The Game Of Lust

The Lady At The Cafe

The next day at work, I looked out for Cole but he wasn't at work till the middle of the day, Joanne leaned over my cubicle, casting her wicked shadow over me like an eclipse.

“Look, Gina,”

“Regina I prefer” I replied looking down at my computer.

“I just came to apologize for everything I said last night, I crossed the line.”

“So apologize then,” I replied coldly,

“I … I'm sorry about last night,”

“Who told you to apologize? Was it Kenneth?”

“No one actually, Kenneth was drop dead drunk last night he didn't even who took him home Gina,!”

“Regina!” I corrected

“Regina! Again I shouldn't have crossed the line.”

“I hope you remember that next time you try to run your mouth. Joe!,”

I emphasized on the Joe.

Another of Joanne's famous tactics was to apologize after the damage had already been done.

“I'll try my best,” she threw her head back in laughter. She shuffled away and came back quickly as though she'd remembered something on her way.

“By the way who took you home last night,”

“Why does that matter?”

“Well I was looking for you, knowing you didn't take your car and Paula was quiet worried,”

“Is that so, then I'll apologize for making her worry,”

I took my eyes to my computer and returned to my work,

“It was the boss, wasn't it? ” she leaned closer and whispered with a proud grin stretched across her face,

I slowly stood to face her, trying not to cause a scene.

“Do you know what I love about you Joe?” I asked in a low tone, “I love how dig your nose into people's sh*t and forget to cover yours.”

I leaned towards her ear,

“I know you a have thing for him,”

“what? What are talking about, you sound ridiculous,” she laughed awkwardly,

“ I see you Joe … everyone sees how you watch him closely,

You reapply your makeup as many times as you go into his office, You even calculated the time he gets to work just so you'd pretend to bump into him at the elevator. you know how he likes his coffee and even his allergies, don't think I didn't notice you're skirts got shorter,” I replied.

“How … did … this is ridiculous,”

“You're not the only one who notices things but you're right Joe, Boss did drop me off at my place last night cause I was drunk, but that's not the angle of the story you're interested in no … you'd just rather start rumours about me to pull everyone's attention away from you.”

The shock in her eyes as she stood there, dumbfounded and speechless,

I'd read her out in less than a minute

what usually took her months of questioning to uncover and all I did was observe.

“Stay out of business Joanna,” I said sternly, she shuffled away quietly with her tail between her legs and no words said.

I exhaled and returned to my seat proudly, I'd finally gotten her at her game.

I returned home dejected and famished from a stressful day at work. I rushed to the kitchen but was greeted by an empty fridge and empty cabinets. “What the hell!” I exclaimed, tiredly dragging my feet as I ravaged through the kitchen. I sudde remembered Sharon's engagement party, I searched myself for my phone hoping I'd have enough time to buy groceries, I realized that my phone was still tucked into my hand bag so I peeped at the clock on my book shelf though the slightly open door, luckily for me it was just a few minutes past four in the evening, meaning I still had three hours to sort things out before Sharon's engagement party, though I was convinced that this had to be the second engagement party, I was certain I'd heard the good news five months earlier than everyone else, part of me had assumed that it was already publicly announced or perhaps it was just me who was told. I had a strong feeling that Matt had told me before hand to see my reaction, he always felt the need for validation even when it wasn't necessary. They needed me to be there, I reckon they had arrange a list of amusing things to entertain me with. I could bet all my savings that Sharon would walk in there in the most extravagantly uncomfortable dress she could find and pink to be precise.

Three hours was more than I enough time for me, I left my work clothes on, thankfully my outfit was rather loose fitted and casual. I had on a brown T-shirt and white jeans. I picked up my keys and dashed out of my apartment with a black tote bag hanging on my shoulder.

I rushed through the shelves, tossing in whatever I could find, a lot of cheese, cookie dough, fruit juice but the much more uncommon kind like kiwi, pineapple, peach and even mango, It was a habit I learned in college, buying odd flavoured drinks so no one would bother touching them and I wouldn't have to share.

I throwing in a bag of sour cream flavoured chips and went on to the pasta aisle, afterwards the vegetables. I pushed the trolley in a careless speed and ran it into another person's trolley.

The force sent my groceries bouncing and my hair flying into my face.

