-3 Weeks Later-
"You look stunning, Alice!"
I blushed and smiled at my co-worker, Jenny, complimenting her in turn as we passed one another. She really did look flawless in her floor-length blue dress. I hadn't realized just how dressy 'dressy' meant, but apparently people went all out for these business parties.
I had opted for something halfway there. The black knee-length dress tightened only at the waist, offering some to the imagination, and showed off my legs a bit, which I wasn't very used to. My dark hair was twisted into a pretty, curly waterfall braid, and though my makeup was light, I had gotten complimented on it several times now.
I felt slightly out of my comfort zone, but I had learned in the past two months that taking a step outside of the box every now and again isn't always such a bad thing.
I located the snack table and popped a pretzel into my mouth. They had become my favorite thing to eat recently, and so the fact that they had them at the business party had brought my mood up by ten percent.
It was odd. I hated party atmospheres, yet I was actually enjoying myself. I suppose that might be because the club that had been rented out was nice and cleaned up. Everyone was being friendly, walking around and mingling in their nice clothing with glasses of champagne in their hands (which I had switched out for some apple cider), and just enjoying themselves. The music was merely background noise, something I could listen to when I wasn't chatting.
Two and a half weeks ago I had walked into my old office with a box, prepared to clean out my desk. There was no doubt in my mind that I would be fired in light of my recent absence, but I had been mistaken.
Apparently someone who had remained anonymous had called my former boss, Heidi Olsen, and informed her that one of her staff, Olivia, wasn't quite doing things she should be doing. Heidi had explained that Olivia had breached not one but several rules and had been both fired and sent to court and that I was needed 'more than ever' at the office now that were two down after Melanie left when her baby was born.
I had resigned though. I didn't think that I could bear to walk through that parking lot every morning, sit in my desk and remember everything that had happened there, and what it had led to. It had been the starting point of a plan that I was looking forward to wiping from my mind.
Heidi had done something weird then. She'd helped me get another job as a reporter at a higher up magazine, something that I hadn't ever expected from someone like her. I was nervous upon first arriving at the Glimmer Magazine Studios, but they were more welcoming than I could have thought possible.
Just two weeks later and I was attending my first business party. Everything had gone by in a blur, but it wasn't a bad blur. It was more of a bittersweet blur.
I tossed another pretzel in my mouth and straightened up, when suddenly an odd sensation swirled through me. It was a familiar one, something I had experienced countless times. The feeling that somebody was watching me.
I took a deep breath and scanned the crowd in front of me before turning on my heel and looking towards where a hall led off to the bathrooms.
For just a moment I could have sworn I saw a flash of a leather jacket and dark hair, but as soon as I blinked it was gone. I shook my head to myself. I hadn't seen anything. Slowly I turned back to the party where everyone continued to smile, chat, and compliment one another.
It was almost creepy how, even when you begin to experience something out of the norm for the setting you're in, the world goes on around you as if nothing's changed.
