A Night to Forget (9 page)

“Hey girls, what’s up?”
Steph asked.

“Hi guys! I’ve missed you guys so much,” Gloria said excitedly.

“Sorry for the late call, Gloria. I’m surprised that you picked up. Isn’t it like 4 a.m. in Paris right now?” Jill asked.

“Oh, right. I’m still adjusting to the time change,” Gloria
explained quickly. “What’s going on?”

“Something
crazy happened to Emma at work today, and I thought you guys would want to hear it from her,” Jill said, “Emma?”

I told the girls in painful detail what happened at work
and my voice cracked several times as I fought back the tears.

“What a fucking asshole,”
Steph said as soon as I finished talking.

“Right? How can he not remember?” Jill demanded.

“Are you okay, Emma?” Gloria asked.

“I don’t know. I think I’m still in shock,” I said. “You know, I was
really
excited about this job, not just because it’s my dream job, but part of me was relying on this job to keep my mind busy and off of him. I thought this would be my fresh start and I could put him behind me forever.” I sighed before continuing, “But now … now he’s everywhere. Even when I try to forget about him, he seems to show up—and at my job, of all places. And now, he’s my group leader, so I have to see him every day and I can’t even avoid him. And what hurts the most is that he doesn’t even remember me?”

“What a fucking bitch,”
Steph exclaimed, “You should sue him for sexual harassment. He can’t get away with this!”

Despite my mood, I laughed at
Steph’s words. “I can’t do that, Steph. He didn’t sexually harass me.”

“Well he took advantage of you and you were drunk,” she argued.

“But I wanted to have sex with him,” I said, feeling the pain of those words, “Besides, I wasn’t even working at F&M yet.”

“Well, even so,”
Steph retorted, refusing to back down, “you already accepted your job offer at that point, so you were
practically
an employee.”

I had to love
Steph for her conviction and confidence, and I was grateful that she was on my side. “Maybe, but he didn’t know who I was when we met in Cancun, or that I was going to be working at F&M. I never told him that.”

“Well, you don’t know that. He could have seen your name floating around somewhere at work before meeting you, especially since you are in his group,” she reasoned.

“Don’t you worry, Emma, you may have a case here. I’ll look into it. We’ll make it stick,” Steph said, and I could almost see her wink at me. “You know, I’m practically a lawyer. I’ve already completed one month of law school!” she continued.

We all laughed.

“And how many do you have left,” I teased.

“Ugh,
don’t remind me! There’s still 26 fucking months left,” Steph groaned. “And let me just say, these single law school guys are either weird, ugly, or short—all of which I’m allergic to.”

We all laughed.
Steph was never one to hold back her opinions.

“Thanks for cheering me up,
Steph,” I said. “But really, how should I handle this situation? I don’t know how I’ll be able to face him?”

“Pretend he’s hideous when you look at him,” Jill said eagerly.

“Yeah, picture him really fat,” Gloria chimed in.

“What?” The idea was so outrageous to me that I began to
laugh.

“With a distorted face,” Jill added.

“And a humped back!” Steph threw in, “Oh, and imagine him drooling all over the place! Who would ever want to kiss that repulsive thing? Eww!”

We all exploded in laugher.

“So what you’re telling me is, you want me to picture him as the Hunchback of Notre Dame?” I teased.

“Well, no. Of course not,”
Steph said with a serious tone. “We want you to picture him as the Hunchback of San Francisco!”

We were now all laughing uncontrollably, unable to speak.

“Thanks guys. I really needed that,” I said.

“That’s what we’re here for,”
Steph said.

“Yeah. I can’t imagine what you’re going through, Emma, but you’re one of the strongest people I know. I know you can get through this
. We all know you’ve gotten through much worse,” Gloria said. I knew she was referring to that night from my freshman and realized that she was right.
I have gotten through worse.

“He doesn’t deserve you, Emma,” Jill said. “You deserve a guy who puts you on a pedestal. A guy who, even if he had amnesia, would not forget you.”

I let out a deep sigh. “You’re right. I can’t let him ruin my career and everything I’ve worked so hard for. If he’s forgotten about me, then I should move on. I need to forget about meeting him in Cancun. I’ve been holding onto the memories of that night and making them into something special and meaningful. But in reality, it’s not a night I should hold on to and remember. It was a night to forget.”

“It’ll get better,” Jill said encouragingly.

“So, who else is in your group,” Steph said, changing the subject, “Any hotties?”

I laughed. “Well, there’s thre
e of us in the group. This girl Sarah, who seems nice, and this guy Josh.”

“Is he hot?”

“He’s pretty cute, in that All-American boy type of way,” I admitted.

“Works for me,”
Steph said, “you should go for him.”

“You’re ridiculous sometimes,
Steph,” I laughed.

“Well, you know my motto: Work Hard, Play Hard. And you have a high-pressure job, especially now with that asshole in the mix, so you’ll need someone to help you let out some steam. This Josh guy sounds perfect.”

I laughed, “Well, I’ll think about it, but I don’t think I’m interested. Besides, I think Sarah may have a crush on him, and I think they’d make a cute couple,” I explained. “Plus, I already have Brandon to deal with on the job. I’m not sure I can handle another guy making me feel uncomfortable at work.”

“I agree,” Gloria said, “Don’t shit where you eat.”

“If only I took that advice six months ago,” I joked.

After another half of hour of catching up, we said our goodbyes. Jill immediately called me the minute we had clicked off.

“Hi Emma, I just wanted to make sure you’re feeling okay,” Jill said.

“Thanks, Jill. I do feel a little better. Thanks for talking me off the ledge,” I joked, “I really miss you.”