“I'm so sorry,” I laughed as I struggled to get my hair out of my eye, by the time I was settled enough to see, I looked up and met a familiar face. The Blonde buzz cut, the tall figure and the sleek fashion sense brought all the pieces together it was her, the lady I spotted him with at the cafe a few months ago.

“It's my bad, I wasn't looking either,”

She spoke with an accent,

“It's you! ” I said and immediately wished I hadn't,

“Huh? ”

“No never mind I just … you just look familiar that's all, ” I chuckled nervously, as I turned to walk away, she quickly stopped me on my tracks, “You look familiar as well but I don't recall where I've seen you,” she said, and paused for a moment, she took a good look at me, I wanted to escape but was also eager to hear what she had to say, I was still curious about her relationship with Cole, “You're the lady at the cafe!”

“How did you know? ”

“Cause I see you there almost everyday of the week. ”

“Really? ”

“Yea, I go there a lot too”

“I'm Regina and you must be Ruby, ” I stretched my hand towards her.

“Ruby! Oh no,” she laughed as she shook my hand, “I'm Silvia Wade.”

“Wade?” my eyes widened in shock,

“That man you were with, he was your brother!”

“it's shocking right? Cause we look nothing alike.”

“Yea, you looked like a couple,”

I felt extremely embarrassed, jumping into conclusions. I'd spent that entire month Holding a grudge against a lady I knew nothing about and she turned out to be his sister.

“How do you know my brother anyway? What am I saying basically every woman in town knows him, ” she laughed, as she pushed her trolley and walked beside me.

“He's actually my boss.”

“You work at Wadfort? But Cole didn't mention that when I asked him about you.”

“Wha … what did he say? ”

“Well he said he didn't know … you,”

She said with less confidence.

I froze for a moment after hearing her words, I felt more than embarrassed, not from the fact that I had called her " Ruby " but the fact that Cole had seen me and denied knowing me.

With him it was an unending journey of humiliation and heartbreak. But I wasn't enraged, I was curious rather.

I wanted to know why he denied me,

Why he stood me up the day I waited for him at his apartment, why he constantly pushed me away and came back.

I glanced around and my eyes found the giant screen hanging on the wall, beside the many product ads was the time, inside the supermarket I could hardly tell what time of the day it was. It had five, twenty four showing boldly on the screen. Meaning I only had an hour and less than thirty minutes to get dressed not to mention picking Vivian up.

“I'm so sorry I actually in a hurry,” I said as I pushed my trolley away as fast as I could, without even waiting for a response from Cole's sister.

I paid for my groceries and darted out of the supermarket, I stumbled over myself as I ran to my car.

“Ugh! for goodness sake!” I yelled irritatedly and started the car.

I got home as quickly as possible to Change from my sweaty work clothes, I took five minutes shower and I rushed into a better outfit.

Apparently Sharon's engagement party insisted on a dress code which thoughtful gave everyone the option of either wearing pink, white or grey.

I was pretty convinced the gray was Matt's only idea in all the unnecessary planning.

I wore a white blouse, a peach colored pants and a pair black stilettos. Peach was the closest colour I had to pink. I hastily applied my makeup, carelessly powdering away the recent dark circles underneath my eyes.

I picked out an outfit for Vivian as well, knowing fully well she'd show up in sweat pants and flip-flops.

By the time I got to Vivian's house the time was six, fourty, to put it another way, we had less than twenty minutes to get ourselves together. Unfortunately for me, Vivian had her siblings over. Her apartment was as noisy as a playground with just two children running around, Olly a boy of nine and Jules a girl and she was eleven going on thirty. The eldest was Tyler, he was only seventeen years old but liked to think of himself as a grown man ever since he started growing a mustache.

“Don't put that in your nose!” Vivian yelled as Olly scratched his itchy nose with the wooden end of her paint brush. He quickly returned the brush back to it's place.

I handed the outfit to Vivian to Change into, she examined the outfit with an irritated look. “I don't think I wanna go,” she murmured.

“Well I need you there cause I can't stand sharon and groupies on my own! ”

“But I don't wanna! ”

“Go get dressed dammit! we're late!”

She turned around and immediately ran into her room.

I sat on the couch, and waited for her to get dressed. Tyler sat beside with a giddy smile on his face.

“What do you want Tyler?”

“How did you know it was me!?” he gasped.

“Huh? ” I lifted an eyebrow quizzically.