Worst day ever.

The day started out slow, hit an all-time high with her confrontation with Marek, and then quickly crashed and burned with her wipe out, and it didn’t get much better for Tinley after that. No matter what happened, it seemed like she couldn’t do anything right, and the customers—ugh. Today was full of customers from hell. That’s the only explanation for why every single one of them got worse as each additional call came in. Not a single person she talked to purchased a vacation package, and in fact, they all seemed to think they’d won free vacation packages and were redeeming them. She hopes whoever the scammers were that made up that little stunt get herpes and syphilis—really gross and painful and makes their dicks fall off.

Of course, it’s Friday, so every second of the day felt like it took hours to go by. Combine the long day with shitty customers, and it’s left Tinley pretty much wiped out, which is why she is currently on her second glass of wine as she’s preparing tonight’s dinner. Tinley, Dakota, and Tinley’s sister, Tara, have a standing dinner date the second Friday of every month, and Tinley is always in charge of the food. She’s not complaining about it because the other two don’t know their way around a microwave, let alone the entire kitchen. Having either one of them cook is just a recipe for disaster. That and a visit to the takeout menu drawer in their kitchen.

She is grateful that she’s had the past hour to herself in the apartment. After spending all day on a headset talking to people, her ears are always buzzing, and need some peace and quiet. The one good thing about Tinley and Dakota working in different departments is that they have different work schedules. Tinley goes in an hour earlier, so she’s off first. Unfortunately, she knows her silence is about to disappear as she takes another quick glance at the clock. Dakota and Tara will be here any minute now.

As if on cue, the familiar sound of her best friend’s key turning in the deadbolt sounds with a click. Laughter echoes throughout the dwelling as Tinley puts the last dish she used to prepare the meal into the dishwasher. The casserole she made has been cooling on the counter for a good fifteen minutes now, and the coffee aroma from the mocha cupcakes that are currently baking in the oven has started permeating the air. If any of the cupcakes make it past the weekend, she’s hoping the extra caffeine kick will help her get through what is sure to be a hellish Monday. Judging by her current mood, she won’t be holding her breath on that one.

As soon as they walk into the room, Dakota zeroes in on the open bottle of wine. Whenever Tinley ventures out and buys a new wine, Dakota always has to inspect it like she’s a fancy connoisseur. In reality, everyone knows she has no idea what she’s doing, but as always, she picks up the bottle of Pinot Grigio and takes a small whiff. She swirls the contents of the bottle and takes a small taste straight from the container. With an annoyingly long glance at the label, she shrugs and pours herself a glass. “You have to tell Tara about the conversation you had with Marek this morning.” Then she walks out of the room toward her bedroom, no doubt to grab her laptop like she does every night after work.

Tinley knows she should be happy Dakota isn’t once again ragging on her about how much she needs to get laid, but the excitement over her little showdown with Marek this morning won’t last long. As much as it felt good at the time, she has felt like nothing but crap for the rest of the day since, which is why after finishing preparing dinner tonight, Tinley decided it would be a good idea to bake another batch of cupcakes, even though they still haven’t finished off the last ones she made. No doubt her sister will have her arms full of cupcakes when she leaves tonight. Her whole argument that she’s “eating for two,” can only go so far. In reality, Tinley knows she gets mad cravings for sweets when she’s pregnant.

Tara tilts her head to the side then looks from Dakota to Tinley and back again. She rubs her belly and crashes back into their very plush recliner. “Marek—is he the panty-melting fuckboy that always seems to annoy you?”

No words—Tinley has absolutely no words for what just came out of her sister’s mouth. Who even talks like that? Tinley giggles and feels nothing but embarrassment for her. Still, she tops off her own glass of wine and grabs a sparkling water out of the fridge for Tara before joining her in the living room. “Please never say any of those words ever again. I’m going to assume that what you’re trying to say is he is fucking gorgeous, if so, then yes he is one in the same. The arrogant asshole that we work with. It’s really unreasonable for how good looking he is.”

And it’s true. Tinley knows Marek is way completely outside of her league, but it doesn’t stop her from lusting after him no matter how much she hates herself for doing it. He’s the kind of attractive where he knows he is and doesn’t hide that knowledge one bit. The supervisors all get to choose who is on their team, and of course, Marek has built his own fraternity in his corner of the call center. Or at least that’s what Dakota and her like to refer to them as. All of the guys on his team are all just as arrogant as Marek is and they all treat him like he’s a god or something. It’s actually kind of sickening.

