Neighbor // j.b feat. c.b [bwwm]

two | work hard

It's an early day for me. I took a day off yesterday to spend the day with Chris and be there when he left, but now it's back to work. It wasn't exactly a bad thing. Going to work took my mind off the loneliness for a while since I was always surrounded by people during the hours that I was at the office. Plus, I love my job. I'm not one of those people who had a dream but settled for a "more promising" or "smarter" career choice. I followed my gut and that's the reason why I have the awesome job I do now.

I work for a magazine. Real Magazine, to be exact. It's one of the most successful magazines out today because of it's up-to-date content and attention-grabbing articles. We're one of the most diverse magazines, as well. We offer a double-cover each month-front and back-with enough "manly" content so men want to buy it just as much as women. We try to cater to everyone with our articles. Every race, every gender, every sexuality, and every hobby or interest you could think of. Yes, it's a thick ass magazine but you definitely get your money's worth.

The fashion department of Real Magazine's headquarters is my home. It's the only place I could probably get away with wearing the white blouse, shorts, and nude blazer with matching shoes in this entire building without being looked at funny by at least one person. Everything about the fashion department is really laid-back and fun. When you walk in, you're met by a rainbow of colors in the form of decorations. It didn't look tacky or childish, either. It was fun and modern. The decor instantly puts you in a good mood when you walk in. That's another plus to working at this job. You're literally happy to be here, no matter what. I know how rare that is and it's truly a privilege and a blessing to work here and I'm so happy that I am. I love it here.

"Hola, chica. You look cute." my co-worker, Jessica said to me. She's a pretty Puerto-Rican girl with black hair, brown eyes and full lips. Her eyebrows are always on point and you never catch her slipping in any way. She's really pretty and funny, but I know if I was around her more than the hours I sat next to her at work, she'd annoy me.

"Hey, Jessica. What's up?" I said as I slid out the chair of my little office space and sat down, making sure I stayed in her view as she answered.

"Oh, just trying to meet these deadlines. You know how that is." she answered. I nodded. The only bad thing about working here was the work load. We had so many different articles, projects, and assignments at one time sometimes it could get overwhelming. It's a good thing that I love everything we do or I probably would've quit a while ago.

"Yeah, I have a couple of things I need to turn in myself. I was supposed to do them yesterday, but Chris left, so."

"Oooooh, y'all had a little goodbye amoroso, huh? Yas, girl, you better show your man what he'll be missing. Make him never wanna leave again." she told me. I laughed and shook my head at her. It's never a nice, normal conversation with her. "So how long will he be on tour this time?" she asked me.

"About a year." I replied like it was nothing, but inside I felt a little pinch of hurt. Like someone had poked me in the heart with a toy knife. Thinking about being alone for that long made me feel a way, but not enough to make me cry in the middle of my job.

"Ouch, a whole year? That's a long time, mami, you gonna be okay?" she asked. I nodded my head.

"I'll be going to see him whenever I can, it'll be tough, but it's fine." I said to reassure both her and myself. By the look on her face I could tell she wasn't too convinced.

"Hmm, I thought you'd be going on tour with him." she said. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Why would you think that? I can't miss work." I told her. She wore an expression on her face that I couldn't really read. I've never seen her look that way so I wasn't sure what it meant.

"Oh, but I thought- nevermind, soy estúpido, ignore me." she quickly said. Her response was weird to me but I chose to just shrug it off and get to work.

Many hours later I was free of the confinement of my cute little desk area and was at home after driving through the crazy LA traffic. No matter what's going on, there's a bunch of people trying to get somewhere and it just makes the streets a complete mess. I kinda liked it, though. It meant that there was always something going on here, always something to do or get into whether good or bad. Means you'd never get bored if you had friends to go out with or had the guts to just go out alone and enjoy yourself. Too bad I didn't. I couldn't really have fun out in public unless I had someone to have fun with. That's just how I am.

Even though I was off work and had been for some time, I was still working. There's an article on the celebrities that influence day-to-day fashion for us lesser known folk the most that I have to get done so I can turn it in the next morning. I was in the middle of a great paragraph about Rihanna's influence when my phone started to vibrate on the couch where I laid it before I started writing. I smiled as soon as I saw my baby's picture on the screen and wasted no time to answer.

"Hello?" I said into the phone like an eager little girl. His laugh came through the phone and I swear I almost melted.

"Hey, baby. What's up?" he asked.

"Nothing, I'm just working on article. You don't have a show right now?"

"Nah, I got a couple of hours before it starts. I'll have to do meet and greets and all that in a minute, though." he told me. My smile kind of faltered once I heard that. I realized I didn't have as much time to talk to him as I hoped.

"Oh... I forgot about the time difference." I said. My voice came out a little lower than before since my mood had dropped.

"Come on, Ivy. I already hear it in your voice, don't do this." Chris told me. Hearing him call me by his little nickname for me made me feel a little better, but not really. I knew he didn't want me to be sad but I couldn't help it.

"I can't believe you still call me that." I told him to try to change the subject. He laughed before he spoke.

"I'll always call you that, babe. It's my special name for you." he told me. I smiled, thinking back to the day we met and he misheard my name, thinking it was Ivy until I corrected him. He called me by my real name for a while, but when we really got close he went back to Ivy, though, but I was so into him by then that I didn't even mind.

"You're the only person who can call me that." I told him.

"I know. That's why I love it." he said. I playfully rolled my eyes even though I knew he wasn't here to see it. "Babe, I have to leave, but I promise I'll try to call you when we can talk more, aight?" he said. I pouted but there was nothing I could do.

"Okay. I love you." I told him.

"Love you, too. Don't stay up too late working."

"Don't stay up too late partying." I replied. He let out a loud laugh.

"No promises. Bye, baby."

"Bye." I said. I looked at my phone and waited until he hung up to lock it and sit it back down next to me on the couch cushion. I sighed before I got back on my laptop to finish this article and hopefully get my mind off Chris.

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