Chapter 2

Suzie

S itting waiting for Holly to arrive, I look around the restaurant, and although not the high end of places, it's a good one. The food is great, and the service is great. What more could you ask for on a Friday evening?

Looking up as Holly rushes over to the table, I'm more than a little shocked when she throws herself into her seat opposite me at the table and gives me an eye roll that is so large, she must have seen the back of her skull.

"What's going on?" I can't help but ask.

Holding her hand in the air and waving it around catches the attention of the waitress, who quickly makes her way over to our table.

"Glass of white wine, please. I don't care what kind, just a sweet one," Holly asks, giving the waitress a ‘hurry it up,' look.

"I'll have the same, please." I quickly add, as I can see she's getting ready to rush away.

"I quit my job because I was told I had to work the weekend, no option but to do it or lose pay. I told her she could count today as my last day and pay up within the week." Holly takes a huge drink of her wine as the waitress hands it to her, which has both me and the waitress looking at her with wide-open eyes. The second time she puts the glass to her lips, she empties it, smacks her lips with an ‘ah' sound, then hands the glass to the waitress. "Another please."

"Another?" I ask as I do my best to cover the fact that I'm about to burst out laughing.

"Yeah, why not? I don't have to be up early in the morning," Holly looks at me, then laughs, which sets me off, and we both have a few minutes trying to get ourselves back under control.

"What are you going to do about a job?"

"Well, I'm hoping I get the job as a receptionist at your workplace. But if not, I'll do waitressing if needed. I'd had enough of that place, anyway. It was damn boring, to be honest."

My phone pings where I'd placed it on the end of the table and when I give it a nasty look, Holly grabs it, checks who it is, then grins. "He's still at it, I see. Did you speak to Noah or one of the others, because you know it's stalking, don't you?"

"I know, but I just wanted it to go away. But, yes, I've spoken to my boss Slade, and he told me to turn the table on Brent. So, I did."

The waitress comes back with another glass of wine and holds up a bottle, giving Holly a wink. I can't help the giggle when I see the shock, then the smile that crosses Holly's face. "Why thank you, that's pretty awesome."

"You are most welcome. Give me a wave when you are ready to order and I'll come right back." We both watch the waitress walk away and Holly giggles. "She must know what a shit day is, too." Which, of course, sets us off laughing once more. "Now, tell me what you've been doing to your ex."

"Well, it was Slade's idea to turn the table on him. So, I thought about what I could start with, and every morning Brent goes to the coffeehouse, gets his cappuccino, and then takes it to work. I went early and paid the two waitresses to help me out, so when he came in and ordered his coffee, one of the waitresses kept him flirting, while the other put a healthy dose of salt in his coffee instead of sugar."

Holly holds her hand over her mouth, but I can hear her laughing behind it. Her eyes are sparkling and I haven't got to the best part yet.

"I followed him to see if he drank it before he got to work, and he stopped, taking the lid off as he doesn't enjoy drinking through the little hole in the lid, and he takes a mighty gulp of the coffee. He swallows before the taste hits his taste buds, but when it does, he gags," now I'm struggling not to laugh as I'm telling what happened. "He runs over to a trash can, and hurls it back. Now I'm watching all this by peaking around the corner of a building, and a homeless man is watching it all. When he asks what's so funny, I quickly give him the lowdown and he cracks up laughing.

"People are avoiding Brent, probably thinking he's drunk from the night before and trying to get sober with the coffee. But he's gagging again and as he has nothing to rinse his mouth out, he's struggling. But girl, it was worth it. I high-fived my homeless friend and made my way to work."

"Oh my, I wish I could have seen it. Shit, I'd have loved to have done that too. Way to go sister, that is awesome. Do you think he will cotton on to what happened?" Holly has drunk her second glass now and is refilling, and I don't think she even realizes she's doing it.

"Don't know, don't care. But Holly, it felt good to watch that happening to him."

We laugh and talk about how we could play pranks on our exes and maybe even the women they'd been cheating with.

When a young woman who'd been sitting alone eating laughs and looks over, I can't help but smile at her. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't miss what you were saying. My ex-boyfriend cheated on me too. Seven freaking years we were together, and you know I will never understand why they can't just be honest and say they want to move on."

"Yeah, freaking assholes is what they are." Holly slurs, and I can't help but grin at her because the quiet woman that I met originally isn't so quiet now. Maybe I've been a bad influence on her?

"Come and sit with us," I say, moving over to the seat next to me so she can sit with us.

"Thank you, that's kind of you. My name's Olive, but friends call me Liv." Once she settled in her seat, we order another bottle of wine and then I turn to her.

"I'm Suzie and this is Holly. We are friends and neighbors, but I'm getting a job for Holly where I work as she's just quit her job prematurely, I must add."

Liv looks at Holly, who has this blurry-eyed look on her face. Looking at me with a broad grin, Liv giggles. "Do you think she's had enough?"

"Yeah, probably, but let her at it for once. She'll suffer all weekend for this."

Holly slurs. "Soo, w'as yor stooooree?"

"Well, I had been on a working weekend with my boss. A dental convention, which allowed anyone to attend, who would like to step up if they were interested. I didn't know if I did or didn't, so I went." Sighing. "I finished early and thought I'd give my boyfriend a call, you know, surprise him. Only the surprise wasn't on him, it was on me. When Gary answered he tried to speak fast, saying he was busy and would call me back a little later. Then I heard someone say, ‘Come on, babe, let's go another round'. Now this was said in a sultry way, not like someone was asking for another round of freaking golf. That's when he spluttered, ‘Liv, it's not what you think.' But, we all know, don't we, that when they say that, we know it's exactly what we think? So, long story short, I ditched his ass, took my stuff out of the apartment, and walked."