Dakota plops down on the couch next to her and immediately starts tapping away on her laptop, completely oblivious to the conversation going on around her…or maybe she just doesn’t care. It’s weird because she spends all day typing on a computer and then comes home and spends all night doing the same thing. This has been going on for months now, Tinley has bugged her on multiple occasions to spill about what she’s doing, but she’s been pretty tight-lipped so far.

Tara shrugs and takes a heavy drink from her bottle of water and adds, “What can I say? I’m hip. I know what the cool kids are saying these days. I’m in the know.”

“Don’t make me laugh.”

Tara ignores Tinley’s comment and turns her focus to her sister’s roommate. “Dakota, please tell your roommate I’m superfly.”

That grabs her attention, and she finally looks up from her computer, but just barely. She takes another swig from her wine glass before placing it back on the coffee table and saying, “Tinley, your sister has no idea what she’s talking about. Don’t ever listen to her.”

She sits forward on the edge of her seat, and her mouth drops open. “Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side here.”

“Dude, I’m on nobody’s side.” Dakota doesn’t even look up from her screen as she continues working away on whatever she’s writing. “But if you keep talking like that, you’re just going to make a fool of yourself.”

“Neither of you know what you’re talking about. Livi thinks I’m awesome.”

Tinley can’t hold in her laughter any longer after that statement. “That’s because she’s seven and your daughter. Of course, she thinks you’re awesome—you’re the only person she knows.”

“I don’t even know why I keep coming to these things. I don’t have to put up with this abuse. I can get my sugar fix elsewhere, you know.”

“Oh my gosh, Tara, you sound exactly like Mom right now. And you know nobody makes their cupcakes as good as I can. I happen to recall you telling me I should open my own bakery.”

“No, I don’t. You take that back right now.” She sneers at Tinley and then quickly changes the subject and her focus. “Dakota, what are you working on over there?”

Before her roommate can answer, Tinley pipes up. “Don’t even try to get her to tell you. It’s some sort of top-secret project she’s been working on. She refuses to tell me, and this has been going on for months now. At this point, it’s more annoying than anything else.”

She quickly closes her laptop and puts it on the coffee table in front of her. “Anyone else starving? Let’s eat.” Then she’s up from the couch and heading off to the kitchen for the casserole, which is most likely cold by now.

Tara glances behind her to see if Dakota is watching and then leans forward, reaching for the laptop. Tinley shakes her head and says, “Don’t even bother. She has it password protected.” Reaching a hand down to help her up, she says, “C’mon preggo, let’s go get some food in that belly.”

Speaking of the cupcakes, the timer starts going off as they both walk toward the kitchen. The entire room is filled with the delicious chocolatey coffee scent, and Tinley can’t help but breathe them in as she pulls them out of the oven to cool.

Dakota has a second bottle of wine open and is drinking from her recently refilled glass as she studies the casserole dish on the counter. “Someone gave zero fucks when they cut the vegetables for tonight’s dinner.”

Tinley takes a sip of her glass of wine before glancing down into the food and shrugging. If this were a competition based solely on presentation, she would be asked to never return. She lets out a small giggle. Okay, so she might be buzzing just a little bit. “I always say Anne Burrell would have a field day with my knife cuts if we ever shared the same kitchen.”

“Am I supposed to know what that means?”

Face meet palm. There’s no way her roommate doesn’t know who she’s talking about. Tinley spends her free time watching TV, and when Netflix isn’t on, the Food Network is. “Hello, Anne Burrell, as in the celebrity chef from the Food Network. She co-hosts the show Worst Cooks in America, and she always cracks down on people for their knife cuts. I might make good food, but I can’t consistently cut anything to save my life.”

A moan comes from behind them, and both girls turn around to find Tara already working her way through the dinner. She’s got a giant spoon in her hand and is leaning over the counter, scooping out bites. “I don’t care what it looks like as long as it tastes good, and this definitely tastes fanfuckingtastic.”

All three of them crack up laughing as they take turns devouring the semi-warm casserole, and Tara’s right: it is pretty damn good. Then again, anything involving potatoes, cheese, and bacon usually is. After they finish polishing off dinner, Tinley starts putting the dishes in the sink to clean everything up. If there’s one thing she hates more than anything, it’s a dirty kitchen. She just can’t focus while there’s a mess nearby.

Dakota takes the dirty forks out of her hands and shoos her away. Tinley sits on one of the bar stools and takes a small sip of her wine while looking from her sister to her roommate over the top of her glass. These two are definitely up to something, that’s for sure. Dakota never volunteers to clean up the kitchen and Tara is avoiding eye contact altogether. “Okay, what’s going on here? What are you two hiding from me?”

Tara sighs and leans against the counter. She polishes off her bottle of water and rubs her belly. She glances over at Dakota and then back at her sister. “Promise you won’t be mad?”