think they could spring for at least two coffeemakers, right?” The guy in front of me had these tortoiseshell, bookish glasses that gave me major spec-envy.
I smiled. His curly brown hair, navy-blue-checked button-down, and new tan cords gave him a Corporate America vibe, but his vintage Air Jordans threw me off. Unlike Asher, it looked like he showered recently.
Someone in the front of the line yelled, “New batch brewing! Another two minutes!” Mr. Spectacles turned around again to continue our conversation.
I should have been taken by his lopsided smile and warm brown eyes. But all I could focus on was the C8H10N4O2 caffeine mug in his hand.
My mug.
In this random dude’s hand.
I’d never shifted to MUST KILL HIM mode so quickly in my life. “That’s my mug!” I growled. “It’s been missing and it was a gift! Where’d you get this?”
His face fell a little. “It was on my desk when I got here. It matches my coffee shirt.” He pulled open his shirt to reveal a heather-gray tee with “BUT FIRST, C25H28N6O7” scrawled on a coffeepot decal.
Then he had the nerve to smirk at me. “I’m the new MBA intern, helping out with inclusivity initiatives.”
Inclusivity initiatives? This guy? “But you’re not just an intern. You’re Ian’s nephew, Nolan Fucking MacKenzie.” Oops. Should have censored that.
His wide-eyed look expressed both horror and humor. “Some people probably call me that. Most people call me just Nolan, though.” I grabbed at the C8H10N4O2 coffee cup in his hand but he held on to it tight.
He pleaded with his words and his puppy-dog eyes. “If you take this, what am I supposed to use?”
I yanked it toward me. “Why do you even need this coffee? I saw your Keurig.”
He pulled it back. “I don’t like single-use disposables. Landfills and all that. Also, Keurig pods are expensive.”
I tugged again. “Go raid your uncle’s office—he’s probably got a ton of them sitting in a drawer. I bet your dear uncle would even expense the specialty flavored ones for you.”
Sighing, he asked, “It’s just a mug. Not worth beefing with me, right? Can I just borrow it today? Please?”
It seemed like a reasonable request. I was a reasonable person. I loosened my grip just as he yanked hard. The mug slipped out of my hands and flew out of his grip from sheer yanking force.
If the concrete floor had been carpeted, the cup might have been saved.
“Oh, shiiiiit,” he muttered, grabbing two fistfuls of his hair. He knelt down to pick up the shards. One of the handle pieces had slid under the counter, completely unreachable by hand.
Too stunned to move, I offered him no assistance. Nolan Fucking MacKenzie had broken the only personal thing at work that actually meant anything to me and “Oh shiiiiit!” wasn’t an apology. He could pick everything up himself. Plus, my denim pencil skirt wasn’t too forgiving.
“I don’t have time for this.” Glancing at my watch, I left the kitchen in a hurry. I didn’t have to be anywhere, but I could feel hot tears welling, and crying over a coffee cup in front of the CEO’s nephew was immature and unprofessional. No way could I let anyone see me like that. Especially not the intern.
With no afternoon caffeine running through my veins, punching through the postlunch slog through minimum awakeness was no easy feat. My insomnia caught up with me and by three P.M., I’d hit a wall. I cleared my calendar and made the decision to sneak out and head home early. Asher came into the office and noticed me fishing around in my purse.
“Hey, are you headed down to the café to get coffee? Could you grab me one, too? I can’t believe Ian just sent out a five P.M. meeting invitation. Very uncool. I’m gonna need some caffeine to keep me going, and I hate the new chargrilled fancy coffee they ordered for the kitchen. Thanks, roomie!”
Well, there went my three P.M. departure. The only chance I had to make it through that five o’clock meeting would be to take a quick power nap in my car, but that would happen after I got two drip coffees for Asher and me. A caffeine boost to supplement my power nap would hopefully keep me awake during the meeting. Plus, the kitchen coffee did taste a little more burnt-roasted than usual, and there I ran the risk of running into that intern again. Maybe getting Asher a cup of caffeine could be the first step toward office peace