Page 14 of Surprise! I'm Engaged To My Boss
“We didn't do anything!” I declared, euphoric, as I got up from the chair.
I don't think I've ever been happier in my life that I didn't have sex with a beautiful woman. Faced with the confused look Janet gave me, I explained:
“Nothing happened between the redhead and I. We went into the room and slept.”
Janet rolled her eyes.
“For God's sake, Michael, what child do you think you're going to fool with that excuse? You two almost copulated in the hallway.”
“But nothing happened in the room. I swear. She practically passed out as soon as we walked in. I put her to bed, lay down next to her, and fell asleep.”
She studied me silently for a few moments, seemingly considering whether or not to believe it. Finally, she sighed.
“Great, you didn't do anything. Even if she agrees to help you and proves it in court, who will believe her? And what difference will it make given your behavior throughout the night?”
Shit, she was absolutely right. That still wasn't enough.
I scratched my head, trying to remember anything else important. That's when that stupid fucking beaded ring got tangled in my hair. I pulled my hand out and ripped the object off my finger.
“Why the hell am I still wearing this crap?” I grumbled, throwing the cheap jewelry on the table.
Janet looked at it curiously and reached out for the ring, picking it up to examine.
“Since when do you wear such... informal things?”
“I bought it yesterday at a hippie stand at the party.” I couldn't help but laugh when I remembered the story. “The redhead said she couldn't have sex with me because we had just met, and we weren't committed to each other. So we went to that stand, I bought two rings and made a joke about asking her to marry me. Apparently, it worked. Or not so much, because in the end nothing happened between us.”
Janet looked away from the ring and back at me, and I knew that gleam in her eyes, like she was having an idea.
“Do you know what could save you from being considered a degenerate who goes to parties, gets drunk and sleeps with his employees, Michael?”
“What?” I asked, hopefully.
“If by chance she wasn’t only an employee, but also your fiancée.”
She smiled, but I remained serious, still trying to process those words and make some sense of them in my head.
Chapter Six
CAMILA
Going out with Evelyn on Saturday wasn't something that actually helped me.
My friend was perplexed by the whole thing, so much so that, perhaps for the first time since we’ve met, she didn't have any advice to give me. And we had known each other since I was eight years old (she was a year older than me), when my parents died and I went to live with my grandmother, thus becoming her next-door neighbor. Even with the age difference, we ended up studying together in high school, since I got ahead a year because of my good grades, which also led me to enter college early.
Her mother still lived in the same apartment across the street from mine, but Evelyn and I moved out and shared an apartment during college. She recently moved out to live with her boyfriend, while I had to move back in with my grandmother.
Evelyn had been a talkative child, which lead to her becoming an equally talkative woman. She always had plenty of opinions and advice to give on absolutely everything.
Now, I knew that wasn't exactlyto everything. The only thing she could say to a friend who had gotten drunk at a company party and woken up deflowered in bed next to her boss was,"Shit, Cami."
It was truly one hell of a shitshow.
I hoped, at least, not to be fired, or not to be forced to resign.
I couldn't bring myself to tell my grandmother what had happened. I had always told her absolutely everything about my life, but this was definitely different from anything that had happened before. I could already imagine the disappointment in her eyes when I told her about my drunken escapades, and I couldn't deal with that. I could deal with anything in life, except the possibility of disappointing my grandmother, who was the most important person in the world to me.
And that's exactly why I, too, hadn't told her I hadn't been promoted. I just smiled every time over the weekend she said something about being proud of me or referred to me as 'the new chief architect at Turner Architecture'.
