Between Friends (27 page)

Chapter 22

When I wake up the
next morning, I feel like a new and rejuvenated version of myself.
I spring out of bed as soon as my alarm goes off, not once hitting
the snooze button to indulge in an few extra minutes of shut eye. I
hop in the shower, wash my greasy hair and sing, “I Will Survive”
at the top of my lungs. I try to perform some sweet dance moves as
I lather up my scalp, but I slip a bit and have to steady myself on
the shower curtain. When I am all done, I put on my sexiest and
most recent Nordstrom purchase; a tight fitting navy blue blazer,
with a matching A-line skirt and a killer pair of nude pumps. I
loosely curl my hair and generously apply a glowing layer of makeup
to highlight my already sun-kissed skin. I am unstoppable, and my
plan to avoid Ben will work. I hope.

I know if my timing is
right, my plan is fool proof. Ben and I grab a coffee every morning
at the Overflow Coffee Bar around 8:30a.m. before we show up at the
office together. So, if I make my own coffee and head into work
around 8:00a.m. Ben won’t be there. If he follows our routine
(which I’m sure he will), he will arrive shortly after nine. This
will give me about an hour or so to quickly review my files then
flee from the office to start my client follow up for the day
before he gets there. But, if he does happen to show up before
nine, I still look fabulous enough to storm out with some
sass.

****

I arrive at work five minutes before
eight, and am greeted by Millie, the receptionist, a plump redhead
with a bad case of freckles. As I approach her desk, she slides off
her jacket and powers on her computer.

“
Hey Megan! Congratulations
on the Gold Coast listing! Jake told me Oprah is the client selling
the property. How cool is that going to be to meet Oprah?” Millie
says all smiles.

I nod and try to hide my laughter,
because Mille is subject to a lot of office pranks by Jake (another
realtor in our office) due to her gullible persona.

“
What are you doing here so
early?” Millie asks as she tosses a piece of gum in her
mouth.

“
I have lots of work to
catch up on.” I say with a smile.

“
Welcome back!” Millie
shouts as I make my way through the double doors, leading into the
rows and rows of cubicles.

The office is quiet and empty, except
for a few people scattered here and there. It is crazy how in less
than an hour from now, this place will be packed with phones
ringing and paper flying all over the place. I have to say, I
really missed work. Like a lot. Even with Ben only a few cubicles
away, this place is like home to me.

I flop down into my chair and toss my
cell on my desk. Like Emily promised, there is a whack load of
files piled high beside the computer with a yellow sticky note on
top. I glance down at it, and notice right away it isn’t Emily’s
handwriting, its Ben’s.

WE NEED TO TALK. PLEASE CALL
ME.

I rip the note off of the
files, crumple it up and toss it into the garbage. I can’t believe
he expects
me
to
call him! No way. He’s crazy. I am not chasing after him like all
the Mindy’s, Stephanie’s and Jezebel’s he’s used too. If he even
thinks for a second that I would do such a thing, then he obviously
doesn’t know me at all. Besides, I am not the one who took off on
an early flight to leave him alone, humiliated and castrated by the
whole entire wedding.

“
Well look who’s here!”
Clint Reitman, the owner of Reitman Realty LLC the company I work
for and my boss says as he strolls up to my desk.

“
Good morning Clint” I
mumble, noticing he actually has a clean-shaven face today. He
usually sports quite the beard.

“
Well how’s my favorite
realtor feeling today? Did you already contact Mrs. Dorothy van den
Berg?” He says looking over his glasses and leans on my
desk.

“
I’m better thank you. Who
is Mrs. Dorothy van den Berg?”

“
The owner of 1502 North
Dearborn Parkway” Clint sternly says and crosses his arms over his
potbelly.

Oh crap! The Gold Coast listing!
Surely Clint is expecting I am on my A game after abandoning my
career for a week and taking a sick day. The fact that I don’t even
know the address or name of my client will be enough to send him
into a fury.