"Freaaammmiii astard." Holly says and looking at her, I know she's about to pass out. But the giggling Liv lets loose has me joining in because, looking at Holly closely, she has drool running out of the corner of her mouth.

"Oh, for goodness sake, I've got to get her home."

"I can help you. Do you have a vehicle here?" Liv asks.

"No, I was going to call a cab."

"Come on, let's pay our bills, and then I'll give you both a lift home."

"Thanks, Liv, I appreciate it. Maybe you'll stay and have a coffee or hot chocolate?" I hold my hand out to the waitress and pass her my card to pay for the meal and the bottles of wine Holly drank. I don't think she realized I only had one glass all evening.

Back at my house, we lay Holly on the bed in the spare bedroom. I leave a bucket and a bottle of water at the side of the bed and hope she doesn't throw up on the bed itself. I'll keep coming back and checking on her, I think to myself.

Once Liv has gone home, I check on Holly, who is drooling and snoring like a congested walrus, but otherwise seems okay. I make sure everything is locked up and head to the shower and then bed myself.

Laying looking at the ceiling half an hour later, I can't help the giggle that escapes when I think of how bad Holly is going to be feeling in the morning. She has to go to work at the reception in the afternoon, so I hope she'll be feeling somewhat better by then.

My phone pings, which means I have a message. Now it's late for anyone to be sending me anything, but I look because the only people I get messages from are Holly and my bosses.

Brent: I know you had my coffee sabotaged.

Brent: Answer me, Suzie.

I don't answer as you can guess. I switch the sucker off and turn onto my side, hugging my pillow, and fall asleep.

The next morning, I drag Holly out of bed and into the shower, where all she does is complain about her headache and she must have eaten something that died and is now rotting in her mouth.

I can't keep the smile off my face because she's a funny drunk, and still funny when she's trying to recover. I had run around to her house earlier and grabbed clean clothes which I've placed in the spare bedroom, so when she's finished showering, she'll not have to wear last night's clothes.

Switching on my phone, I hear a ping. I take a look and see a message from Liv, and smile as I think she's going to be another great friend to both myself and Holly.

Liv: How is our drunk?

Suzie: Oh, in the shower, moaning and cursing about something dying in her mouth and the hammer inside her head.

Liv: Do you fancy a movie night tonight?

Suzie: Yeah, here at mine and you can both stay over.

Liv: Okay. I'll see you both later.

Suzie: Okay, have a good day.

Liv: You too.

Sitting drinking coffee later, I smile at Holly, who is becoming more human as the Tylenol and the bottles of water kick in. She keeps looking at me a little sheepishly, but I'm not going to help her out of this embarrassment, because that's what she is, embarrassed.

Sighing, Holly looks at me with eyes as large as an owl. "I'm sorry I got plastered. I've never done that before, but I was so pissed off, and I just wasn't thinking."

"Holly, I don't care. You at least didn't do it when you were on your own. You had me with you and Liv. We got you home safe and sound. Sounds like you had a lucky escape from that job, anyway. But you've got to bring your best foot forward this afternoon, because Stella won't care you were drinking last night. You shouldn't mention it to her." I give Holly my stern look and when she gulps, I can't help giggling. "It'll be okay, just be nice to the people that come in and speak to you. You'll not know the answers to the questions they put to you, but Stella will jump in and do that. She'll be looking at how friendly you are, and how quickly you try to get the information that the client needs."

"Okay, I can do that. People like me, I'm nice, look, see, I have an awesome smile." With that comment, Holly smiles so wide she's showing all her teeth, and I can see she's feeling better as she has that twinkle back in her eyes.

"Great, keep it up," I smirk. "Oh, tonight we're having a movie night. Liv's coming over. We'll have takeout and watch Sons of Anarchy, and then we can drool at Charlie Hunnam. I love me some Jax Teller."

"Don't we all," Holly replies with a faraway look on her face.

The afternoon is busy in the office, and Benjamin has come to speak to me twice. "Suzie, did Mr. Beckerman call back?"

"No, and I left three messages on his answering machine. I think you'll have to follow through because he's not taking me seriously about paying the bill."

Leaning on my desk with both palms of his hands, I see the tick in his jaw. Now, that only happens when he's pissed about something and I would be in his position, too. The company supplied muscle for Mr. Beckerman's singer at two gigs and he's not paid the bill. I think Benjamin or Slade will visit him, and I wish I could be a fly on the wall when they do.

"Okay, leave it with me now. Don't bother contacting him again." Benjamin turns and walks out of my office and I hear him say ‘Slade,' which tells me I was right. They'll be paying Mr. Beckerman a personal visit.

4:00 pm and only half an hour before the day is finished. I head down to reception to check out how Holly has done with Stella. Now Stella isn't the easiest of people to get on with, and I had a few run-ins with her when I first started, but I'm hoping she gives Holly a fighting chance at getting the job.

When the elevator door slides open my mouth must hang open when the peals of laughter are echoing around the reception area. Looking at Stella and Holly, who are laughing loudly and animatedly, I'm just lost for words.

Walking over, Stella notices me and gives me a stern look. That's her usual greeting to me but says nothing. Holly, however, gives me a broad smile. "Hey, Suzie. Stella and I have had a great afternoon. She's been so kind teaching me all the ropes. I hope to work alongside her for a while before she retires because she is a goldmine of information."

"That's great. I'm so happy you've been okay." Now, as soon as the words are out of my mouth, I know I shouldn't have said that last part.

Stella rears up and gives me a squinty-eyed look. "What do you mean you are happy she has been okay? Of course, she's been okay. We've got on like a house on fire."

Holly is doing her best to keep the laughter back, but I can see her damn shoulders shaking. "Well, that's all good then." I quickly say, and head back to the elevator and upstairs, but give Holly an evil look as the doors are sliding closed.