17. Ella

CHAPTER 17

ELLA

"WHY IS THIS BOOK STICKY?!" I yell to no one in particular. It's just before lunch time and I'm emptying the library returns box. Honestly, if I had a dollar for every time I said the phrase "why is this book sticky/wet/mouldy?" I'd be a millionaire. Kids are gross.

We are deep into the end-of-year library returns process and I swear some of the books I'm getting back have sat in the bottom of school bags or have been shoved in the back of lockers for the whole year. The absolute state some of these books are in just hurts my soul. We've just had a class of middle schoolers come through and return their maths textbooks, and I shit you not, one of them had burnt a hole in the back of the book. Like, smack bang in the middle of the cover. "I don't like maths," this kid said. I mean, same , but don't take it out on the book! That'll be a fun email I have to send to her parents later. And naturally, it's my responsibility because my boss is absolutely useless and is once again nowhere to be seen.

I've just finished wiping the unknown, sticky substance from the book when the lunch bell rings. I'm excited for half a second before remembering I have a social committee meeting. Damn.

I quickly heat up my lunch in the staff room and make my way into the meeting room. Millie is already there and has saved me a seat, naturally. We run the committee, by the surprise of many. I remember volunteering for the role when I started and the look on management's face was priceless. Their image of what a librarian should be has been significantly altered since I started working here. I am loud, sociable, and personable. I will talk to anyone and everyone. Basically, the complete opposite of my boss who hardly says a word unless it's to criticise my entire being. I am slowly breaking down the typical librarian stereotype and by heading this committee, I am at least hoping to guarantee some fun in this suffocating institute they call a school.

We are meeting today to finalise the staff Christmas party which is being held in two weeks. Everything is organised, the menu chosen, and the bar tab has been set (and raised, thanks to yours truly). We just need to go over the final details. Most of the other committee members have filed in, so I open up my laptop to go over my list of items to discuss when I notice a new and unread email from the manager of our venue. I open it and my stomach drops.

"Hi Ms Hart, I'm so sorry to email you with this news, but unfortunately, we are unable to host your Christmas function on the 15 th of December. Our kitchen had a fire last night, and thankfully the damage was mostly contained, however it did cause damage to our function space. I apologise for the inconvenience this may cause and offer you a full refund. If you have any other questions, please reach out. Regards, Samantha."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" I shout and the whole room startles.

"What? What's wrong?" Millie asks.

"The venue caught fire last night and so we can't use it."

"Oh shit!" Millie exclaims.

"Language!" One of the older male teachers spits, but we all ignore him.

"What the hell do we do? We only have two weeks left… there's no way we can get a new booking for 60 people with such short notice," I say as I slump back in my chair.

A few ideas get thrown around, including a BBQ lunch at the school (boring), hosting it at Steve the science teacher's house (hell no), cancelling the event and donating the money to charity (lol, good one Jan). I look over at Millie who is frantically typing away at her phone.

"Ah ha! I've found a venue with a big enough function space to fit us, you just need to give them a ring and see if they can book us in at the last minute," she says with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Okay… what's the venue?"

"Jimmies," she says, and I nearly fall off my chair. "You know the manager, don't you Ella? I'm sure you could sweet talk your way into a booking." She sits back and smirks at me as I feel my face going red.

"Um, well yes, I do know the manager. But I'm sure it's too late notice. We can think of something else—" I ramble.

"Oh wow," interrupts Doug, the IT manager, who has looked up Jimmies on Instagram and is now showing everyone the photos. "Their beer garden is epic. We should definitely try and get in here." Everyone nods in agreement.

"That's settled then!" Millie says as she claps her hands together and bounces in her seat. "Ella will get in touch with the manager and see if she can get us booked in. Doug, get in touch with the old venue to organise the refund of our deposit. I'll redesign the invites and poster for the staff room, and once we have the go ahead from Ella, we can announce the change to staff. Sound good?" We all agree, though I'm reluctant, and everyone leaves the meeting room.

I grab Millie's arm and pull her back into her seat. "Oh my God, Millie, Jimmies? Really?" I groan.

"I think it's a great idea."

"Well duh," I say. "It was your own idea."

"Exactly." She beams. "Come on, it's the perfect venue, and maybe Xavier will be able to give you a cheeky discount. If we can get a booking that is. Call him."

