the way things ended on Wednesday because on Monday morning he brought my usual chai, a vanilla bean frappuncino and a strawberry cheese danish from Dunkin Donuts. He has no idea that I’m boycotting Dunkin Donuts (personal reasons) and couldn’t even eat the danish but it’s the thought that counts.

I spent the majority of the day following up on emails and making phone calls and then in the afternoon, the advertising team presented a campaign to me in the conference room. I was really impressed that BJ led the presentation like a seasoned professional and even threw out some buzzwords. Maybe he was learning something from his internship after all. Once they finished, I made them write down the few pointers I had then they started to file out.

“I missed you this weekend,” BJ said, joining me at the end of the conference room table.

I scoffed. “Shut up. No you didn’t.”

“Yes I did. Four whole days without my favorite boss lady. It was miserable,” he said.

I rolled my eyes and gathered my things.

BJ stepped closer and put a hand on the table in front of me so I was kind of pinned in.

“Brandon, if you do not step away from me right now…” I warned.

“If I don’t step away from you, what? What are you going to do, Reese?” he challenged.

“I’m going to kick your ass. Now move.” I tried to push past him, but the kid is a lot stronger than he looks. I rammed into his arm and he didn’t even budge.

BJ began laughing which only pissed me off further. I tried to duck under his arm but he lowered it. An epic battle of me trying to get free and BJ refusing to let me ensued. It was completely childish and unnecessary. Then he put his other hand on the other side of me so that I was completely pinned in with my back against the table. I could feel his hips on my tummy.

“Whatcha gonna do now, Reese?” he taunted. He was so close that I could smell the dark chocolate he’d eaten during lunch on his breath.

I was super irritated but oddly turned on. His body pressed against mine felt way better than it should’ve.

“BJ,” I said as evenly as I could. “I have a lot to do. Will you please let me go?”

“What do I get out of it?” he asked.

“You won’t get reported to HR,” I smiled.

He bit his lip as if thinking about it then finally released me. Before I could get far, he ruffled my hair all over my head. I flicked him off before walking out the door.

Whitney was standing outside the conference room when I walked out. She gave me a weird look, but I just smiled and walked past her.

When I got back to my office I started thinking about the pros and cons of hooking up with BJ. I could definitely lose my job if I did, but that was only if anyone found out. BJ and I could enjoy a night of fun and keep it between the two of us. But the best part of flirting with BJ is knowing that both of us want to fuck each other (him more than me obviously) but not being able to act on it. If we did, it would ruin that whole relationship completely.

I can’t even believe I’m thinking like this.

betrayal.

As expected, I was hungover and miserable all day on Monday and hid out in my office for the majority of the day. I sent BJ out to get me a cheeseburger and a salad. He brought back the goods and stood in my office watching me eat. He totally called me out on being hungover and pretended to be upset that I didn’t invite him out for our shenanigans. As if I would ever.

I decided to clock out early and on my way out, I had to walk past the interns’ cubicles. I was going to stop by and say goodbye to BJ and remind him that I wanted a green tea frappucino in the morning instead of the usual chai, but the social media intern, Amanda, was hovering over his desk. I could tell by the way she was twirling her blonde hair and her foot was cocked that BJ was sweet talking her right out of her panties. And it irritated me. And then I was annoyed at myself for being irritated.

The next morning, BJ and Amanda showed up to work together with matching Starbucks cups. I sensed something going on here and couldn’t wait to question him about it. He came into my office and handed me the drink.

“Morning, boss lady,” he said.

“I wanted a frappucino,” I said, taking a sip from my hot chai.

BJ’s curved into a grin. “Shit. I forgot.”

I sipped my latte and wiggled my eyebrows. “So what’s with you and Amanda?”

He shrugged with his hands in his pockets. “What? I’m just having fun.”

By the way he said this I could tell that “having fun” meant they are totally hooking up. And it really pissed me of because that meant I am not the only one he’s been flirting relentlessly with. So I made him run back to Starbucks and get me the frappuncino I wanted and then spend the rest of the day stapling things and doing bitch work around the office.

