Free The Hysterics by Kristen Hope Mazzola Page B

breath. “This is one of those times when comfortable clothes are preferred. Trust me. This will be good for us both.”
    She shrugged. “Alright.” She lightly squeezed my hand then started to walk back toward her office. “Thanks.”
    “For what?”
    “For being my Romeo,” she whispered as she walked away, shoving the pages she was holding into my hands and saying louder, “Oh, that’d be great, Dane! I really would love for you to fix the copier for me.”
    I laughed and she winked at me, then smiled. That smile killed me and sent me straight up to freaking cloud nine. I tried to fiddle with the dinosaur of a machine as it groaned and stuttered, but it refused to do anything but print squiggly black lines. 

    I paced my living room floor at least a hundred times while I waited for Fallon. She had refused my offer to pick her up and said that she would be at my place around seven. The clock was ticking closer and closer to seven fifteen, and I was starting to think it was more than likely she was going to stand me up than actually show.
    I shouldn’t have pushed her. What the hell am I thinking?
    I sipped tea and continued to circle my coffee table while the cooking channel played white noise in the background of my racing thoughts.
    Finally, a soft knock echoed through my apartment and I felt like I could exhale.
    “You had me a little…” As I opened the door I realized that I wasn’t opening it to the right woman.
    “Were you expecting someone?” Whitney was standing in my doorway wearing a tight red cocktail dress, her long, blonde hair perfectly curled. She licked her luscious red lips as she stared me up and down, running her hand over my chest.
    “What the fuck are you doing just showing up at my place?” The sight of her made my skin crawl. I thought I had been clear enough that our relationship—or lack thereof—was over. I didn’t want a fuck buddy anymore. Well, at least not her as a fuck buddy.
    She popped her hip out, crossing her arms over her large, perky chest and pursing her lips. “You’ve been ignoring my calls and texts and I’ve missed you.” She tried to touch me again, but I stepped back.
    “Let me in, we have some time to make up for.” She leaned in and tried to kiss me, but I shoved her gently back right before Fallon’s voice pierced my ears.
    “Dane? Whitney? What the…?” And with that, Whitney slapped me and Fallon turned on her heels and started to walk back to the stairs.
    I didn’t care what Whitney thought or if her feelings were hurt. All I cared about was that Fallon might start to not trust me.
    “Fallon, wait!” I called after her.
    Turning slowly to me, she mouthed, “Her? Really?” Whitney was still standing in my open doorway but I didn’t dare turn to look at her.
    “I’m going to grab my coat and lock up. Then we’re heading out, ok?” Fallon just stood there staring at me.
    “No. I think you have a visitor who needs some… attention .” Fallon nodded to Whitney and then kept on walking toward the stairs.
    “No, actually, Whitney was just leaving, and forgetting my number and address along with it.”
    Whitney stomped by us. “Wait until Payton gets a whiff of this little HR nightmare!”
    Fallon stepped in front of her, smiling, her eyes narrowed. “What are you going to say, my dear? That you think I’m sleeping with one of the staff? Newsflash, sweets, I’m not the one in stilettos getting rejected in this hallway. Have fun trying to play the he-said-she-said game with this one.”
    Whitney stared, catching flies, while Fallon just smiled and continued. “I’m not saying that you have anything to worry about, but you definitely do not have a leg to stand on with this. There is no rule in our office that staff members can’t socialize outside of work. If you ever paid attention to anything you’d have realized that we encourage our staff to hang out and bounce ideas off of one another, it breeds better writing. You should