She’s wearing a blouse that looks a little bit too big for her, and I know without even having to look that she will be wearing shapeless trousers and sensible shoes. Maybe she thinks by trying to look masculine, people will see past her small, delicate frame and think she’s a force to be reckoned with. However, with the way she has started yelling into the phone, I don’t think she needs to dress like that to be taken seriously.
“Just get it done,” she snaps and hangs up the phone.
I move to the chair she had indicated and pick up a stack of papers from it. I look around for somewhere to put them, but of course, there is nowhere. Giving up on finding any empty space, I sit down and put the papers on my lap.
She looks at me properly for the first time since I came into her office. If she recognizes me, she doesn’t let on. She smiles, and her eyes light up, making her look almost radiant.
Okay, so maybe she’s not totally masculine.
“I swear the red tape in this country gets more ridiculous every day,” she condemns. “It’s like the government wants kids to feel hopeless. Anyway, what can I do for you?”
“I’m here to fix your computer,” I say.
“Excuse me?” Ashley asks, with a slight frown. “I think you might have the wrong building. Our computers are fine.”
“They work properly?” I quiz.
She nods.
“Ah! I gave you the benefit of the doubt and assumed they were broken when you ignored all of my emails. I guess you’re just rude.”
“I’m rude?” Ashley snaps. “I think you’ll find it’s considered rude to barge into someone’s office then sit and check them out like they were a piece of meat hanging in a butcher’s shop.”
I can’t help it, the words trip out of me, before I can hold them back, “Oh honey, you wish.”
She blushes bright red, and clears her throat. “Actually, I wish you’d just leave. I can’t believe Rachel let you in here with that dumb story.”
I assume Rachel is blondie. “I didn’t tell her that story,” I say. “I just asked for your office.”
Ashley rolls her eyes with irritation. Obviously, there’s no love lost there. “So, I assume you’re here to tell me what your emails say rather than just moan about me ignoring them? Although, I must warn you, if I ignored your emails, they obviously weren’t interesting enough for me to want to respond to them, so you’re probably not going to like my response.”
I grin charmingly. “And here I was thinking you were just playing hard to get.”
She frowns darkly.
I get to the point, “I emailed you to invite you to lunch.”
“That was you?” Ashley asks, her frown deepening ominously. “The charming email demanding I present myself at some pretentious restaurant to discuss a mutual interest?”
Clearly, she’s using the word charming sarcastically, but I decide to play along. She’s easy to fluster, and it’s turning out to be kind of fun watching her become more and more incredulous. If she doesn’t watch it, she might pop right in front of me. “I’m glad you thought it was charming. Personally, in hindsight, I think it was a little arrogant, but now we’re back to you being rude. You clearly got my email and ignored it. Even if you didn’t want lunch, would it have been so hard to send back a quick ‘no, thank you’?” I pause.
Well, she doesn’t disappoint. She blushes bright red. Another reason she should make the effort and wear a little makeup, her emotions are too easy to read. “Of course, I ignored it,” she huffs. “I don’t take well to being ordered around by anyone, least of all a total stranger.”
“I’m not a total stranger, but that’s not the point. You do realize now that because of your stubbornness, we’re going to have to eat lunch in this neighborhood, a place I can only describe as unsavory.”
She laughs then, a confident, gorgeous laugh. “Oh honey, if you scare that easily, then I was right to ignore your email.”
This catches me by surprise. I expected her to maybe take offense at my observation, but I thought she would try to defend her choice of getting an office in the middle of a slum. Instead, she’s judging me. Someone with that haircut judging me is just—well, wrong. Something about this girl just rubs me the wrong way. From the moment I laid eyes on her, I’ve been doing and saying things I would never normally dream of saying to a girl. “I didn’t say I was scared. I just don’t fancy eating somewhere where the cleanest guests are probably the rats in the kitchen,” I shoot back.
I know I’ve gone too far when Ashley’s face clouds with real anger.
“Get out of my office,” she shouts.