After work I went home and poured a huge glass of vino and sat in front of the tv. I was almost asleep when I got a picture message from Preston. It was a screenshot of an Instagram post – from that girl Brooke’s Instagram. The picture was of her and Eric from Sunday night at the club and her caption was: “Had so much fun with my favorite boy last night :)”

In the picture, she was sitting on Eric’s lap with her arms wrapped around his neck. She was a lot prettier than I remembered but still resembled an alien.

Immediately, I typed her name into Instagram and found her wide open profile. Buried in the numerous pictures of her and her friends out partying and her bulldog, there were several of her and Eric, looking all photogenic and lovey. They all had captions like “out with my boy” and “so glad I got to see my babe today.” The photos dated back to five weeks ago. Wait. Wait. Was Brooke Eric’s girlfriend? He told me they were friends!

I calmly finished my glass of wine while trying to decide what to do. Eric had given me no indication that he had a girlfriend or was even dating anyone else. Well aside from the whole incident on Sunday night. We hadn’t agreed to be exclusive nor had a relationship talk at all, but I still felt a little bit betrayed.

Finally, I decided to call Eric. I would politely and calmly probe to find out what I could about his potential girlfriend situation.

“Hey, Reese,” he said when he picked up.

“I thought you and Brooke were just friends. Why is she posting all these pictures on Instagram?” I blurted out.

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t even have Instagram,” he replied.

“‘Out with my boy.’ ‘So glad I got to see my babe today.'” I quoted from her pictures. “So you lied.”

Eric sighed. “I didn’t know she was posting that stuff. We aren’t dating.”

“Oh sure. I don’t even believe you.”

“Reese, I don’t want a girlfriend right now so I’m not with either of you. I’m sorry if I didn’t make that clear.”

“Fine,” was all I said. It kind of hurt to hear that Eric had no intention of actually being in a relationship with me. Not that I wanted to. I don’t think.

“Sorry. I don’t want to stop hanging out with you, but I’m not in any position to get into a relationship right now. Okay?”

“Okay,” I said and told him that I had to go. After we hung up, I sat there thinking about what a long day of betrayal I’d had. First, BJ and Amanda and now this. I poured another cup of wine and nursed my wounds.

he might actually be done with me.

Eric still hadn’t called or texted me by the time Wednesday happy hour rolled around and I was becoming worried that he might actually be done with me. It had been an entire week since we’d last spoken and it was the longest we had gone without contact. I, of course, hadn’t reached out to him, but decided that once I got home from happy hour I would.

I met Kendra at the restaurant and considered just ordering the one dollar oysters because being a drunk mess is what got me in the position I was in in the first place. But I ended up ordering a glass of wine and a pomegranate martini anyway.

“How’s living with a man?” I asked immediately, so she wouldn’t start asking me questions about Eric.

“It’s wonderful. I can’t believe we didn’t do this before. It’s really helpful having him around. He cooks a lot!” she answered.

“Don’t you ever want some alone time?”

“John is at the hospital a lot so we have plenty of time away from each other. I get so excited when he comes home.”

It was dim in the restaurant but it looked like Kendra was kind of blushing. Gross.

“You sound like a puppy waiting for his owner to get home from work,” I said.

Kendra narrowed her eyes at me. “So how’s Eric? I haven’t heard about him in a while.”

I drained my glass of wine before answering. I considered lying and saying that Eric and I were great so Kendra didn’t scold me for potentially ruining things with yet another guy.

“I haven’t heard from him since last Wednesday morning,” I blurted out.

“Have you called him?” Kendra asked.

“Well, no,” I started.

“Why?”

“He always calls me. I never call him,” I said.

“Exactly. See where’s that’s gotten you?”

“I’ll call him later. I’m not even worried about it,” I said, sipping my martini.

Kendra started talking about work or something and my phone vibrated in my bag. I tried not to get excited thinking it was Eric because I knew it wasn’t. It turned out to be BJ, asking if I wanted a chai latte in the morning. BJ and I exchanged numbers on a strictly business basis, but he finds any reason to text me. And I hate to admit it, but I kind of like the attention.

