Pray the Fakes Get Exposed

10. Dream Crusher

"Here." I put If You're Reading This It's Too Late on Natalie's desk where Monty was chatting up a storm.

"Oh my god!" Monty screamed. "He signed it?!"

"Yes, of course he did!"

"I love you so much!" Monty cried, wrapping his arms around me. "So how'd it go?"

"It was nice," I replied.

"What was nice?" Natalie interjected, suddenly becoming interested in our conversation.

"She went on a date with Aubrey Drake Graham. You know, the 6 god?" Monty clarified.

"Please don't say that too loud. Erin could be anywhere. We can talk about it later so I don't get in trouble." I surveyed my surroundings to make sure Erin wasn't hiding in the shadows or something.

I left Monty alone to fill Natalie in on the gossip while I went to my office to finish my article. Erin's been bugging me non-stop about when it's going to be finished and demanded that I meet her at one o'clock to "critique" it. Meaning it must be finished. I sat down and started typing:

When asked about his upcoming album, Drake stated that he'd like to keep things under wraps for now.

"I don't like giving away too much information, you know? The fans should just wait until the album comes out. It's none of their business before hand, really. The fans get really annoying sometimes, it's almost ridiculous. They think everything is about them when it's really not."

I guess the world will have to wait for the long anticipated album who's title is Views according to the rumors. As he said earlier, "The 6 god doesn't wait for you;you wait for the 6 god."

Done. He will never ask me out again after this.

Ironically, I got a text from Aubrey after I finished writing. He was in the parking lot with his daily gift. I strategically navigated my way downstairs to avoid Erin and nearly sprinted outside where Aubrey's car was parked near the back of the building. I opened the door and hopped in the passenger seat.

"Whoa, hey!" Aubrey laughed, startled by my sudden appearance.

"Hi. How are you?"

"I'm good. You seem really happy. What's going on?" he asked, taking my hand.

"Nothing. Just really happy to see you."

"I'm happy to see you too. Here's your cupcake." He handed me a little box and smiled.

"Thank you. I had fun last night. It was very surreal," I said, my cheeks getting hot just thinking about it.

"I agree. We should do it again soon. And don't buy anything expensive," he commanded.

"I won't. I promise."

He chuckled and leaned over the center console to kiss my forehead. I almost had a heart attack. I think he knows how much I like him and does sweet things like that to make me embarrass myself in front of him.

"You're cute, you know that?" Aubrey said, kissing the tip of my nose.

I just giggled because my mouth cannot function when he does stuff like this. I managed to sneak a peek at the clock and realized that meeting with Erin was in five minutes.

"When are you available next?" he asked, playing with my natural curls.

"I don't know. I'll let you know as soon as I do," I answered, trying to close this conversation.

"Good."

I looked back at the clock again and he followed my gaze. "You have to leave, huh?" Aubrey inquired with a knowing smile.

"Kinda."

"I'll reluctantly let you go," Aubrey sighed, lifting my hand to his lips. "I wrote you a little note by the way." He pulled an envelope out of the sun visor.

"Aw, thanks. I'll call you tonight," I said, opening the door.

"And, TJ..." Aubrey clamped onto my wrist as I was getting out of the car. In his eyes, I could tell he wanted me to stay longer and I would've if Erin wasn't waiting for me.

"Yes?" I closed the door so Erin's supersonic senses hopefully wouldn't see us.

"I love you, baby girl. A lot. And I know it may seem crazy because we haven't known each other long but you're different than any other woman I've ever met and I really love being around you."

Baby girl?!

"Oh," I giggled.

He pulled me closer to him and gently kissed my lips, really letting me know I wouldn't be getting to that meaning on time.

"You need to go to work, huh?" he asked, rubbing my cheeks with his thumbs.

"Yeah."

"We'll talk later." He kissed my forehead again and hesitantly took his hands away from my face. "Bye."

"Bye...baby girl," I joked.

Aubrey grinned as I opened the door and skipped back into the building like I was off to meet the wizard. In reality, I was off to meet the wicked witch who could probably eat you whole if she was that hungry.

I waved at Natalie and showed off my beautiful cupcake box before speeding upstairs and running right into Erin herself.

"Oh, TJ, just in time. Follow me," she said walking toward the break room. "We can have a snack and chat."

Erin knew I was coming with those super senses. You can never escape this woman.

"Should I go get my computer?" I asked, thinking I could drop the cupcake off when I got my laptop.

"Nope. I can get to the article myself." She showed me her laptop case.

I figured I should think of an excuse to save my job but I couldn't think of any that were believable. Erin does not take crap and she can spot it a mile away.

She read through the article as she ate a protein bar. I tried not to stare at her while she read and focused on eating my yogurt.

"Great job," Erin finally said. "It's beautiful. I'll edit it and it'll be ready for publishing."

"Oh my gosh! I'm so excited!"

"Me too. What's this?" She stood up and snatched my cupcake and card right out of my hands.

"It's from Drake, huh?"

"Erin-"

"No, let me speak! I told you not to see him and you went behind my back.  I should fire you for this type of behavior!" she cried. "But instead, I'll do this."

Erin slammed the cupcake box on the floor and crushed it with her brown leather boots. The icing oozed out of the cardboard as she continued to squash the life out of my cupcake.

After she was done killing my cupcake, she ripped the card open and skimmed over the words, her eyes furious. Then she found what she was looking for. "Love, Aubrey."

"Erin, wait-"

"You lied to me! I really should fire you, TJ."

She ripped the card in half. It was as if she ripped my heart too. She tore it into tiny, microscopic pieces and scattered them onto the floor, sending some of the scraps into the globs of frosting.

"But he wrote that note for me," I whimpered, tears springing up in my eyes.

"Maybe you should do your job and quit messing around. Clean all this up too."