There’s a problem, though: I don’t have a box to put all this shit in. Why the hell don’t I have a box? As if I didn’t know shit wasn’t going to hit the fan the moment I started messing around with Spencer… I should have kept an in-case-of-emergency bug-out box under my desk for a quick getaway!
“Will…” I hear Maya’s hesitant voice as she peers around her desk, “what are you doing?”
“Do you have a box?” I ask her, my hands frantically sorting through all the shit on my desk. “I need a box.”
“Why?"
“I’m taking the high road and I need something to carry my stuff in—jeez, I’ve only been here a couple months, how the fuck do I have so much stuff?”
“Will, you don’t need a box, honey,” she says slowly, like she’s a hostage negotiator trying to talk me down.
“You’re right!” I say, my finger flying up in a ‘bright idea’ gesture. “A trash bag would work just as well. I think I have some in the bottom drawer here…”
“No. Will, stop.” Maya comes around the desk and places her hands firmly over mine, pausing me in my actions. “Grab your coat,” she orders, her tone making it clear I have no choice but to do as she says.
Reluctantly, I grab my jacket from the coat stand by our desks and wait for her to switch the phones over to the message service. Then she ushers me along, grabbing her own coat as she passes the coat stand.
“Where are we going?” I ask, trailing after her toward the elevators.
“To get you good and drunk.”
“It’s Monday afternoon,” I point out.
“And?” She arches a pointed brow.
“Maya, I—”
“Uh.” She lifts her finger in a ‘wait a moment’ gesture as she holds her phone to her ear with her other hand. “Hey, Mac, I need you to meet Will and me at that cute little bar near Columbia in half an hour…yeah, that’s the one. We’re taking the afternoon off and getting wasted.” She pauses for a moment and I can hear my best friend’s voice on the other end but can’t make out what she’s saying. “Awesome, see you then, babe.”
“You called Mac,” I say, stating the obvious.
“Uh huh. And she’s calling Jamie.”
I shake my head in confusion, following Maya onto the elevator. “Why?”
Maya offers me an arched brow. “Honey, you need your friends around you right now.”
“You know about me and Spencer?” I ask, my voice a little choked.
“Of course. I know everything that happens around here.”
“Do you know who tipped off the tabloid?”
“Now that’s one thing I don’t know,” she says, offering a sympathetic smile.
“It wasn’t me.”
“I know, hon.”
My heart lifts at her words. Maya’s been friends with Spencer a hell of a lot longer than she has with me, so the fact that she’s so willing to go to bat for me has my heart swelling like a balloon.
“You…you believe me?” I say tentatively. “You believe I wasn’t the one who outed Spence?”
She waves a dismissive hand. “Of course I do. Anyone who knows you knows you’re not capable of something like that.”
Aaaannndd the balloon pops. “I guess not everyone,” I say darkly.
Maya studies me for a moment, a sympathetic frown forming on her face. “Yeah, well, Spencer’s a dumbass. Oh, that reminds me…” she says, withdrawing her phone again and typing a text.
“What are you doing?” I ask warily.
“Texting Em to tell her to talk some sense into her dumbass brother.”
The elevator drops us at the lobby and we make a beeline for the glass doors that open onto Lexington.
“Fuck Spencer,” I say once we’re safely in a cab and heading uptown toward Columbia and Mac. “He can think whatever the fuck he wants, I don’t care.”
“Yes, you sound incredibly blasé about the whole thing,” Maya says with a roll of her eyes.
I rest my head back against the seat, a heavy sigh escaping my lips. Damn it. Why the hell is this happening?
The drive uptown takes approximately for-fucking-ever, but we finally pull up at a familiar bar and I allow Maya to haul me out of the cab and shove me inside. I make a move toward the stools at the bar but Maya holds me back. “Uh uh. No way. If I’m going to sit here and listen to you wallow for god knows how long, I’m going to need me a comfy seat.”
I roll my eyes but acquiesce and follow her to an empty booth. It’s pretty quiet right now so it’s not