I texted back, “Obviously.”

Immediately, BJ wrote back, “Anything for my favorite boss.”

I finished another glass of wine then we headed home. The alcohol had made me loosen up, but I was still a little bit nervous about calling Eric. I literally never called him – unless I was drunk.

I took a shower, blow dried my hair, brushed my teeth, flossed and then I called him.

I didn’t even have anything prepared to say, I expected us to just fall back into it when he answered. Except Eric didn’t pick up. I quickly hung up without leaving a message. At first I got mad, thinking he was ignoring me but then I realized that he said he was almost fully recovered from his injury. He was probably back at work, practicing and having games everyday. He was probably super busy. I decided to send him a quick text in case he wasn’t in a position to talk on the phone at the moment.

“Hey, just checking in. Miss you!”

Satisfied, I popped in a movie and fell asleep.

This morning I got to work and signed into my email and Pinterest and waited for my hot chai to be delivered to my office. BJ showed up right on time with my venti and a cake pop.

“I thought you might be a little hungry this morning,” he said, perching on the edge of my desk.

“Thanks, Blow Job, but I really don’t need these empty calories this early,” I said. I quickly Googled the calories in a Starbucks cake pop and was happy to see that it only contained 140.

“What do we have on the agenda today?” BJ asked as I took a bite out of my cake pop.

“We have a meeting with a freelance graphic designer and then you guys are going to start on a new campaign this afternoon. It should be a fairly easy day.” I took another bite of the cake pop and BJ watched my lips intently.

“I like the way you eat that,” he said, biting down on his lower lip.

I felt heat rising up my neck to my face. Dammit, Blow Job!

I took the last bite of the cake pop and sucked on the stick for longer than necessary. BJ looked like he was going to explode in his pants.

“Knock knock,” we heard at the door.

BJ jumped off the side of my desk as Whitney stepped into my office. “Hey Reese. I have some things for you to look over.”

Whitney dropped a file folder on my desk and looked from me to BJ and back.

“Okay. I’ll get to those this afternoon,” I told her, smiling sweetly.

“Awesome. Thanks, Reese!”

I followed Whitney to the door and watched as she walked out with BJ on her heels. Before he left, he tapped me lightly on the nose. He had no right to touch me so I slapped his hand away. He turned and smirked at me before going to his cubicle.

It wasn’t until this afternoon when I was reading through Whitney’s file, that I realized I never got a call or text back from Eric.

the intern.

On Monday morning we had a staff meeting to introduce our new bright eyed summer interns. I sat in the back of the conference room Instagramming my shoes (#shoesoftheday #rockstuds) because this had nothing to do with me. Afterwards, I met with Diana and Dave to discuss some details about the warehouse sale. They kept telling me how excited they were about the batik line and how they couldn’t wait to see what else I had in store.

Usually I work through lunch but I decided to go to the break room to make some tea and find a snack. I was standing in front of the vending machine trying to decide if I wanted an iced honey bun or a plain honey bun (honestly, I needed neither) when I heard someone say, “Just take forever why don’t you?”

I turned and standing behind me was one of the new ad team interns with a playful smirk on his face. He was tall and lean with dark hair that needed to be cut, sleepy eyes and an incredible jaw. He was wearing a pair of amazing fitting flat front slacks with a polo tucked in. Something about his look told me that he liked to drink cheap beer, smoke a ton of pot, and get crazy on the weekends. He was actually really effing hot.

“I’m still deciding. You can go ahead of me if you’d like,” I said.

He stepped in front of me and as if reading my mind, got an iced honey bun. He locked eyes with me as he took a bite.

“Mmmm. So good,” he said.

“That’s actually what I was going to get,” I told him.

He held the honey bun out to me. “Want a bite?”

I shook my head. “I’ll get my own.”

He was blocking the vending machine so we both just kind of stood there looking at each other.

“What’s your name?” he asked after taking another bite.

“Reese. What’s yours?” I replied.

“Brandon. But people call me BJ.”

“BJ,” I repeated.

“Yeah. Like blow job.”

