Chapter 7 Hangry

• “Are you worried about your meeting with the new CEO and Mr. Hines?” Marc cautiously asked
• I look up at Marc trying to fight back the tears as all these feelings and emotions I have been pushing aside are hitting me like a ton of bricks.
• “Yeah, I really am. What if today is my last day, Marc? What am I going to do?” I finally admit.
• Marc and I became fast friends since I started with Mr. Hines. He has been with the company for over 11 years now. I think of Marc as a big brother, he has also been my confidant even about Olivia.. That is why I am so baffled, and to be honest a little hurt, when he asked that demon spawn out in the first place. But come to think of it, he was probably thinking with his other head…I can’t blame him the, crazy bitch is gorgeous.
• Marc instinctively pulls me in for a big brotherly bear hug, which I happily return.
• “Everything will be okay, you know how Mr. Hines feels about you. You and Olivia are like the daughter’s he never had. He would have pulled you aside to let you know that you were not going to be part of the new team and help you find a new position elsewhere. You know this Elle” Marc said confidently.
• I pushed back the tears. I really didn’t like hearing that Mr. Hines loved that evil Shrew as much as he loved me, even though I know its true. I still don’t like hearing it. I tensed up when he said this to me. And truly a big part of me wanted to believe what he just said. But due to everything I have been through in my past, I know no matter what, the only person I could truly rely on is myself. Charles and Emma have become like family, but I know they don’t owe me anything. They do what they do for me out of the kindness of their hearts. Plus, Charles might not have a choice in the matter.
• I pulled away from the hug, placed a smile on my face and said “your right Marc. It’s just been an off morning. Olivia was in prime form this morning as well. “
• Marc quickly looked down at me confused. “What happen with Olivia Marc questioned”
• Oh Shit… I didn’t mean to say anything and cause any issues between those 2. I need to play it down. Plus, for some reason, after they started dating, he thinks all my issues with Olivia were over exaggerated in my head. He claims that she is a sweet girl that is just misunderstood. Misunderstood my ass, this Bitch knows exactly what she is doing.. What I do know, is that I am not going to ruin Marcs relationship, he seem happy with her, and if she makes him happy I play nice for now.
• “Oh, nothing… You know the same ole same ole, Olivia rolling her eyes and just being Olivia. No Biggie. “
• Marc didn’t look convinced but must have decided to drop it.
• Marc was starting to talk about his weekend again when his stomach decides to let out a loud angry growl. We both look at each other for a few seconds and we start laughing hysterically.
• We continue walking over to Eddie’s, the little mom & pop Italian bistro about a block away from the office.
• As we walk into my favorite little bistro, Eddie himself is behind the counter taking orders and sees us walk in.
• “Hi Elena! Hi Marc! The usual?” Eddie yells while waving his hand saying hi.
• “Hi Eddie! Yes, the usual please” both Marc and I reply back to him.
• As we get in line to pay for our plates, we continue talking about our weekend shenanigans. I try not to cringe too much when he mentions Olivia and how adorable he thinks she is. Once we get up to the counter, Eddie has already put in our order. He does this as a favor to us, so we don’t have to wait too long for our food to come out. Normally we are always short on time or ordering it to go.
• Marc quickly gives Eddie his credit card to pay for our food and nudges me behind him.
• I see what he’s doing, but I also have my credit card in my hand trying to hand it to Eddie. I try jumping up and down like a flea on hot pavement, to smack the credit card out of Marcs hand.
• Damn Marc and his long arms, and his 6 foot body.. I can’t reach no matter how much I try.. “Next ones on you.” Marc says as he laughs at my feeble attempts to jump and grab his card.
• “You say that every time Marc!!” I point my index finger at him like I’m scolding him.
• Eddie laughs at us and hands us our number to place on the table.
• Marc and I find a table by the window, its actually my favorite spot. I love to people watch while I eat. Our food comes out shortly after we sit down. We continue talking about our weekend, I can tell he is trying to keep the conversation light. He senses how stressed I am about my upcoming meeting with the new CEO.
• I start to feel a little better now that I have some food in my stomach. As I checked the time, I let Marc know we better get going. I didn’t want to be late for my meeting at one, It was already 12:40PM. “Time to go and see what other embarrassing things I can get myself into.” I say out loud. Marc chuckles
• Thankfully it only takes about 5 minutes to walk back to the office, but the elevators can get backed up around this time with everyone else getting back from lunch around the same time. That would be my luck, especially when Mr. “Handsy” said he doesn’t like tardiness..
• As we start to get up to leave, Eddie walks up with a fresh out of the oven homemade cannoli for each of us.
• “Thank you Eddie!” We both say at the same time with a huge smile on our faces.
• “Of course!! Anything to keep our favorite customers coming back!! See you next time!” Eddie says in his cheerful manner.
• Eddies son Lorenzo starts to clean off the table, while we finish eating the delicious cannoli. Marc & I chit chat with Lorenzo for a bit and say our goodbyes to Eddie and his family as we start walking back to the office. It takes us about 5 minutes to walk back to the office and luckily there is no wait for the elevators. We get into the elevator and we start a discussion about marvel and this whole multiverse. It gets kinda heated since we both have a passion for Marvel and we both have our favorite characters. When we stopped and looked at each other in the middle of our heated discussion, we started laughing at how much we were geeking out.