Page 47 of Best I Never Had

I nod. “Don’t feel too special,” I add. “I got one for Mr. Khan too.”

We both eye our teacher sitting at his desk at the frontof the classroom picking his teeth using the end of a mechanical pencil. We both grimace and turn back to each other.

“No, you didn’t,” Hayden teases.

“You’re right. I didn’t,” I confess.

He shakes his head, reaching for his backpack and taking the zipper of the front pocket in his hand. He uses his fingers to separate the ring on the keychain to thread it through the pull tab before letting it dangle. He smiles proudly, grinning before setting his backpack on the floor.

“Thanks, Marquez,” he says softly, his smile never faltering.

“You’re welcome.”

“You better be careful, or I’m going to think you actually like me,” he says, leaning toward me while speaking in a low voice.

I give an audiblepshhsound. “Never.”

Hayden nudges my arm with his elbow as Mr. Khan places his pencil on his desk and stands in front of the classroom.

present

“So it’s either the cartoon hamster or the cartoon rabbit.”

My brows cinch together, my lips pursing as I consider my choices. I look from my computer screen back to José, who’s waiting patiently for my answer.

“Whydoes it have to be a cartoon anything?”

He sighs. “Because the developer wants the design to match her brand,” he answers, defeated.

We’ve spent the last hour deciding on an appropriate logo for a computer hardware company that manufactures hardware geared toward women in the gaming industry. While a lot of the equipment screams cute and feminine with pink keyboards, headsets with cat ears, and RGB backlit monitors, it feels a little out of place to use a cartoon animal as the selling point for the entire marketing approach. Not to mention the sexist appeal to it. What, just because it’s cute and fuzzy looking, only women will buy this stuff? I feel like they need to branch into different colors and designs to cater to every woman’s taste. But that’s José’s job to discuss those discrepancies with the developer while addressing their marketing angle.

I throw my hands in the air, defeated. “I guess I’ll go with the hamster then. It’s less distracting. The rabbit’s ears are way too obnoxious.”

He nods. “Oh, by the way, Mark set up a meeting tomorrow morning with Kirby-Barton Tech about the new DDR5 RAM prototype they’re developing. I guess they have a big presentation, and Mark wants both me and you to be there.”

“Okay,” I say, slightly distracted with a new email in my inbox.

“I’ll get the coffee if you get the bagels in the morning,” he suggests, an eager tone replacing the serious one we had talking shop about meetings and tech.

“Sure,” I say. I smile at him as he exits my office before turning back to my monitor. When I look back at my inbox, I see the new email that caught my attention.

My eyes land on the familiar name attached to the email.

From: Hayden Marshall

To: Natalia Marquez

Subject: Wedding Venue

Hey Marquez,

Just thought you mightwant some info on the wedding venue. I attached a link and the wedding website for Ashton and Carly.

Hayden

A quick smile quirks my lips. How did Hayden even get my work email? And a wedding website? What the hell is that?

From: Natalia Marquez

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