WHERE IS ARN?
1081 Words
I bit the corner of my lip. "I'm sorry. That sounded seriously bitchy. I didn't mean it like that."
"No offense taken." She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the café she had just left.
"What are you doing not at work?" I asked.
She glanced at her watch. "It's only ten. Arnold hasn't come in yet, so I ducked out for coffee. Trust me, he won't care as long as the work gets done. He's way easier to work for than Bryan is, or was rather. Where is Arn, by the way?"
I tried to feign shock. "Why would I know?"
"I've worked for him for two years now, ever since I graduated from college. As his assistant, I've hung up every coat he owns, and I know that's one of them. So spill. Did you guys hook up? I won't tell Emily, I swear."
"Do you have a crush on him? Not that I want to date him. That would be gross, but I–"
She held both of her hands up in front of her and made a gagging face. "I'm going to stop you." Her brow furrowed like she was confused. "You really don't know?"
I shook my head. "Obviously not. At least, I don't have a clue what we're talking about right now."
"Arnold is my stepbrother. My mom married his dad when I was one. We share a half-sister, Kimberly, who was born a year after they got married."
I sat down in the nearest chair. "You guys don't act like family at all."
In fact, they flirted a little sometimes. The somewhat incestuous nature of our little group got a little more uncomfortable.
"I see that look on your face. I lived with my dad and only visited some holidays. The divorces weren't amicable on either side, and Arnold barely visited his dad, so he was never around when I was. He was close to Kimberly though, and when she came to college where I was going, he and I developed a friendship."
"Oh, I don't know what to say or think. It's still weird that no one knows he's your stepbrother."
"I guess we've never really seen each other as siblings, so a lot of people don't know about it. But even though I don't see him as my brother doesn't mean I could ever have romantic feelings for him."
I blinked a few times. It was a lot of information to get on top of everything else that had happened since last night.
A waitress came around, giving me another minute to gather my thoughts.
"Want a macchiato?" She waved Arnold's expense card. "It's on Arn."
I smiled. "I'd love one."
When the waitress walked away, Sonja turned to me. "Okay, even my head hurts at how hard you're thinking."
"You guys flirt," I blurted out.
Sonja laughed and smiled wide. "I pick on him, yes. Only someone hot for him would see that as flirting."
I rolled my eyes. "He's very handsome, but he's my best friend's dad. And as it turns out my only other friend's brother."
"Stepbrother, and that's because you'll only know what he wants you to know. I hadn't really thought about the fact you and Emily didn't know. Arnold and Bryan have been friends forever it seems, so of course Bryan already knew. It was one of those things that just was, so we didn't really talk about it."
I shook my head. "How have you not told Emily? She's going to freak."
Sonja grimaced. "I thought Arnold would tell her, so I didn't. Then I waited for her to bring it up. He is her dad, how am I supposed to tell her that her new friend is kinda sorta her aunt?"
"Well, I'm guessing that line of thinking only works until she meets Kimberly. She's going to out both of you if one of you doesn't tell her first."
Sonja dropped her head on the table for a second, lifting it when the waitress returned with our coffees.
"Thanks," she said, and handed over her expense card.
She waited to speak until the waitress finished swiping her card and walked away. "My sister is spoiled. I love her dearly, but she's privileged. Right now she's vacationing on a yacht in the Mediterranean. She's coming home in a week, so I need to either convince Arnold to tell her or do it myself."
"If Arnold is your brother, why are you his executive assistant?"
"It was supposed to be a job to get some experience and then move on to something else after that. I guess I just got comfortable."
"Yeah, it's easy to get comfortable and settle for a life you didn't envision. On the outside I'm sure it looked like I had everything, but that wasn't really the case. It was just a very pretty cage. Still, kinda jarring to be kicked out of it without warning though."
Sonja tapped her nails on the table bringing me out of the loop of images flitting through my mind of the life I had lived up until twelve hours ago. "Is that a good segue to ask you how you ended up wandering around in the rain on a Friday morning?"
I wrapped my hands around the paper cup of coffee sitting in front of me and brought it to my mouth. I was still a little cold, and my thoughts were beyond scattered.
"You know about the launch for the vodka my dad's company was set to market, right?"
She nodded. "Yeah, it was at Mervin's club, right? He mentioned that your cousin was a self-righteous douche."
"That's being kind, actually. Anyway, Chad totally botched the entire thing. He spent the entire ad budget on one party, and now there is nothing available to run print and television advertising."
Her brow creased. "Why was your cousin running this anyway? I thought you were the head of the advertising department at Flyn."
One humorless chuckle burst free. "Well, apparently my father is a bigger misogynist than I realized. He decided his nephew was a better fit to run a department. I never realized the presence of a p***s was a requirement to advance in my family company."
"Mervin said the turnout of people on the guest list was pathetic, so what exactly was the plan for this party?"
I tried not to cringe when she brought up Mervin, but I wasn't completely successful.
- Writer