“
Oh right, sorry. I am
about to call her right now.” I smile and pick up my cell, waving
it in his face.

“
Well you better. Mrs. Van
den Berg is a very important client. She buys and sells properties
all over Chicago, and for some reason she wants you, so do not
disappoint.” Clint says as he slams his fist down on my desk and
storms off to his office.

I scan through my files, searching
desperately for Mrs. van den Berg’s phone number until I find it.
Bingo! I punch in her number on my cell and wait for her to pick
up. When Mrs. van den Berg’s raspy voice answers the other end of
the line, I am relieved.

She tells me she is delighted to hear
from me, and goes on to say she has heard great things about both
me and my work. She also adds that she knows I will be able sell
her property in no time. I thank her for accepting me as her
realtor, and ask if I could stop by sometime today to sign the
contract and take a look at her property. She tells me anytime this
morning will do, and says she looks forward to meeting with me. I
smile hang up the phone and wonder if this property could possibly
up the ante in defining my career. Maybe I will even be featured on
HGTV’s Million Dollar Listing, who knows what could happen from
here.

My smile quickly fades when I see Ben
saunter in the office. He is wearing a perfectly pressed dark grey
suit with a crisp white shirt and a Burberry tie. He looks good,
too good, and I feel my heart sink. What is he doing here so early?
I slouch down in my chair hoping he won’t be able to see me behind
the walls of the cubicle. He scans his eyes around the office
before they land right on my desk. My heart stops. He doesn’t see
me at first, but when his eyes change from worry to relief, I know
I am spotted.

Without even thinking, I start to
gather my things. I toss my cell into my purse and shove my files
under my arm. I am about to bolt out of the office, but Ben is
calling out my name. I am mortified to see a few co-workers look up
at our commotion, making me turn fifty shades of red. I casually
turn back around in order to avoid complete office drama, which
would only roll into juicy office gossip around the water cooler
later this afternoon.

“
What?” I sigh tapping my
foot on the floor.

“
Did you get my note?” Ben
asks biting his sexy and luscious lower lip.

“
Yeah I got it.” I say with
more conviction than I thought possible to ever come out of my
mouth.

“
You didn’t come into the
office yesterday. Are you okay?” He asks with concern. He takes one
step closer to me and adds, “You look great by the way.”

I roll my eyes, “I’m fine thanks. Is
there something you want or can I get back to work?”

“
I’d like to talk to
you.”

“
Well I don’t know if I
want to talk to you.” I snap in a hushed whisper.

Ben scratches his head and let’s out a
sigh. He nervously glances around the office and leans in leaving a
few inches between us, “Come on Megan –“

“
Just say what you have to
say and be done with it.” I snort and adjust the files slipping
under my arm.

“
Can’t we just hit up the
Overflow Coffee Bar like old times and talk there?” Ben says with a
gorgeous smile.

I cringe at his reference to old times
and it practically knocks the wind out me. How stupid could I have
been? I should have known he would slip me right back into the
friend zone. How could I forget? I am just his loyal dorky little
buddy, Megan Daniels.

“
No sorry. I don’t have
time. I have a lot of work to do.” I say holding back the
tears.

“
Well when will you have
time? I really want to talk to you.” Ben leans back and shoves his
hands in his pockets.

“
I don’t know. I am really
busy.” I say, and turn to leave.

“
With Mrs. van den Berg’s
listing?” Ben shouts stopping me in my tracks. Of course he knows.
I am sure everyone does.

“
Look Ben, I really don’t
have time. Maybe you should have talked to me before you booked it
from Costa Rica without telling me.”

I watch Ben nod in defeat and let out
a huge sigh.

“
Right” He looks up at the
ceiling then drops his gaze back to me, “Look, I will be at the
Green Mill Pub tonight to meet a client around seven. Please come
by around eight, he’ll be gone by then.”