“Aw, hun, I miss you too. And I miss your cooking.” She laughed and then stopped. “Actually, I’m serious about that. I’m starving.”

I laughed, “Jill, for someone who loves food so much, you really should learn how to cook,” I teased.

“You’re probably right. But I feel so lazy when it comes to cooking. It’s such a process,” Jill sulked.

I laughed. “Sometimes, you’re so spoiled, Jill,” I teased. Sometimes I felt like I knew Jill better than I knew myself. But maybe that’s because
a part of me envied her easy life. She never had to learn how to cook because her mom was an excellent cook.

“How are
your parents, by the way? I miss them,” I said. I loved Jill’s parents. They were caring and supportive—the way Jill was to her friends.

“They’re good. They miss you, too. They’re in Europe right now, celebrating their 25-year anniversary,” Jill said.

“Oh, are they in London?” I asked with genuine curiosity.

“Yes, I think they’re there now before they head off to Italy,” Jill said.

I never grew tired of hearing about Jill’s parents and their perfect marriage. Jill’s mom moved to the U.S. from China at the age of four with Jill’s grandparents, and Jill’s father was English, and they met while Jill’s mother lived in London for a semester on a study-abroad program. They fell in love that semester, and Jill’s father was so in love with her mother that he moved to the U.S. to be with her. It was incredibly romantic, and every time Jill told me about her parents’ love story, I secretly wished I would one day have such a passionate and can’t-live-without-each-other romance like that. I secretly thought that maybe, just maybe, Brandon was going to be the guy that I would have that kind of romance with.

But who was I kidding? I wasn’t Jill and I didn’t grow up with her loving parents. Instead, I never knew my father and grew up with a mother who worked two full-time jobs to make
ends meet for the two of us. She never married, and I’m not sure she ever trusted men after what my father did to her.

“Emma?” Jill said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Oh, sorry. What did you say?” I asked.

“I was just asking you if you wanted anything from Italy? My parents asked me to check with you. They know you love to cook, and thought you may want some cooking stuff from Italy.”

“That’s so sweet of them, but I think I’m okay. Please thank them for me,” I said.

“Okay. Emma? Will you be okay? Do you want me to drive up one of these weekends to visit you?” Jill asked.

“Thanks, Jill. I’d love to see you if you have a free weekend.”

“Great, I’ll try to come up in a couple of weeks. It’ll be so much fun!”

Her excitement was contagious, and I giggled. “I can’t wait. Thanks for making me feel better. I should probably get some sleep. I’ll talk to you soon?”

“Definitely. Get some rest, okay?”

“Okay, thanks, Jill.”

“Call me if you need anything. Sweet dreams!”

That was what I was afraid of—sweet dreams.
I thought, but decided not to say that to Jill.

“Good night, I’ll talk to you soon,” I said and hung up.

I quickly got ready for bed and sunk into the protective layers of my comforter. The cool breeze coming in through the bay window was soothing. I was exhausted and emotionally spent from today. As I closed my heavy eyelids and dozed off to sleep, I felt my body let go of the tension in my muscles.
Things will be okay
, I thought.
It wasn’t the end of the world. The girls are right. I am strong. I will get through this. He may have been my first, but I wasn’t going to let him ruin my life because of it. He sure wasn’t going to be my last.

Luckily, I had a dreamless sleep that night—a n
ight without Brandon evading my mind.

Chapter
9

“Hi Emma,” Sarah greeted me as we both walked into the office building the next morning.

“Hey Sarah,” I said with a smile. “How was happy hour?”

“Really fun!” she said as we got into the elevator, “You’ll have to come out when we go again this Friday!”

“Sure, that sounds like fun,” I said, and to my surprise, I actually meant it. I wanted to get to know this new city and make more friends here. More importantly, I wanted to keep myself busy and take my mind off Brandon.

The elevator door opened, and two feet in front of me stood Brandon, waiting for the elevator and looking straight at me. I felt the dull ache in my heart gnaw at me as he smiled at us.

“Good morning, Mr. Fisher,” Sarah said brightly. I nodded at him, unable to speak.

“Hello Sarah and Emma. Please call me, Brandon,” he smiled at us.

“Okay, Brandon,” Sarah gleefully replied.

I managed a meek smile, but still could not seem to speak.

After an awkward second of silence, Sarah motioned me to step out of the elevator.

“Oh, right,” I said quickly as I hopped out of the elevator.

“Hey, do you guys have any coffee preferences?” Brandon asked as he walked in the elevator and held the elevator open as he looked back at us. “I’m heading down to the Coffee Bean downstairs to grab our team some pastries and coffee,”

“Oh, that’s so nice, Mr. Fi—I mean, Brandon,” Sarah said. “Can I get a macchiato with almond milk and two packets of
Truvia?”

“Macchiato, almond milk, and two
Truvias—got it,” Brandon said. “And you, Emma?” he looked over at me, and it took all my concentration to not sink into those warm brown eyes.

“Um, thanks. I’ll get a coffee
,” I said.

After a pause, Brandon asked, “did you want anything in your coffee?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like half & half, whole milk, 2%, soy milk, almond milk? Sugar, Equal,
Splenda, Truvia?”

“Oh,” I laughed, “I’m not too picky. Surprise me.” I couldn’t help smiling at him.

“Well, you’re simple and easy,” Brandon said with a teasing smile.

Simple? Easy? Hurt filled me
as my brain dissected his words and thought back to that night in Cancun.

As if reading my mind, Brandon said, “Simple and easy are good. I’ll see you two in a few minutes with the coffees.” With that, he let the elevator door close between us and he was gone.

“What was that all about?” Sarah asked with curiosity. She looked at me with a devious smile.

“What was what all about?” I said, wondering if I was that transparent.