Page 49 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

“What happened is that I’ll be lucky to still have a job on Monday.”

“I’m sure you’re overreacting.”

“Yeah. Who could possibly stay mad at you?”

I moved my eyes from a grinning Adam over to Kate and her husband. Man, they made a striking couple. It was just the four of us sharing the table since John’s friends ended up not coming.

“You weren’t there, guys, but thanks for trying to make me feel better.” I dropped my head and shook it. “It’s like I open my mouth sometimes and shit just falls out.”

Stephen hadn’t spoken to me the rest of the day unless necessary. Even Adam and his flirtatious antics didn’t land either of us an office visit. I was actually relieved about that, until I was worried. I was almost certain that I’d be let go, or at the very least put on some kind of probation. I couldn’t go around throwing out the H-word with nothing to back it up. Companies took that shit seriously now.

Kate patted my hand. “The day’s over and the weekend has officially started. Try not to stress so much, okay? I’m sure everything’s fine.”

“I’m not sure what’s going on,” John said, “but I agree with my wife.”

“Aww, isn’t he a keeper?”

Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and I smiled. She was absolutely right. It was Friday, the work day was over, and my friends and I were hanging out at the Brewhouse. Too bad I didn’t like beer.

The table next to us had Susan, Vicki, and Rob from our department. I pretty much got along well with everyone, but Adam and Kate were the ones I’d clicked with. The table over from them was a group of guys I vaguely recognized, except for the loudest one: Matt. He’d left Client Operations to go to Telecom right after I’d arrived, and I was happy about that. The guy seemed like a total dick.

“God, he’s irritating,” I said, nodding towards Matt. “I wish he’d shut up already.”

“At least you didn’t have to work with him,” Kate said. “I wanted to muzzle him daily.”

“Eh, he’s all bark and no bite.” Adam waved his hand. “Don’t worry about him.”

“Is thereanythingyou worry about?” I asked. “You’re like Bozo on crack.”

“Wanna see my baby monkey?” He gave me his signature eyebrow-waggling move, stuffing half his brat in his mouth. I cringed. Not because of the mustard dripping down his chin but for the monkey comment.

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Kate said.

I laughed, my eyes drawn back to Matt’s table when I heard him shouting something at the waitress, making her flinch. He couldn’t have been there more than an hour, but he already seemed plastered.

Kate noticed where my focus had gone. “Just ignore him.”

“I’m trying to, but he’s being a jerk to that waitress. I hate when people act like they’re better than someone else.”

Before I knew what I was doing, I stormed over there. I arrived just in time to hear Matt belittling her for being too slow and for overcooking his burger.

“She’s not the cook, you idiot.”

“Hey, it’s the new girl.”

“How can you talk to people that way?”

“You take offense to ‘new girl’?”

“I’m talking about your waitress, bonehead. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like that from you.” Yeah, I realized that I wasn’t treating him respectfully either, but unlike the waitress, hediddeserve it.

“Hey, that’s what they’re there for. It’s their job. I’m keeping her on her toes.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Everyone at his table was cracking up, but I disregarded them. I wasn’t trying to put on a show here. “It’s not her job to put up with shit from assholes like you. If you haven’t noticed, it’s busy in here. She’s doing the best she can.”

“Whoa, I bet you’re hot in the sack.”

I flipped him off. “And I bet you have a stubby little pencil dick that can’t stay hard for more than thirty seconds. Men who treat people like garbage usually do. I know it might be too big of a word for you, but it’s called overcompensation. Look it up.”

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