90s Queen Bee #Wattys2016

Chapter 22 - Battle of the Queen Bees

Penny must have wanted to throttle her. She'd dealt with her fair share of difficult clients when she'd worked as a freelancer – they didn't listen to her expert opinion, thought they knew best about design, didn't give a clear brief and refused to pay her for the work she'd already done. She took all the criticism in her stride, but clients like Robin were one of the main reasons she'd come to work at the bank.

'When a visual designer has a decent client, they can come up with great work,' said Penny. Robin narrowed her eyes and ran her fingers up and down the stem of her glass. One point to Penny.

'Penny's outstanding at what she does,' I insisted. 'When she works for me, her work is excellent.'

'What a minute.' Robin held up her finger. 'Penny works for you?' She looked at Penny and jabbed her thumb back in my direction. 'You take orders from her at work?'

'I tell her what we need and she does it exceptionally well,' I explained smoothly.

I could feel Penny's eyes boring into me as I topped up everyone's champagne glasses.

'Any men on the scene Penny?' Robin changed the subject.

'Not right now, no.' Penny flicked her hair the same way Teaghan did.

'Aw.' Robin cocked her head to the side. 'Things will pick up for you, I'm sure.'

'I do alright.' Penny shrugged.

'You can go on a man hunt with Lauren here.' Robin rubbed Lauren's arm. If her arm rub was anything like her aggressive hug, Lauren must be feeling a chafe. 'She's getting nowhere on Tinder, poor thing.'

'I-' Lauren started to say something.

'I don't get why everyone goes on about online dating,' Robin cut her off. 'I don't care what anyone says, it still has that sad and desperate vibe to it. But maybe I've just been in a relationship too long. I'm so out of touch with dating these days!'

'You and your partner don't even go on dates?' Penny raised her eyebrows and gave a half smile.

Go Penny! She had observed the master (aka me) and was messing with Robin.

Robin screwed up her face at Penny. 'Of course we go on dates – that's not what I meant.' She then laughed in Teaghan and Lauren's direction as if to say, 'What's with this woman?'

'How did you meet your fiancé?' I nodded down at her left hand.

'Oh! Funny story, actually!'

Out of the corner of my eye, I could have sworn I saw Teaghan roll her eyes at Lauren.

'He came into the store one day to buy a pashmina for his mother. I told him the chartreuse one would look divine on her. He asked me out for dinner at a Michelin Star restaurant and the rest is history. He's a lawyer.'

I had no idea what was supposed to be so funny about how they met.

'Are you seeing anyone Sammy?' Lauren asked, batting her eyelashes.

'Yes, actually.' Well, not quite, but they didn't have to know that. 'His name's Colin, he's the head of brand and he's great.'

'Head of brand?' asked Teaghan.

'Uh-huh. At Smith Bank where Penny and I work. I'm a marketing manager there.'

'Oh wow, dating someone at work!' marvelled Lauren. 'Is it totally hot?'

I laughed. I didn't actually mind Lauren. 'Yeah, it is actually.'

'I once had a fling with a guy from work.' Lauren drew a line in the condensation on her glass with her finger. 'It was really sexy.'