"I can't today."

"Um, why? This is urgent, babe."

"Because I told him I was going to ignore him for the rest of the day because he was getting me too horny at work. Now he will think he won!" I whine. She just laughs at me.

"Aw… too bad, so sad. You need to call him, otherwise, we're screwed. ‘Kay?"

"Ugh. Fine. But you need to leave, I won't have you listening in on this conversation," I say, shoving her out of her chair.

"You're boring. Do it now and give me an update after lunch. Byeeeee." She waves as leaves the room, shutting the door behind her.

I pull up our message thread and reread the last message we sent to each other. I really did plan on ignoring him all day, really just to prove to myself that I could. Since he first slept over, I don't think we have actually gone a full day without speaking. Now that he has been inside of me, we have crossed into new territory, and that means me keeping some distance, so I don't get attached.

So far, I have failed, but at least I can blame Millie for this one. I dial his number and am secretly hoping he's too busy at work to answer the phone, but alas, he answers on the third ring.

"Miss me already, do you?" he says into the phone, and I can practically hear the smirk he is wearing through the speaker.

"You wish. This is a strictly professional phone call. I need a favour."

"A sexual favour?" He asks in an overly dramatic sultry tone.

"Nope. An actual favour. But it will benefit both of us, I hope."

"Sounds like a sexual favour, love." I instantly melt when he calls me love. I'm sure he means it in a ‘platonic friend who I just fucked' sort of way, but still.

"Will you shush and let me explain?" He laughs. "The venue we had booked for our work Christmas party has cancelled on us, and we don't have a backup. Millie suggested Jimmies might be available and told me to ask you. So… are you? Available?" I literally cross my fingers.

This event is the biggest one we organise for the year, and it's also my favourite. There's always so much pressure to get it right, too, since everyone always has something to complain about or criticise. If we can't lock something in, we will probably have to cancel, and I really, really don't want to do that.

"Oh, you did mean an actual favour," he says. "Right, well that sucks for you. What date do you need and how many people?"

"December 15 th and for 60 people. Lunch or dinner, it doesn't really matter. As long as there is alcohol and good food," I say .

He's silent on the line for a few moments and I can hear a computer mouse and keys clicking in the background. "Well, it really is your lucky day, we have a dinner spot available in either the function room or the beer garden. What would you prefer?"

"Oh my God, yay! Um.. uhh... I'm not sure. The beer garden? There's plenty of seating and stuff, yeah? That'll be nice, a bit more relaxed than a formal sit-down dinner. What food and drink packages do you have?"

We chat for another 15 minutes, negotiating on food and drink options, finally settling on something that actually costs us a few thousand dollars less than our previous venue. Finance will be happy with that.

"I'll have the deposit paid to you ASAP and then the rest we will pay afterwards," I say.

"Excellent, sounds good. I'm rostered on to work that night as well—should be fun," he says.

"Thank you so, so much, Xav. Honestly, you're a lifesaver." Despite my initial hesitations on asking him for help, I'm actually feeling really good about it. Hopefully the event goes off without a hitch from now on.

"It's no problem. You know, you can actually pay me back in sexual favours."

"Oh my… seriously! You and your sex brain need to have a cold shower. But thank you, again. You are the best."

He chuckles. "You are very welcome. I gotta go, enjoy the rest of your day. Try not to think about me too much."

"Oh Xavier, I don't think about you at all." Lies. Such lies. And he knows it. "Have a good afternoon. Bye!"I hang up and do a little fist pump in the air. I'm feeling good. The flirting helps, but really, I love planning these events. After my initial panic reading the email earlier, I'm feeling relieved and excited again.

I type out a quick text to Mille—she's supervising a study lesson at the moment so she can't answer a call.

Ella

Jimmies is locked in for dinner in the beer garden. You were right, it was a good idea. Will fill you in on the details tonight. Get keen!

She replies almost immediately.

Millie

FUCK YEAH LET'S GOOOOOO. It is on. Told you it'd be worth calling! Talk tonight xoxo

I laugh out loud at her response. Millie is just so animated all the time. I don't know how she keeps it up. I pull up my emails on my laptop and compose a new email to the social committee, updating them on our plans.