I don’t know what to say, so I don’t
say yes and I don’t say no. I just nod and turn on my heel leaving
him in limbo land. I need to get out of here! The last thing I want
to do is have him think I am okay with us just being friends again.
I storm away from Ben not looking back once and head directly to
Clint’s office.

I give Clint’s office door a gentle
knock before I step inside. I immediately ramble I am leaving to
meet clients for the day. He asks if I spoke with Mrs. van den
Berg, not once looking up from the documents on his desk. I tell
him I did, and inform him I am seeing her later this morning. Clint
responds by saying, “Great” and then gives me a dismissive wave.
Millie’s voice beams through his speakerphone, and she tells him
Mr. Greenberg is ready to video in. I use that as my opportunity to
slide out of his office and close the door behind me.

I catch a final glimpse of Ben pacing
around his cubicle and looking has hot as ever while talking on his
cell phone. I feel my stomach tighten just thinking of how
everything between us has changed in a blink of an eye. It is crazy
to think that over a week ago, Ben and I were happily enjoying our
last night in Chicago at Third Rail Tavern marveling over how we
were the perfect wing sharing buddies (he likes the drumsticks
best, while I like the flat pats). Then before I knew it, I slammed
one too many vodka waters and agreed to sleep with him over a flip
of a coin and it ruined everything.

Ben hangs up on his call and catches
me staring at him. I blush and quickly look away, pushing through
the doors leading out of the office. I wish so badly that my
feelings for him would just disappear, but I know that is next to
impossible.

Chapter 23

I spend the rest of my day distracted,
wondering whether or not I will actually take Ben up on his offer
and meet him at the Green Mill Pub tonight. I am so consumed in my
inner debate I can hardly remember my conversation with Mrs. van
den Berg, as we tour her immaculately impressive home. I vaguely
recall her signing the contract, and I only know it happened,
because I have the hard copy in my bag to prove it.

As I leave her place, I try my hardest
to concentrate. I flip into high-energy realtor mode and follow up
on my new clients. I stomp along the sidewalk and push through
crowds of business professionals to find a café a few blocks west
of the Gold Coast district where I can look over my files in peace,
make necessary phone calls, and try my hardest to keep my mind on
task. I make decent progress, but within an hour or so, I become
distracted, yet again. I find myself thinking less about the
Chicago real estate market, and more about Ben and his late night
proposition.

Why did he insist on meeting with me?
By his choice of venue, he couldn’t have made his intentions any
clearer. If he actually was sorry and wanted to continue seeing me
as more than friends, he surely would have picked somewhere less
full of stout beer and pool tables, and somewhere more full of
happy mature couples, sharing expensive bottles of wine. Going to
meet him would be the worst thing I could do right now. It would be
the ultimate slap in the face and would put me right back in the
friend zone.

But Ben must know we can
never be how we once were. How could we ever go back to ice-skating
around
McCormick Tribune Ice
Rink
like we used in the winter, or go to
Sidekicks for a burger and watch horribly tone deaf people sing
karaoke, or rent any given Will Farrell movie to watch on my sofa
with a freshly popped bag of Jiffy Pop and a warm fuzzy blanket,
and have it ever be the same? How could I forget what it was like
to kiss him and touch him and….

Oh this is horrible!

Tears prick the corners of my eyes and
I suck them back to stare out the window. I watch people briskly
walk by on this cold Monday afternoon. My eye catches a cute red
head plant a kiss on what must be her tall dark boyfriend as he
hops into a cab and waves her goodbye. She beams back at him and
blows him another kiss. It makes my stomach turn. Suddenly I think
how awful it would be if that were Ben, and I were watching him
wave goodbye to his new girlfriend. I mean, it is inevitable,
eventually he will move on. If we remained friends, how could I
possibly be okay with seeing him with someone else? I know with his
track record, it will take a week tops before he has another bright
eyed floozy on his arm prancing all over the city. I can’t even
stand the thought of it.