"Let me go put your order in so it's ready when he gets here."
"Thanks, Marie."
My phone started vibrating in my purse a minute after she left. I pulled it out and ran my thumb across the screen. The caller ID said Hunter Technologies. Hopefully I hadn't forgotten about some important meeting for all the interns or something. "Hello?"
"Hi, Penny, it's Nita."
"Hi, Nita. Do you know if James has left for lunch yet?" I looked out the window at the passing cars.
"That's why I'm calling. He had a last minute meeting. He's tied up and can't make it."
"Oh. Okay, thanks for calling, Nita." I hung up and looked down at my phone. I wished he had told me before I had taken the subway all the way here.
***
I stepped out of the subway car with the pizza box in my hand and made my way up the stairs. The sun was blinding as I made my way outside after being underground. I wasn't sure how often I'd be able to go to Totonno's with James during lunch. My break was already almost over and I had quickly eaten a slice in the restaurant because I hated eating alone. I wasn't sure why I thought leisurely lunches were in the job description for interns.
I walked into the building and got onto the elevator. The last thing I wanted was to be late getting back from lunch when I was already late this morning. Hopefully James' meeting would be over and I could drop the pizza off for him real quick. I had five minutes to make my way through the cubicle maze. I quickly got off the elevator and walked up to the reception desk.
Nita wasn't sitting there. Maybe she was on her break. I looked over at James' office. The blinds were closed. I hoped he hadn't left and tried to meet me down there anyway. I walked over and put my face close to the window to see if I could see him through the slants in the blinds.
What the fuck?! I grabbed the handle of his office door.
"Penny?"
I jumped. I released the doorknob and turned around to see Nita staring at me. "Sorry, I wasn't sure if he was in..."
"He's still in his meeting, Penny. He asked me to make sure no one disturbed him. I can give you a call when he's free if you want?"
"No. That's okay, Nita." What the hell? I started to walk away but quickly went back over to her. "Could you give him this though?" I put the pizza box down on the reception desk. "Thanks," I said and walked away without waiting for her response.
My heart was beating out of my chest. Maybe I was wrong. It was just the back of her head. Fuck. No. It was definitely Isabella. I kept my eyes on the ground as I made my way toward my desk. What was he doing talking to her? Did he seriously stand me up to have lunch with that bitch? I knew there was nothing going on between them, but I couldn't help the jealously that seemed to surge through me. What on earth could they be talking about? After she had slapped me, I thought he'd never speak to her again. Instead they were having a nice, private chat in his office. Why couldn't she just leave us alone?
"You okay, Fight Club?" Tavon asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Had that nickname seriously already spread to him too? I sat down in my chair without looking up. "I'm fine. Are you two seriously going to call me that for the whole summer?"
"That's what happens when you ditch us for lunch," he said. "And when you come to work the first day with a black eye."
"It's just a tiny little bruise, it's not a black eye. You're exaggerating. I just ran into something."
"That's rather vague. Did you run into something like someone's fist?"
"Ignore them," Sierra said. "How was lunch with your fiancé?"
"Great," I lied and turned on my computer. We were supposed to be doing research the rest of the afternoon and I had a feeling that meant all of us were going to be chatting while we did it. I didn't feel like talking. I felt like killing Isabella.
"Where did you go to school?" Sierra asked.
"NYCU," I said. Maybe conversation would help me not explode. "What about you guys?"
"I went there too," Zach said. "I'm surprised we didn't have any classes together."
"It's a big school."
"Yeah but they lump all the freshman into those huge lecture halls. We were probably at least in one of those together and didn't realize it."
"I wasn't there freshman year though."
"Where did you go before that?"
"The University of New Castle."
"Why the switch?" Sierra asked. "I went to my state school in South Dakota and I loved it. Moving here has been quite the transition. I guess it was for you at first too?"
I had been right about her not being from around here. South Dakota was pretty far away. I shrugged my shoulders. "It was at first. I love it now though, you will too. And I wasn't bashing state schools. I loved my old school at first too." I was talking too much.
"So what changed?" she asked.
I turned my attention back to my screen. "Just...personal reasons."
Tavon laughed.
Of all the things to say. I should have just made up something super believable. Like my parents moved. But no, I said personal reasons. I could feel my face turning red.
"Fight Club, you can't just dangle that in front of us and not explain."
My phone started vibrating. Thank God. I pulled it out of my purse and saw that James was calling me. I'd talk to him after work. I put it down on my desk, ignoring it. It took me a second to realize that all three of them were staring at me.
"What? I'm sorry, did you say something?"
"Secret fiancé, secret troubled past, a secret black eye..." Tavon had counted off the secrets on his fingers so that he was holding them up in front of me. "You're quite mysterious, Penny."
"Shouldn't we be working?"
"The boss said we're supposed to bond. And the three of us already did while you were sneaking off somewhere secretive for lunch. Yet another secret."
My phone started buzzing again. I didn't bother looking at the caller ID, I just ignored it.
"And you're trying to avoid someone."
"Leave her alone," Zach said. "Clearly she doesn't want to talk about it."
I couldn't help but think he was being nice because he thought I had an abusive fiancé. And he probably thought that I had tried to escape from the abuse by moving to New York. Why had I said personal reasons?
My phone vibrated again. I picked it up. "I'm a little busy right now. Can this wait till after work?"
James sighed. "I figured you saw her when I had pizza waiting for me. I'm sorry about lunch. Can you please come to my office real quick so I can explain?"
I tried to lower my voice. "After work. Please, James."
"You're upset. I just want to tell you why she was here. If you're worried about people knowing, just say you need to go to the bathroom and excuse yourself."
I didn't care why Isabella was there. I didn't care about anything she had to say. What I cared about was why he decided to talk to her and keep me out of the loop. He let me wander off to Brooklyn so I'd be out of the way. It felt dirty and I just needed some time to calm down about it. "Later. Please." I hung up.