What They Deserve

FIVE

Willow woke up to a streak of sunlight gleaming across her face. She rubbed her eyes before rolling over to see April spread eagle and face down, a thin stream of drool leaving a trail from the corner of her mouth. If she hadn't heard the light snores coming from the woman, she would have thought she was dead.
          
After a quick look at her clock, she groaned. They had to be at work in less than thirty minutes which wasn’t going to happen. 
          
“April. Get up. We're gonna be super late.” Willow nudged April as she swung her legs off the bed. She raised her voice and earned a snort. “We gotta hurry.” 
          
April peeled her eyes open. Sounding like a drunk, she slurred, “Whatime issit?” 
          
Willow repeated herself as she rushed into her bathroom to start her daily routine - wash the face, brush the teeth, fix the hair. By the time she was done, she found that April had snagged one of her outfits and was tousling her hair. Why does she look so sexy no matter what? 
          
Willow shrugged off the mental question and made her way to the closet to take an outfit out for herself. They were ready and walking down the front steps of the apartment building within twenty minutes. April wasted no time in sashaying to the curb, hailing a cab, and telling the driver where to take them.
          
They rushed to the elevators and picked the fifth floor where they worked together. Several other people crammed in with them, picking their various floors. The ride up was tense and quiet; everyone embarrassed to be doing the "late for work" walk of shame.

“Ladies.” A stern voice sounded beside them as they stepped out of the elevator. Willow cringed as April gave her an eye roll.

“Gary. Hey.” As she turned to face their boss, she flashed him a flirty smile and shifted her posture.

The grave look the man had been wearing slipped away to one of hope. Willow watched as his eyes traveled down April’s body and lingered a little too long on her breasts.

“What…why are you…” The man was having troubling focusing as he made eye contact at last.

“Why are we late?” April cooed, taking a step toward him. She flicked a finger under his color and tilted her head. “I was hoping to catch a glimpse of you.”

Willow struggled to keep from snickering. 

“Well, let’s not make a habit out of it.” Gary licked his lips and straightened out his suit jacket in an effort to regain his composure.

“Sure.” April shrugged and made a show of walking away, keeping her eyes on him as long as she could. 

Willow walked beside her, making sure to sway her hips. “You’re so bad.”

“You get to take care of him next time.” April gave her a hip bump.

“Of course. Not a problem.”
          
“See ya at lunch.” April wiggled her fingers as they came to her office, disappearing inside.       

Willow waved over her shoulder and made her way to her own office. She dove right into the stack of papers on her desk. After reviewing several proposals, she decided that the conversion of the particular building in question would be best suited to become a homeless shelter.
          
Willow was almost done drafting her support of the conversion before April came to get her for lunch. 

“I have to meet with Dylan. He leaves for China in two weeks and we have to discuss the final plans for the green building going up in Beijing.” April explained as they walked towards the elevators. 
          
“Cool. You guys want me to leave you alone?” Willow tried to look sweet and innocent, a corny lilt to her voice, but she couldn't keep a smile from appearing.
          
“Ugh. Grow up.” April gave her friend a disgusted face and flipped her hair over her shoulder, a move she did too often to count. 
          
“You know you want him.” Her tone hadn’t changed and her smile remained.
          
“I do not!” April had a horrified expression on her face.
          
Willow still had the smirk on her face as she looked at the elevator doors in front of her. She leaned forward to push the call button.
          
“Besides. I'm pretty sure he wants Thomas.” April shrugged as if it were old news.
          
“Really? Hmm.” Willow looked at April with a surprised look as she straightened up and then copied the shoulder shrug.
          
They met Dylan at the restaurant across the street from their work building. It was noisy and of a smaller size, making the place feel cozy. Their table near the back offered a little more peace than any of the other options so they wouldn't be distracted or interrupted.
          
Willow listened to April and Dylan as they finished the plans he would be presenting. She felt April had everything covered and Dylan would do a great job; the man was a natural. Once her turkey club was finished, she excused herself and made her way to the restroom.
          
There was a single stall with a large sink in the corner and she had to wait for the occupant to come out. She tapped her toe in time with the song that played over the restaurant's sound system and sighed in relief when an elderly lady came out.
          
When Willow returned to the table, April and Dylan had cleaned up their papers and were shoving the last bites of food into their mouths. “I’ll go pay.” Willow reached out and took the check. “It is a company meal?”

April nodded as she slung her purse over her shoulder and followed Dylan outside. Once Willow paid and shoved the receipt in her pocket, she joined the two on the sidewalk.
          
They all walked back together, saying goodbye when Dylan saw Thomas. April gave Willow an “I told you so” look before waving goodbye to go back to her office.   

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After work, Willow hailed a cab and asked the driver to take her to a grocery store a block from her house. She handed the driver the payment, then went inside to do her shopping, not quite sure what she even wanted.
         
Debating the perks of this or that, she spent a few minutes roaming the aisles until she decided on a quick classic - a grilled cheese sandwich and vegetable soup. After a few seconds, she decided that a glass of wine would be nice too.
          
As she made her way to the wine section, she saw him. 
          
She did a double-take, sure she couldn't be seeing him again, positive he had just been a dream. But he was standing right there, rolling a bottle of pricey red in his hand. It wasn’t obvious what he was focused on, but he had his eyes trained down.
          
Willow smoothed her hair as she made her way toward him. She glanced at a few of the alcoholic drinks she passed but didn't register what kind any of them were. It didn’t matter because that was all a pretense, a way to give him time to notice her.
          
But he hadn’t, so she came up next to him and reached as close as she felt would grasp his attention for sure. She even made sure to angle her body in an enticing way with a gentle smile on her face. 
          
He sighed before turning away to head to the registers, never paying her a moment of attention.
          
Willow frowned as she looked down at the bottle she held in her hand. Guys always looked at her. She wouldn't have even had to get that close to any other male. So what was his deal? 
          
Rolling her eyes, she decided she needed a drink more than ever. The bottle was added to her basket with the makings for her sandwich. As an afterthought, she grabbed another bottle for good measure.
          
By the time Willow got to the registers, he was gone. She put her basket on the conveyor belt and waited for her turn with an annoyed attitude. What is his deal? Is he gay? 
          
To add to her frustration, the lady at the register was beyond irritating her. With a handful of coupons and three brats, it was obvious to Willow that she didn’t care about the people behind her. The youngest kept sticking her tongue out at Willow. After rolling her eyes and returning the sentiment, she started tapping her fingers on the small edge of the counter. This caught the lady’s attention and she gave Willow a quick apologetic look. The cashier, however, shook his head at her before returning his attention to his current customer to complete the transaction. 
          
Willow just huffed and shifted her weight. It was a relationship she was looking for, not a family. She found kids annoying and she didn't have any kind of patience to deal with them; she’d babysat once and that had been a disaster.

“Find everything okay?” The cashier asked in a less than hospitable tone. It was clear that part of his job was to make some sort of interaction with the customers other than just ring them up and cash them out. 

“Yes. Thanks.” She had her i.d. and debit card ready; she didn't want to make anyone wait on her. When the cashier prompted her, she flashed the i.d. and stuck the chip end of the card into the pin pad. Her transaction was finished in no time.

“Thanks.” Her bags gathered in her arms and heading for the door, she lifted her chin as if the whole incident had never happened. It didn’t surprise her that the cashier didn't speak to her again. A lot of people found her rude when she was around kids. But who cared? She wasn't trying to impress anyone.
          
After all of that, she was glad she'd bought the second bottle and couldn't get home fast enough. With her purse tucked under her arm, she managed a brisk speed walk in her stilettos.