Love Beyond Pretense

Chapter 1

Emily

“Arrggghhh! I am so tired of my shitty job,” I screamed, slamming the door as I walked into the room.

Stacy, my best friend, jolted in shock, turning towards the door in response to the noise and commotion I caused. Her eyes met my tear-filled ones. I am sure my tan face now looks like a cherry, ready to be plucked. The bags in my eyes felt weighty, and mucus ran down my nostrils.

“Em, what’s wrong?” she said, running towards me and reaching out for a hug.

Immediately I fell into her arms, letting my bags drop on the floor, and comfort rushed through me. I did not realize how much I needed that. It was soothing to finally be able to relax after a hectic workday. I laid my head on her shoulder, pouring out all the tears I had been holding back.

“I am tired, Stacy. I am so freaking tired.” I muffled, trying very hard to hold in sobs.

“Calm down, Em,” she said, embracing me even tighter.

Her arms were wrapped around my back, and I curled into her, my chest rubbing against hers. I could not hold it back anymore. Rivulets of tears dropped one after the other until I could not keep count. I cried till I lost my breath; I reached for it, caught it, and continued crying. Stacy kept her arms around me the whole time. Her hands were gliding back and forth over my back.

I pulled out of Stacy’s arms, walked down to the living room area, and took a seat on the green couch. Stacy followed behind and sat next to me. She reached for my folded arms, placing my palms on hers.

“What is wrong, Em?”

All the events of the day began to play consecutively in my mind.

Today had been such a terrible day. I never necessarily had good days at work, but today was number one on the leaderboard of bad days. I woke up this morning feeling super excited for some odd reason. Maybe it was because they released a new episode of my favorite series, Sistas, or because I finally got to wear the cute top I got from Brandy during the weekend. Well, whatever might have been the reason, all I knew was that I was super excited. I took a relaxing shower, styled my hair in a ponytail, and packed myself some lunch. The sun was out and shone brightly, giving everything, it touched golden tones, which was a change after all the rain these past few weeks. I took the train to Wall Street, and in less than twenty minutes, I was out of the station and into the busy streets of New York. Today was a very busy morning, but I didn't mind. I walked down the street till I got to a tall grey building with two steel posts plastered on it. I walked up the stairs leading to the front door, greeted the security guard, and walked into the lobby. I walked down to the elevator, clicked the button to the 3rd floor, and ran straight to my work desk. The first thing that welcomed me was a message from my boss telling me to report to his office. Darn it, what have I done again?

“Em? Please talk to me.” Stacy pleaded, squeezing my palms lightly and bringing me back into the present.

I looked at her, and more tears made their way down my cheek. I wiped them off with my palms and sniffed to retract the mucus coming down my nose.

“Today at work, my boss insulted me. He called me incompetent. After all the work I do for him, he is such an ungrateful son of a b***h. f**k h…”

“Em!!” She cut me off.

“Please relax before you say something you will regret. Now tell me, why did he call you incompetent?”

She held my shoulders and urged me to take a deep breath. I took in a handful of air through my nostrils and let it out through my mouth. I repeated this until my heartbeat felt steady and my nerves relaxed.

“Well..." I proceeded. “I saw a message from my boss telling me to come to his office immediately. I went there, and he started complaining. Apparently, I had set two meetings for 12 p.m. The Brazil meeting was scheduled for 2 p.m., and I assumed it was New York time. Turned out it was actually Brazil time.”

“Oh……. Sorry about the mishap,” Stacy said, consoling me. “Anyone could have made this kind of mistake. He should not have called you incompetent.”

“Exactly. I do a lot for him. He is such a selfish person. What the heck?”.

The more I talked about him, the angrier I got. Working for Mr. Giordani has been a living hell. I honestly did not expect being a secretary to be this hard—it wasn't even supposed to be this hard—but my boss was one of a kind.

He was an egoistic perfectionist. He had precise instructions for every single thing, down to the way his latte was to be made (2 cups of coffee beans and 1.7 ml of creamer). I know what you are wondering; yes, I brought a measuring cup to work just to get his precise instructions.

I was sick and tired of being his little slave, working my ass off every day from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Just to please him. Well, the pay was good, but this was not what I wanted for myself. I studied marketing and advertising, and I expected to be using my degree and not being a human planner or barista.

My thoughts were interrupted by the rumbling in my stomach. I held my tummy to confirm if it was really the one producing such noises.

"I'm hungry; did you cook anything?"

Stacy burst out laughing.

"A minute ago, you were upset at your boss, and now you are hungry"—she continues laughing—"food really is the solution to your problems.".

"Stop making fun of me. You are supposed to pamper me, not laugh at me."

"Sorry"—she made a baby face showing sympathy—"I didn't cook, but I can order some Chick-fil-A."

"Yum…"

***

I sat on the couch, legs in a namaste position, with a box of chicken wings placed on them. The chicken wings were so good, and the fries tasted just like heaven. I had never tasted heaven, but I'm sure you understand what I mean.

I had my eyes fixed on the TV in front of me, where the new episode of Sistas was airing. In the episode, Melanie invited all her friends over to a party, but they didn't know what it was for. Neither did I.

"She's pregnant!" I screamed, turning to my bestie, who was sitting right next to me.

She looked at me, and we screamed at the same time.

Damn! I couldn't believe that Melanie was actually pregnant. She had always been the one friend in the group who low-key detested men, and now she’s pregnant. What a surprise.

The theme song began to play.

Oh no. I have to wait another week to find out who the father is. I could make a few guesses between now and next week.

"I guess that's all we have for tonight,” Stacy says as she walks to the kitchen to dispose of her empty box.

"They should have at least told us the father of the child,” I complained.

"Yeah, exactly."

I got up from the couch and headed for the kitchen to return the plates to the dishwasher, which I set to the normal wash cycle. I also disposed of the empty Chick-fil-A packs. I cleaned the kitchen a little bit, placing everything in the right corner and wiping off the island before leaving the living room.

Stacy was clearing up the living room when I came in. I offered to help, but she refused. She didn’t really like doing chores, but she loved to help around when she could. I then decided to sit back on the couch and pass some time on social media till I fell asleep.

"Em, I was thinking of something," Stacy interjected.

"What's that?"

"I’ve got an idea for you to have a better experience at work."

“A better experience at work? You must be kidding me,” I scoffed.

What was Stacy talking about? My job and the word ‘good’ could never go together-much less ‘better’. It was absolutely impossible. Regardless, I found myself curious about whatever great idea it was that Stacy came up with.

"So, what is your idea?" I asked with raised eyebrows.