HELPLINE

EIGHT

E I G H T // H E N R Y

"I'm baaack!" Shania announced on Monday morning, striding into the office with a latte in one hand and her phone in the the other. "Did you miss me?"

"No," I said, shoving her book back onto her desk. (When she wasn't at work I kind of had a tendency to nick them. It wasn't a method of replacing her, or anything. Of course not! Just a way to fill my time.)

Yep.

That's it. The reason.

Moving swiftly on.

Shania sat down at her desk and pretended not to notice, like she always did. "Anything dramatic happen?"

"Well," I said, pretending to be deep in thought, "I talked to Aaron - y'know, our boss - for the first time. He seems like a good guy."

Shania nodded. "I met him last year at the Christmas party. apparently he's allergic to cereal."

We winced in unison. Shania took a slurp of her coffee, and then leaned forward conspiratorially. "And then I saw him getting hot and heavy with Jane With the Long Fringe."

"Jane?" I repeated. "Jane With the Long Fringe Jane?"

"I swear on my first designer handbag's life," Shania said solemnly, then smiling with a dreamy look on her face. "It was a Gucci Lady Web. Or possibly a Calvin Klein backpack. Or maybe that Birkin Philip bought me... anyway, something I hold close to my heart."

I exhaled slowly. "I thought she would aim slightly higher, to be honest. Anyway, Shay?"

"Yes?"

"I met Isaac."

"What?"

Her eyes went wide with excitement, and I stifled a laugh. "You know, the kid I've been talking to on the phone -"

"You met him?" Shania lowered her voice significantly. "Was he - erm - hot?"

I grinned. "He was pretty cool. Not a loser at all."

Shania stared at me and then sat back in her chair. "You are so whipped."

My defence was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Isaac?"

"Hey," Isaac replied, and I was pretty sure he was grinning. "How's it going, Henry Waters?"

"Give me that," Shania said, leaning over and snatching the phone from my grasp. "Isaac?"

"Hello, Shania -"

"I heard you met Henry yesterday," she said, smiling so smugly you'd have thought she'd won the Nobel Prize.

There is a short pause on Isaac's end. "Yeah, I did. Yeah."

Shania grinned wickedly.

"Erm, I think I'll take over now," I said, trying to snatch the phone away.

She pressed it closer to her ear. "You know, he thinks very highly of you -"

"Bye, Shania!" I said, successfully snatching the phone from her and pushing her off my desk. She just giggled as Isaac and I sat in awkward silence.

"So," I said.

"So."

More awkward silence.

"I had something I wanted to ask you," Isaac blurted out, and Shania's eyes widened.

"What's that?" I asked, attempting (fruitlessly) to block her out the conversation by hunching over and blocking her from view.

"Would you, er, come with me to buy a new cat?"

❄

a.n: anYWAY special shoutout to @minniekace and @alexithymia_ because they've commented on every chapter so far (like seriously) and u should totally follow their example

lucy xox