Zoey loved him too; she just wasn’t in love with him. One time, she tried to see if she could get herself to feel something. It took one epic fail of a kiss to realize that some things were best left the way they were.
Richard Sage was a good man. As good as they came. Zoey knew that he would treat her right, but she was simply not the woman for him. So, she did what every other good friend did: prayed that he found that woman soon.
“I’m sorry I’m late. It was quite last minute and I was tied down in a meeting with the board…” Richard started to ramble as they pulled apart.
With one finger to his lips, Zoey shut him up. “We still have plenty of time to kill. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. This is indeed quite last minute.”
He searched her eyes, as he often did when he was worried about her. His own brows furrowed into lines of worry, and his lips down-turned at their corners.
“At least you look well-rested. Happy birthday, Zoey. We are going to make this motherfu*ker who tried to ruin your birthday pay for it. Then after this meeting, I’ll take you to an extra fancy dinner, just the two of us. I know how much you love Italian cuisine. Or we could just get trash take-out and go to the park, instead. You know… climb on that ferries wheel and yell at the top of our lungs.”
He was smiling now, his whole face lit up, his eyes shimmering as he considered making her happy. And this was why she loved Richard. Catching his whole demeanor, because it was infectious, she heard the excitement creep into her voice as she chuckled.
“That’d be great. I’m holding you on to that.”
“Well, I hope you do.”
It was only then that he acknowledged the man and Kelly, who had been quiet all this while. As soon as he was done exchanging pleasantries with Kelly, Zoey spoke.
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“We have about five minutes left; I’d like to settle in before they arrive. Let’s move.”
They all turned to go into the room, and the man whose name tag read Julio Barnes, opened the door for them. Just as they were stepping in, he spoke again.
“Do have a lovely time, Ma’am. Also, you should know that your company…” Once again, he didn’t finish those words. He didn’t have to, because Zoey came face to face with what he was about to say.
Her words were simple, loud enough for only her friends and Mr Barnes to hear, and very unprofessional.
“Fu*k me.”