It could wait.
I could wait.
The sendercould wait until after I’d sweated off the three pounds ofpasta I’d gained this week from my favorite Italian takeout spot to hear backfrom me.
I couldn’t help thesmall smile of anticipation that lifted the corners of my mouth though or theway I suddenly didn’t notice the pain from pushing up the hill climb at 5:45a.m.Resistingthe urge to pick up my phone, I optedfor my water bottle instead. But even after a big, refreshing gulp, I stilldidn’t manage to lose the smile.
“Why do you lookhappy?” Vera panted next to me, her legs moving approximately one thousandmiles per hour. “You should be miserable right now. At the very least youshould be contemplating puking. No smiling.”
“I think I seeJesus,” Iwheezedsaid serenely. “I’ve pedaled myself to death. He’scoming to get me.”
Vann chuckled on myother side. “This is only the warm up.”
“Stop showing off,Vann.” My smile disappeared. “We get it. You’re a super cyclist. The bike seat upyour ass isn’t bothering you at all. Stop bragging.” To Vera, I said, “Why didyou invite him again?”
“Hey!” Vannprotested.
She rolled hereyes. “I didn’t invite him. I tried very hard to keep this a secret from him.But when he heard we were doing something bicycle related, he invited himself.”
“I’m here tomotivate you,” he said seriously. “This is good for you girls. You both are inserious need of some cardio.”
“Your face is inserious need of some cardio,” Vera snarled back. At my look of not-the-best-insult-you’ve-ever-come-up-with,she shrugged. “My brain is still sleepy.”
Vann leaned forwardon his bike, lifting his bum off the seat and adjusting his bike to make itharder for himself. Because he was crazy and liked weird things- like exercise.This was the end of our friendship forever.I officially hated him.His overachieving did nothing to motivate me to work harder. This was it. Thiswas as hard as Ispinned. Spun? My brain was sleepytoo.
My phone buzzedagain in the holder thingy next to my handlebars. I realized I was theirritating person that brought her phone to class with me, but juggling twomajor clients wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Especially because of the twoclients I had to juggle.
Black Soul wasn’tterrible. Our big meeting with them was still a ways off so Henry was the onlyone that dealt with them directly so far. Meanwhile, Ethan and I had beencoordinating on kick ass campaigns that were bound to blow their socks off.
On the other hand,we also had to work with Henry. And he wasa giant pain in my assmoredifficult. He made things doubly more complicated. No, it was worse than that.Triply.Quadruply?
He was always up inmy business.Always. And not justwith his work ethic and slave driver tendencies. He was hands everywhere, bodyeverywhere, coffee breath everywhere all day every day.
I was over him andhow uncomfortable he made me. His bad jokes, his creepy stares, the way healways, no matter what I was wearing or how vigilantly I tried to disguise myboobs, stared at my chest, were out of control. I avoided him the best I could,but since we were on the same project, it was impossible to completely evadehim.
The worst part wasthat he was probably going to get me fired in the end. Yes,hewas the creep, but I was about onemore unwelcomed back rub away from punching him in his throat.
And then on theother side of things, I had to work with Ezra. The man was completelyinsufferable. He emailed at all hours of the day or night because apparently henever slept. And who could blame him when there was so much work to do?
Just kidding. Icould blame him. I could totally blame him.
We were differentin this way. Where he was a complete and utter workaholic, I was a very strongproponent of beauty sleep. I had lost count of the number of emails I had senthim encouraging him to get those eight hours or hey, even six hours. But he wasstubborn and determined to drive me crazy.
He also neverseemed to get tired of emailing. No matter when I sent mine, he always respondedwithin a half hour. I got that he was spending money on this project and hereally wanted it done well, but the amount of attention he wanted was silly. Wesent at least a couple a day and sometimes he sent multiples in a row before Igot the chance to get back to him.
They would alwaysstart very early in the morning with a simple hello and have you made anyprogress? Then they evolved from there into back and forth verbal duels. Wedidn’t just email, we sparred, we went head to head and refused to let theother person win.
For instance, twoweeks ago, I’d emailed this:
Ezra Franklin Baptist
Ezra Festivus Baptist
EFreakingB
Ezra,
How comfortable are you with selfies?
