“Who?”
“Ben. You should have seen her today, practically throwing herself at him. She was basically dry humping his desk.”
“Gross.”Becks had such a way with words.
“I know. She might as well have taken her clothes off right there and then and let him do her on the boardroom table.”
“Okay. I think I’ve heard enough.” I shuffled in my seat. God, this conversation was making me feel all sorts of things Iseriouslyshouldn’t be feeling!
She continued. “Word at the water cooler—”
“We don’t have a water cooler.”
“Word at the metaphorical cooler,” she corrected, “Is she’s planning on fucking Ben at the calendar shoot.”
Like I said, such a way with words.
Vampira had obviously tuned her hearing for the word “Ben” because she was at the desk in seconds—had she flown here?
“Slut.”
Becks and I both turned and stared at her. She was wearing an unusual amount of black eyeliner that day and her lips were stained a very dark mauve. That was all she said before she slunk off again back to her seat in the shadows from whence the intriguing creature came.
Becks turned to me. “She’s obviously talking about Angie, right?”
“I hope so,” I replied.
“I’m sure Angie can’t wait to be away with him on this shoot. And you know what they say,what happens on shoot, stays on shoot.”
“Really, they say that?” I’d never heard this before.
Becks nodded. “Last year she and Andrew hooked up.” She gave me a conspiratorial smile. Andrew was the previous Creative Director. “Apparently, everyone heard them going for it all night.”
“Seriously?”
“Yup. And she likes to have her hair pulled and let’s guys come all over her face.”
“Stop! Okay! Enough.” I put my hand up. I didn’t need that image in my head, especially when the image of Andrew morphed into Ben.
“Or maybe I’ll hook up with him.” She pouted playfully. “Since I’ll be there too.”
“You will?”
“Well, I am client service on the job and I’ve become a very indispensable member of his team.” She winked and went back to her desk and suddenly I was so damn jealous. Here I was stuck with trying to get the creatives and clients to agree on whether the new print ad for their toothpaste should show actual teeth in it, since apparently market research shows that exposed teeth can come across as aggressive.
“Don’t worry, Sera. If we hook up, I’ll give you all the details,” she chuckled next to me. She was joking, but still, the conversation disturbed me. I know I had no claim over him. Eating pancakes together and sharing one night in his car didn’t mean I should feel anything about who was coming on to him, or who’s face he was coming on . . .God, I wish she hadn’t told me that. It was an image I was really struggling to get out of my head.
But I was bothered. A lot. Angie was gorgeous. She was talented, creative and men flocked to her. Becks had the biggest boobs you’d ever seen and men were rarely able to look her in the eyes when they talked to her.
There was no way she, or Angie for that matter, wouldn’t be able to charm the pants off Ben—they came down pretty quickly as far as I remember. Maybe even both of them. At the same time. The fact that all the women in the office wanted him, and would probably continue to throw themselves at him for all eternity, just complicated things even more.
Just then, Ben came striding past my desk and without looking at me, not even a tiny eye glance in my direction, said “Rebecca, uh, Becks, can I see you in my office.”
Becks flew out of her chair and ran after him. I sat there trying not to stare at them and not be offended by the fact that he hadn’t looked at me once—despite the fact Ihadput on the red lipstick. I tried to busy myself, but the toothpaste client wasn’t exactly captivating. A movement caught my attention and I looked up to see Angie stride past and go straight into Ben’s office too. My stomach dropped when she entered and gave him a way too friendly looking pat on the shoulder followed by an ever so slight squeeze. And then they all started talking for what seemed like forever and all I could think about was their upcomingménage à trois.
I really wanted this day to end. I wasn’t enjoying it. At all.
17. Real Princess Clothes
