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that he was gone.

     

CHAPTER 5
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Almost a week went by, and I hadn’t heard from Bennett since our little date. I decided to keep my distance and play it cool. I was going to let him chase me.
    Once a month, we were required to put in a Saturday at the office. It wasn’t so bad. It usually only lasted about four hours or so, and with less staff there and no management, it was the perfect opportunity to screw around.
    I swiped my keycard at the front entrance and trudged up the stairs to the second floor. I threw my purse down in my cubicle and fired up my trusty computer.
    The office was always eerily quiet on Saturdays. I peeked around, seeing no one except a couple staff writers clear across the room. I pulled up an internet radio station on my browser and set it to a nineties pop station. I was feeling a bit nostalgic.
    My work inbox was almost empty except for a handful of spam emails and two wedding announcement submissions. It was going to be a long four hours, but nothing I wasn’t used to.
    I rested my head in my hands on my desk and spaced out for a bit. I replayed our Sunday night date from the weekend before in my head over and over. It was so nice having Bennett there. It was so nice of him to rent a chick flick and bring pizza. I couldn’t understand what went wrong and why he hadn’t contacted me all week.
    His emerald eyes flashed in my mind. They contrasted perfectly with this thick, lush head of dark hair and his tan skin. The more I thought about it, the more I realized he was probably one of the best looking guys I’d dated in my entire life. If Sam was about a seven, Bennett would’ve been a ten. Maybe even an eleven.
    I suddenly felt insecure. What did a guy like him want with a girl like me, anyway? I was blonde. I knew that much. I was average build and not stick thin. I had big, round, saucer-like blue eyes, and I was pretty sure I dressed nicely. Yet Bennett was clearly out of my league. That had to be why he hadn’t called.
    I pulled out my compact and stared at my reflection while a cheesy Boyz II Men song played softly from my speakers. I glanced at my eyes. They had major bags under them. My lips were looking a little chapped. I’d been seriously neglecting the little things lately. If I wanted to keep Bennett, I needed to step up my game.
    “Olivia, I think you have something in your teeth.” I heard a man say.
    “Hi, Michael,” I replied without looking up. I could recognize his nasally voice anywhere. He was trying to be funny but it just wasn’t.
    “So, slim pickings today, huh?” he said as he hung his arm over the edge of my cubicle wall.
    “Just like any other Saturday in the office,” I replied, still not looking up. I knew I was being rude, but I wasn’t in the mood for casual conversation.
    “So, seen any good movies lately?” he asked. Now he was just purposely biding his time.
    “I don’t like movies, remember?” I replied. I looked up at him, and I was sure he could read the irritation all over my face. I just wanted him to leave me alone. He bothered me every single day at least once or twice a day. “No movies to review today?”
    “I’ve got some,” he said.
    Michael probably had the cushiest job in the whole office. He was only here maybe twenty hours per week. The rest of the time he could either work from home or spend endless afternoons at the movies. Popcorn oil seemed to ooze from his pores.
    “I’ve got some submissions I need to go over,” I said as I pointed to my watch. “Might take me a while. Catch you later?”
    There I went giving him false hope again. And I always wondered why he kept coming back to bother me all the time. I just didn’t have it in me to be mean to him no matter how much he annoyed the ever-loving crap out of me.
    His face lit up. “Yeah, catch you later.”
    I hoped he’d leave me alone the remainder of my short day. I just wanted to get my work done and then horse around and spend the rest