Secret Service

Four

 "Spill." The familiar voice of Willow demanded the moment that she had come into the office. Willow was one of the two friends that Gwendolyn had, both ironically being co-workers.

Willow stood in the doorway with her lunch bag and purse still in hand, a Starbucks coffee in her hand, and her keys dangling.

A moment later, Desiree walked in behind her with a raised brow, "You're here already? I was courteous enough to put my bags down."

They both entered the office, closing the door behind them. Willow dropped her bags on her floor and came over to the desk, "Bags are down, now spill." She demanded.

Gwendolyn sighed and shut her laptop, knowing she wouldn't be getting anything done in the next thirty minutes.

After a week of being out of the office, Gwendolyn was eager to be sitting behind her desk the following Monday. Four eight hours a day, seven days a week, this was the only time her life truly felt normal.

Her co-workers looked at her as an average peer, conversing easily with her. Her security lingered outside rather than directly beside her.

Even despite the past week, the office only contained co-workers milling about.

"Spill what?" She asked, hoping that they hadn't wanted her to go into detail about her guard's passing.

Desiree pulled out her cell phone, showing Gwendolyn a photo on the screen. It had been of Gwen and Alaric at the gala, and for some reason that was worse.

It had been implicitly stated that she was not able to tell anyone about Alaric's truth, even her two closest friends. What she hadn't prepared herself for was to lie directly to their faces.

"Oh, Alaric."

"So that's his name." Desire mused.

"Who is Alaric?" Willow asked.

"Must be an amazing man if he's got our girl taking publicity shots." Desiree teased.

For as long as she had known her, Desiree had always had a quick, yet sharp tongue. When they had first become friends a year ago, most of the times she spoke, Gwendolyn hadn't been a hundred percent sure if her words held mal intentions.

It wasn't until Willow had further explained that it was how she spoke that Gwendolyn understood.

"What? You guys are always down my back for not dating, I thought I would give it a shot." Gwendolyn shrugged and turned her chair around pretending to be looking for something in her file cabinet.

While she wasn't the worse liar in the world, she surely hadn't been the best. And while it was likely that Desiree would believe her, Willow knew Gwendolyn better than she knew herself sometimes.

Gwendolyn and Willow were polar opposites in every sense of the word. Where Gwen had pale skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes — Willow had a deep sand skin tone, she wore her hair in locs that went down her back, and her eyes were so brown they appeared black.

Where Gwendolyn preferred to keep to herself, due to half of her life being spent in the public eye — Willow was a social butterfly, and there wasn't a person she met that didn't love her instantly.

Their friendship ran deeper than the co-worker relationship she had with Desiree. She had known Willow for the past seven years, having had been her college roommate. The two were thick as thieves, even with their polarizing backgrounds.

It wouldn't be long before Willow attempted to force the information from her, and if it happened — not even a direct order from the United States president would stop her.