Love me or hate me it's still an obsession

Chapter 23

"Sports day time!" Suzie yelled to them all. They had been doing team building games all morning and most of them were tired out and just wanted a rest. "Come on guys, pick up your lazy bodies and let's get going. Whoo!"

Effie looked over at Ace who was laughing and joking with some of the other girls who worked on their office floor. She dreaded work events like this now that her and Ace weren't talking. She felt like the whole world was against her and she just wanted to be curled up in front of the TV for the rest of eternity. Suzie grabbed Effie's arm and dragged her over to the mini field next to their tents, "come on roomie. You can be on my team."

Effie faked a smile and let Suzie drag her towards the box of red cones in the corner. Once everyone was sat down and given their teams Suzie listed a whole load of races for each team to decide on who was going to do what. They had choices out of the sack race, balancing a bean on your head, egg and spoon, skipping, swinging on the high ropes and a dizzy race where the person had to be spun around five times blindfolded and then had to find their way back to their team. Effie found she had a lot of fun, starting to enjoy having Suzie's company. She tried to turn her back on Ace and didn't pay much attention to who he was speaking to but as the last race came up she glanced over at his team and noticed he was standing too. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." she muttered.

He walked over to the start line with the four other people that were joining in this race. "Right, spinners, do your worst. 5 turns and unleash them. Remember if you are being spun you have to keep your blindfold on at all times", Suzie shouted through her megaphone, enjoying the power of organiser.

They all nodded and closed their eyes, pulling their blindfolds down over their eyes. Effie started to feel sick as the person spinning her did so with a lot of speed. As she was let go she held her hands out in front of her, stumbling as she took slow steps forward in case she was going in the complete wrong direction. She felt another hand on hers, sparking something deep in her chest as she felt up his arm to his muscly shoulders. She quickly moved her hands away, realising who it was.

"Oops, sorry. I can't control where I am going", he said laughing, not realising who it was next to him.

Effie said nothing, not wanting to ruin the moment as she heard her team start to cheer her on. She followed the voices and soon enough found her way back to them. They all cheered as she removed her blindfold, feeling lucky she had done it so quickly. She sat down with them all as they watched the rest of the people in the game try and find their way back to their own teams. Effie found herself staring, alongside everyone else, at Ace; he was making everyone laugh as for the first time ever he was struggling at something.

*

After dinner they were all told to move to the bar area, all drinks courtesy of Wesley Inc. for all the employees' hard work over the last few weeks at home. Some people cheered whereas others looked disheartened, hoping for a free night in their rooms. Suzie pushed a large alcoholic drink into Effie's hand as she sat next to her, "so, how are things between you and Ace? You both seem a little weird with each other at the moment."

Effie knew she was fishing for gossip and didn't want to let anything on. "Well we decided to call it a day. Things were getting a bit intense and with working together as well as seeing each other outside of work, it all got a bit too much."

Suzie watched as Effie glugged her drink down, needing the alcohol to settle the electric feeling she was feeling as Ace walked in. He looked the most casual anyone had ever seen him in a navy Ralph Lauren polo and shorts. "Ah, you've arrived!" Suzie jumped up and ran over to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "There's a game I want to play and I was waiting for you."