Something about you (Norminah)

Chapter Thirty Seven

I looked at myself in the mirror, not quite recognizing the woman staring back at me. Don't get me wrong, I always look good, whether I'm just going to the store or work, it's kind of a an unspoken requirement that our work attire, although practical, is still stylish.  But I had never looked like this.

"Are you sure this isn't too much?" I asked quietly. When I turned back to look at Kamila, I realized she was the wrong person to ask. "Never mind."

I checked myself out for a little longer, willing myself to feel as good as I looked the entire time. "Why am I doing this?"

"First step to feeling good, is looking good."

Lauren was waiting outside the office building with two cups of coffee when I finally got there. I could feel my heart fluttering like mad as we walked in, the adrenaline  burning through my veins as we just managed to catch the elevator before it went on its way up.

I got a few compliments as soon as we stepped out onto our office floor; Beck even made me spin while he complimented my "not totally hopeless" fashion sense.

"Hey, Normani wants to see you in her office in half an hour?"

I hadn't even realized that I had yet to answer him until he gave me an odd look. "Oh yeah, of course. Thank you Avery."

"O-kay," he muttered as he walked away.

Ten minutes either moves incredibly fast depending on what you're waiting for. It always felt like forever when I was stuck in the office, waiting for Normani so we could finally go home. Or when she texted me to tell me she was ten minutes away. Today I couldn't will the clock to move any slower if I got on my knees and begged, and as each minute seemed to last only a few seconds before becoming the next, I felt my stomach becoming more knotted, and the urge to throw up was becoming more inescapable.

"Okay bathroom, now," Lauren murmured as she put a hand underneath my elbow and helped me stand. She locked the door behind us as soon as she made sure we were alone. "Just breathe."

I shut my eyes and focused on the simple action of inhaling and exhaling. I went from shallow and rapid breaths, to deep, slow breaths under Lauren's guidance until my breathing returned to normal.

"Thank you," I said, after a moment of silence.

"I'm not saying don't feel, and don't express your pain because you have every right to, but right now you need to put everything into a box. Your feelings, your hurt, her, her importance in your life. When you're here, she has to be nothing but your boss, just another person that you have to work with. And I know it's hard, but you can do it and you will because you have to if you want keep working here."

"I know," I murmured tiredly.

"You just have to get through today, it'll get easier after."

"Promise?"

Lauren wrapped her arms around me and murmured something that I didn't quite catch. When we finally left the bathroom, I had to go to Normani's office; I stopped by my desk briefly and picked up my phone and the resignation that I had typed out the morning we broke up just in case, before heading to Normani's office.

Avery wasn't at his desk, so I knocked and waited a few moments before walking in. I shouldn't have expected any better from her, but a woman who wore a sinfully short skirt was perched on the edge of her desk. They were both looking at something on her laptop, and the way the woman placed her hand on Normani's shoulder felt way too familiar for them to just be friends.

Tears pricked my eyes, "I'm sorry, I thought..." I didn't bother finishing my sentence, instead choosing to run. I went straight to the empty floor and went into one of the corner offices just as the tears burst forth, spilling down my face messily. The door opened, and I felt a set of arms envelope me in a hug that felt reminiscent of how my mother always hugged us when we hurt ourselves as kids, right before she laughed about it.