Normally an inappropriate comment like this would warrant a scoff and an eye roll, but the way he said it – so suggestively – made my face get hot. And it really pissed me off.

“Do you know that I’m going to be your boss this summer, Brandon?” I finally revealed.

He gave me a skeptical look. “How old are you?”

“Old enough.”

Blow Job smirked at me again. “Anything I can get for you, boss lady? Coffee?”

“Non-fat, no foam, Stevia – extra hot chai tea latte topped with a sprinkle of nutmeg. I don’t drink coffee,” I countered.

“Oh yeah?” he said, smirking.

“You have six minutes,” I added.

BJ took a bite of his honey bun without taking his eyes off me.

“You’re out of your mind, Reese. This ain’t The Devil Wears Prada,” he said.

He was so cocky and douchey. Who gave him the right to talk to me – his boss – like this? I was kind of obsessed.

“Yes it is. You’re going to be my slave this summer, Brandon,” I said.

He finished his honey bun while staring me down. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He stared at me carnivorously for a few moments before heading toward the door.

“I hope you’re not a psycho boss, Reese,” BJ said before walking out.

He has no idea.

After work I stopped by Kendra’s to say hi and to distract myself so I didn’t go home and text Eric. I’d decided that was going to give him a little bit of space. I knew he needed a break from me/my drunk counterpart so I was going to wait for him to contact me.

When I got to Kendra’s, John was there moving some of his things in. The place was in such disarray that it gave me anxiety. I told Kendra I had a lot of work to do a peaced out of there.

On Tuesday, I got to the office and immediately started replying to emails as usual. I usually spend an hour or so catching up on what I missed/raping Pinterest then I get started on my day. I heard a knock on the door and found BJ standing there with a white Starbucks cup in his hand.

“Morning, boss lady,” he said, walking to my desk. He sat the cup down and I quickly closed out of my Pinterest browser. “I brought your drink.”

I looked up at him, unsure of what to say. He had that playful smirk on his face. It told me that he was imagining what I looked with my clothes off and it made me blush. I never fucking blush.

“This is about twenty hours late,” I finally said.

“Sorry about that. It won’t happen again,” BJ said.

He stayed in my office for a while chatting. I found out that he goes to school at UGA and is in a fraternity, which is obvious. He is studying marketing and advertising – hence the internship and is living with a bunch of his friends in the city this summer. One thing about BJ is that he definitely knows how to talk to women. He says everything so sexually – like he was asking my favorite sex positions and if I wanted to try them out with him. I couldn’t decide if I loved him or hated him.

After he left, I took a sip of the steaming hot chai goodness. I even tasted the hint of nutmeg. Somehow, this goofy kid had gotten my order exactly right. I was impressed.

I spent the day prepping for the warehouse sale on Saturday, keeping the ad team in check and avoiding hungry looks from BJ. After work, Eric called and invited me to sleep over. I can’t lie, I was relieved to finally hear from him. I packed my bag and changed into lululemon leggings and a v-neck. When we got to his condo, we made pasta for dinner and put in a movie. We didn’t mention Friday night at all.

Eventually, we retreated to his bed. We laid next to each other, on our backs, not saying anything or touching. It was weird and I wondered if Eric was still mad. But he’d invited me over and kissed me hello so that didn’t seen likely. I peeked over at him and he had one hand behind his head and he appeared to be sleeping but I knew he wasn’t.

I laid there looking out the window for a moment wondering if I should just hop on him. He must’ve wanted to hook up too, right? And then I felt his hand creep across my tummy and in between my legs. He started rubbing me softly through my panties and it was exactly the right spot so I immediately started moaning. His hand quickened and became more urgent. I glanced over and he was still just laying there with his arm behind his head and his eyes closed. If anyone were to walk in, they wouldn’t be able to tell what was happening and that I was about to come hard as fuck. My legs started trembling and Eric – sensing how close I was – moved in quick, rough motions until I squealed with pleasure. And then he rolled over and went to sleep. It was kind of odd but absolutely satisfying.

*also: I will posting the Q&A Friday morning so comment, email, or tweet your last minute questions!

hot mess in high heels.

Tag Archives: chai latte