- Chapter 9
At work the next day, Liz couldn’t stop thinking about the secretary that Harrison had brought with him. Her mind wandered back to that trip she had taken with Harrison and all the naughtiness that had happened in her hotel room.
She tried to think reasonably about the situation, but she just kept coming back to the way that Sarah girl had looked at her. That girl was after Harrison and Liz could feel it. Whether Harrison knew it or not, Sarah wanted to sleep with him.
“You alright?” Ricardo asked as he saw Liz staring off into space.
“No. I’m kind of not.”
“What’s up? Boyfriend troubles?” Ricardo pulled his chair to the side of his desk so he faced Liz.
“No, not really. Well, sort of. I don’t know.”
“Well, I happen to be a really good listener.”
“He brought his secretary.”
Ricardo over dramatically pushed back his chair and held his hands up to his face in shock.
“Oh no, he didn’t,” Ricardo said with a funny accent.
“It’s not funny. She’s really pretty.”
“Well, it is odd that he would bring her. But he seems like a busy guy. Do you think he might actually need an assistant?”
Liz sat and thought for a moment. The other part of her trip she had taken with Harrison when she was his secretary was that he had been extremely busy. So busy that they worked solidly for a whole week and only messed around when the week was over.
“Yeah, I guess. He does run two huge law firms.”
“Well, maybe he really needed an assistant. Try not to jump the gun. Don’t go crazy girlfriend on him until he gives you a reason.”
“Thanks. I feel better already.”
Liz really did feel better. Ricardo had a point. That Sarah girl was just a girl. She didn’t mean what Liz did to Harrison. He had flown around the world just to come spend time with her. She couldn’t let her insecurities get to her.
“Why don’t you leave early and go hang out with him? I got this covered.”
Liz grabbed her phone and text Harrison to see if he wanted to pick her up.
“I’ll see when he is free. Let’s finish this section here.”
Liz and Ricardo finished a whole section of their project and Harrison hadn’t responded back to her. Ricardo could see the worry on Liz’s face.
“Well, if he’s busy. Why don’t you come out with the rest of us after work? We are going to a Mexican restaurant. Won’t that be fun a Mexican restaurant in Australia?” Ricardo laughed and laughed.
Just then, Liz got a text back from Harrison that read:
“How about you come to my room at 10pm? I’m finishing some stuff. Room 1009.”
Liz just looked at the text.
“What did it say?” Ricardo wonders as he looked at the sad face Liz had.
“He said he can’t meet up until ten o’clock.”
“Well, then you’ll have plenty of time to come out for drinks with the rest of us.”
Liz loved how upbeat and positive Ricardo was all the time. His sense of humor really did help bring the seriousness of Liz’s thoughts back down to reality.
“Yep, I guess I’ll just come out with you guys for a bit.”
Liz felt a little overwhelmed by the group of people that all showed up for drinks. She didn’t know how Ricardo had made friends with so many people in the short week they had been there. He really was good at socializing.
Liz quickly downed a drink to calm her social anxiety. As much as she liked people, she didn’t like all these new people all at once.
Soon she was on her third drink and feeling quite numb as she began socializing more with everyone. It was neat to meet some of the people from their new office. She talked to one woman who worked in the mail room and had a fascinating story about how she had started at the company.
“I accidently got hired here.” The woman joked.
“How could that possibly happen?” Liz asked as she tried to contemplate the circumstances which could have someone being accidently hired.
“Well I meant to apply to their competitor but accidently sent my resume here. When they called me for an interview, I told them about the silly mishap. They hired me. I’m pretty sure they didn’t think I would take the job. But I fooled them.” The woman giggled and snorted as she laughed.
Liz could tell she was drunk because she caught herself snorting as she laughed just as hard as the woman.
It felt good to finally let loose and relax after the last few days in Sydney. Liz grabbed another drink and before she knew it she could feel the room spinning. Her efforts to numb out the stress had worked perfectly. But now she could hardly stand.
“You alright?” Ricardo said as he wrapped his arm around her waist.
“I’m sure I am, but I don’t know.” Liz stammered as she tried to talk.
“I think I should get you back to your room. Where’s your purse?” Ricardo looked around the area where Liz was at and couldn’t find the white bag he had seen her bring in with her.
Liz wasn’t in any shape to help with the search. She just sat there looking ahead and trying her best not to totally pass out.
“Well, I can’t find it. I told the bartender what it looked like and gave him my number. Let’s just get you out of here for now.”
Liz just shook her head yes because she couldn’t open her mouth to talk. She felt like it was hard enough just to sit without falling over, talking was not something she was about to try.
Ricardo grabbed her around the waist and helped Liz stand up. He guided her out to the front of the building where they grabbed a cab to head back to the hotel.