Page 36 of So Not My Type
“Perfect.” Ella clicked against her keyboard. “I can work on updating the task assignments.”
Sophie checked her watch.Dammit.The metro had been delayed this morning, which pushed everything back by fifteen minutes. She needed a full hour to edit, review, and send the notes.
She clicked her mouse over the screen and froze.Wait… what?No. No… this couldn’t be. Her fingers flew, clickingand clicking. Where the hell were the notes? Shealwaysused this app. But instead of notes, facing her was a big, fat blank screen. Her heartbeat clouded her vision. Did she take them somewhere else? No… she wouldn’t have. She searched, clicked, global searched, and clicked, again.What in the actual hell?She was the most diligent, organized person she knew. How had she messed this up? Sickness snaked through her stomach.
Gone. Everything was gone. Not a single thing had been captured from arguably one of the most important meetings of the week and she wanted to puke. “Shit.”
Ella glanced up from her screen, her eyes narrowing in concern. “Everything good?”
“No.” Her tongue was sharp, as heated panic spread across her chest.
Ella’s eyes flickered down, and Sophie’s gut turned. Sophie laid a gentle hand on Ella’s arm. “Sorry. I’m not mad at you. I’m livid with myself and in total panic mode.” Without those notes, they were royally effed. She could try to recreate them, but she couldn’t recite the finer details from memory. Maybe she should go to IT to try and recover what was lost, but that would be a minimum of a few hours and she didn’t have any hours. She didn’t even have seconds.
“What’s happened?” Ella asked.
Sophie slumped back into her chair, her eyes refusing to meet Ella’s gaze. She loved her role, loved being hyper-organized. The validation she received daily from her work filled her inexplicably. But now, she wanted to curl into a ball in the corner. “I lost the notes I took Friday morning. Everything’s gone.” The words felt like sandpaper ripping her throat.
“The notes from the round-one call on Friday?” Ella straightened. “I took notes. Maybe I can help?”
Sophie’s ears perked. “You did?”
“Yes. You told me to take notes on everything, remember?”
A smile filled Ella’s tone. She tapped the keyboard, turned the laptop to face Sophie, and scooted closer. A waft of rose and mint hit Sophie, and she tingled against the scent, before something else hit her.Shock.Right before her, on Ella’s screen, lay perfectly buttoned-up, time-stamped, highly organized, master class-worthy notes. The air returned to her lungs.
“Ella! What? Holy sh… These are amazing.” She threw her arms around Ella and squeezed.
Ella went stiff.
“Oh my God.” Sophie yanked herself away. As a staunch supporter of consent before touching of any kind, she felt icky. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…” Her palm flew to the back of her head.
“No, it’s totally okay.” Ella cleared her throat as her cheeks swept with pink. “I’m really glad I could help.”
For the last week or so, Sophie had found herself looking forward more and more to work, knowing she’d spend time with Ella. Even though years had passed since something like this happened, Sophie wasn’t in total denial about what was bubbling inside—the electric zings, the extra care in picking out outfits, the lightness in her chest when Ella arrived. Besides the one-night stand with the nameless woman from the happy hour last year—which didn’t count as havingfeelings—it had been a long time since Sophie festered like this. Everything happening inside was certainly more than what one should feel for a co-worker. But as Sophie re-scanned the pristine notes, something else took over—gratitude. She was thankful she and Ella were on the same team. “Do you want to send this out?”
Ella’s mouth opened, then closed. “Are you sure?” Behind the chunky frames, her eyes grew wide. “This is your project. You’re the lead. I’m just a bystander.”
The humility in her voice struck a chord. Ella did not realize the level of ass-saving she just performed. Beyond that, she’dgotten zero credit for all the time she’d spent in the office working on this project. “You deserve everyone knowing they came from you.”
Ella tucked a dark lock behind her ear, and her lips twitched into a grin. She leaned toward the screen and squinted hard for several moments while scrolling through the page. She poised her fingers, hit a few buttons, and leaned back with a satisfied sigh.
The next few hours blurred. Sophie’s fingers and brain struggled to keep up with the pace. Pings bounced in from everywhere, carrying messages like “what’s the timing?,” “where we at with approval?,” and “client meeting set for tomorrow.” People buzzed by, juggling laptops and coffee as they rushed to their next meeting, while chatter and swearing filled the space.
Mid-message to the legal team, Ella tossed a granola bar on Sophie’s desk.
“How did you know?” Sophie ripped open the wrapper and chewed, hoping to quiet the rumbles in her stomach.
Ella blew the top of her bangs from her face and opened her own wrapper. “You’re like the Snickers commercial, where the person is hangry.”
Sophie huffed through her nose. “See? A proper ad. How long ago did that come out and you still reference it?”
“Good lesson. Got it.” Ella nibbled on the granola bar. “Sure is quiet without my dad here today.”
Sophie coughed. She may have warmed up to Ella, but not enough to where she would talk smack about her dad. She fully subscribed to the universal language that you can always talk crap about your own parents, but never about someone else’s. “Is he back tomorrow?”
“Yes. Sounds like this week is heavy on?—”
Crunch. A shrieking, violent sound of shattering glass and a sickening metallic crunch ripped through the room. Sophie’stoes gripped into the shaking floor. The faint sound of Ella gasping and clutching her chest sounded next to her. Sophie blinked the room into focus and touched her limbs to see if they were intact, as her pulse thudded in her neck. One, then two, then three full seconds passed before the room boomed back to life. People yelled across the room and bolted to the window.