Swipe Right - The Chronicles of an Unpaid Prostitute

Chapter Twenty Four

He pulled back, holding my upper arms. He cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. I suddenly felt the heat of embarrassment; that was clearly not what he wanted. "Maddie..."

"Oh my god, I'm sorry. I just thought... oh god." I turned and ran away, hearing him calling after me. I'd just made a pass at one of my clients and it was quite clear he didn't feel the same.

Running into the woman's bathroom, I felt tears on my face. What the hell was I doing? How did I get here? I placed both hands on the counter and hung my head, just breathing. After ten minutes, the bathroom door opened and Ben walked in. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Why are you always running away from me? Am I that scary?"

"No, Ben, I'm so sorry. I'm so embarrassed. I shouldn't have done that. I just... I don't know, I've developed some sort of weird crush on you and I clearly took it way too far."

He leaned against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. "Well, I can't say that I'm not flattered." He paused and I could see him sorting through his thoughts. "But the thing is, I'm gay."

I felt it. The upheaval then the drop of my stomach. Well that was unexpected. "What?"

"I'm gay, Maddie."

I dropped my head against the mirror with a loud moan. "What the hell? But you're always with different women."

"Different women who are business associates."

"But my grandmother told me that her friend Marg's grandson was single and living in San Francisco and that we should hook up."

"Well, I am single and living in San Francisco and we should hook up, for like shopping or grabbing a coffee. I think I'm a pretty fun guy. And I'm an awesome fucking friend."

I stared at him before laughing. I'd never heard him swear before, he'd always been so stuffy, so proper. "Can we go get drunk?"

"Yes!" He took my hand and we walked back toward the party. "You know I do have a brother."

"Is he gay too?"

"No, he is very heterosexual."

"Ah, as tempting as that promo sounds, I think I need to take a step back from the non-dating, dating world."

"Yeah, revenge fucks get old real quick."

"How did you know?"

"You're pretty easy to read," he told me with a wink.

"You're right, they do. My grandmother called me a prostitute tonight."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you at least getting paid?"

I sighed. "No. If anything I'm losing money." We both started laughing at the ridiculous state I found myself in.

"And it wasn't a new campaign I wanted to talk to you about."

"No?"

"No. I wanted to run an idea past you. I want to open up a firm, and if you're willing, I want it to be yours. You run it, it's your name on the sign, and it's your baby."

"What? But I'm just starting out." I felt all my dreams colliding together as I stared at him.

"No you're not. You've been sitting in a cubicle for three years with other people taking credit for your work. I've been paying attention which is why I specifically asked for you to take my campaign. You're too good to be stuck behind someone else's name, Maddie. You'd be surprised how much weight your name carries in the marketing world."