Troy
After what happened today, I needed to get a drink or two. Hell, maybe several. The interaction I had with Reece was pretty rough, so hopefully things would go better between us tomorrow. That’s if she doesn’t have a stick up her ass. She’s pretty uptight, which was something I’d never experienced with a woman. Usually I could just give them a compliment and the woman would already be trying to get with me; so Reece would definitely be a challenge.
I decided to invite Jamarcus and Patrick, the detail manager, out to Miller’s to get drunk. I needed to so I wouldn’t have to think about anything right now; but I probably shouldn’t have invited these two, because they can’t stand each other. They always arguing over something, which I had to keep them separated at work.
“You know I don’t normally go out with you. Hell, I rather not be around you at work, but I have to.” Jamarcus said.
“So, why are you out, then?”
“Because you said you were buying.”
I sighed as I stared at the bar. I never said I was buying, but whatever.
“And you never said you were buying, but since I made that notion…”
“Can I say how much of an ass you are sometimes?” Patrick said to Jamarcus.
“If you were saying that, I’ll throw you across this counter.”
“Okay, you two, stop it, damn. I can’t even invite you two out to have fun,”
“Well, you need friends then,”
I shook my head. “I do have friends,”
“That are not female, Troy.”
“Whatever,”
I looked at the door and saw a beautiful woman walking in. That would be a good way to distract me.
“You can’t go one minute without trying to hit on someone.” Jamarcus said.
“I’m just checking her out.”
“I have worked with you for over four years now; I pretty much know how your mind works.”
“Can we talk about the new office manager, though? She’s pretty fine.” Patrick said as he grabbed his beer bottle.
“Whatever,” I mumbled as I picked up my glass of tequila. I raised it to my lips, downing it in one second.
“Even I’m not going for the hard stuff tonight. We have to work tomorrow.” Patrick said.
“So. I needed it after I had to interact with Reece. That girl is cold as hell.”
“She’s not cold; she’s just not falling for your bullshit. Finally.” Jamarcus commented.
“How can you tell if she’s not? She’s only been at the store for a day,” Patrick said.
“I just know. It’s the way she carries herself. It’s like she’s not interested.”
“Maybe because she’s not. Not everyone has to fall for your ass, Troy. Just suck it up and move on.” Jamarcus said.
I asked the bartender for another glass of tequila, before shooting Jamarcus an evil glare. “I’m not upset about that.”
“Yes, you are. You thought you had a new woman to replace Sabrina as your plaything. Maybe Reece just wants to be there to do her job. There’s nothing wrong with that.” Jamarcus said and laughed.
“Patrick’s right; you can be an ass.”
“I’m just speaking the truth. Besides, it’ll be good to have someone there that might actually stay past two months.”
I gave Jamarcus a dirty look and he sighed. “You know I’m telling the truth, Troy.”
“It is what it is with Reece. I just hope she knows what she’s doing. I don’t care if she is Vanessa’s cousin; if she’s not doing her job, she’s gone.”
“And you’re going to get slapped with a lawsuit. Haven’t you learned anything from your previous experiences? Especially with the me-too movement, you better be glad no one has filed one.” Jamarcus said.
“I actually have to agree with Jamarcus on this one. You’ve pretty much done everything that the company frowned upon.” Patrick said.
“And how is that? Everyone is dating each other in this company.”
“But everyone is not jumping from relationship to relationship like you are.” Jamarcus pointed out. “When are you ever going to settle down and just be with one woman?”
“I have done that; it didn’t work.”
“That was because you and Deena weren’t a good fit to be together.” Patrick said.
“I’m not talking about Deena. She was the woman that I’d married, but she wasn’t the woman that I was in love with. She wasn’t the one that took my heart and stomped on it so badly that I just didn’t care about being committed.”
Patrick stared at me while Jamarcus was wondering what was going on. Patrick has known me longer than Jamarcus, so he understood everything that had happened to me. Well, almost.
“You want to talk about it?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nope, and never will,”
I downed the next glass of tequila and relaxed. “Right now, I just don’t want to feel anything.”
The two continued to stare at me as I looked ahead at the bar, clearly not feeling this impromptu guys’ night out. Maybe I should have just got drunk at home.
***
After getting a few more drinks, I had to get Patrick to drive me home. I was clearly drunk and couldn’t even see the damn road. While Jamarcus followed Patrick, I was passed out in the passenger seat, not caring if I had to go to work the next day. I might not even show up in the morning. Jamarcus could handle the store.
Once Patrick pulled my car into my garage, he and Jamarcus had to take me into my home which they just dumped me on the couch and left. Some friends they are.
When I finally woke up, the sun was out. I looked at my watch, seeing it was 8:30 in the morning. I looked down, seeing I was still in my Suds uniform. I slowly got up and walked into the bathroom, taking my clothes off on the way. I needed to take a shower.
As the hot water splashed on my face and body, I was beginning to sober up a little. There was no way I could take the day off. There were still a couple of things to show Reece with the paperwork. Hopefully she wouldn’t be a smartass today, because I definitely wasn’t in the mood for it.
After getting myself together, I hopped into my car and headed to the store. As I walked in, I saw not only Reece and Nena, but also Jamarcus in the lobby. They were all smiles beforehand, but once they saw me, they quickly stopped talking.
“Good morning, Troy. You look like hell,” Jamarcus said.
I gave him a dirty look while staring at Reece. She gave a tiny smile as I said good morning to everyone. I quickly went to the office, closed the door and sat down at my desk. I closed my eyes, wishing the sun wasn’t so damn bright through the blinds as I leaned my head back in my seat.
The door opened from the other side which startled me. I turned around to see Reece coming in.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
I sat up and gave a small smile. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”
“I have to agree with Jamarcus. You do look like hell. One of your women kept you up all night?”
“I wish, but it wasn’t that type of party. I just drank more than I should have.”
Reece nodded. “I’ve been there. Just take it easy today, okay.”
I nodded. “We’ll see.”
She took a deep breath as I closed my eyes again. I slowly opened them to see Reece still standing there. It looked as if she wanted to say something as she took another deep breath.
“Listen, I know we sort of got off on the wrong foot yesterday.”
“We don’t need to talk about that, Reece.”
“Let me talk, okay. I just want to make it clear that I want for us to have a good professional relationship. I know you think I got this job because of my connections, but I am qualified to do the job. I just hope you have enough trust in me to know that.”
“You’ve only been here for a day and a half, Reece. I can’t base my opinion on one day.”
“I know, but I just don’t want you to make assumptions about me.”
“Just like you have about me?”
She stared at me, speechless to what I just said.
“Just like you don’t want me to make assumptions about you, you definitely have with me. You said that you form your own opinions, yet you automatically assumed that I’m all about one thing.”
“That because you kind of are. You started flirting with me within five minutes of me being alone with you.”
“Which was a mistake.”
“Yes, because you and I both know it will never happen.”
She stared at me with those bedroom eyes again as I smirked.
“Never say never,”
“Whatever. Anyway, I just wanted to see if you were okay; since you are, I’ll let you be.” She said as she walked back to the register.
I watched her leave and sighed. Maybe there some hope for us after all.