The next two weeks flew by in a hurry, and Mr. Asshole still didn’t speak to Natalia, despite knowing he would soon be in a different city with her, likely sitting across from her at dinner, and spending extended time with her and their senior friends in a setting that couldn’t be more different than from call center.
How does he do this?! Natalia had asked herself during those two weeks since agreeing to go on the trip. She heard him speak with Denver about their upcoming plans—she sat right in front of them, after all. Denver mentioned multiple times that Caroline and Natalia would join them on Monday morning, even planning a trip for all four of them to visit the Hoover Dam, since they’d have a rental car at their disposal.
Caroline spoke with Adrian about the trip once too, citing how she and Natalia were really looking forward to it.
Yet, through all that, Adrian still refused to say a single word to Natalia, despite the forty-one trips to the water cooler where he continued with his awkward, narrow stare at his bottle. She had pretended to sneeze while he was at the water cooler—and thought she did a phenomenal job making it sound real—and he still refused to look her direction.
The king of assholes. I hate that man.
Natalia and Caroline were set to fly out in two days, but first, they had a day of festivities at work. The second Saturday of February was the annual on-sale day for Rockies tickets. Tickets went on sale for all eighty-one games of the season, and the morning was an absolute blitz on the phones as thousands of fans would call in, mostly to get seats for the home opener in April and the fireworks games in July.
It was the only day of the year when every single call center employee was required to work, forcing the team to split up between the main call center and an overflow office they had up on the third level, suite level. The phones turned on at nine o’clock, and hundreds of callers would remain in queue until noon when things somewhat cooled down.
Despite being the busiest day of the year, the office hummed with excitement. People who rarely worked together had the opportunity to catch up. Baseball was right around the corner, which meant so was the spring and summer. On-sale day was a rare slice of joy for those in the call center, and the only day of the year when both breakfast and lunch were catered.
Today was Natalia’s first experience of on-sale day, but all she could think about was another opportunity to get Adrian to speak to her before they wandered around the desert together. She thought the odds might be in her favor, considering she had overheard Denver mention that he and Adrian would leave for the airport immediately after their shift ended today. Vegas would be at the forefront of Adrian’s mind. Surely he would clear the tension that had grown so awkward and heavy between them before he left.
Further playing into her hands was the special seating arrangement drawn up for the day. Lopez assigned both Adrian and Natalia to desks on the suite level, and they’d be in the same row, four seats apart.
Once she saw this seating chart posted on Friday, Natalia knew she had to crank up the heat for the big day. She dressed in a form-fitting pencil skirt that cut off just above the knees, revealing the Speedy Gonzales tattoo just above her ankle. She had even shaved—in the winter—to make sure her legs were as appealing as possible.
Natalia also wore a blouse that revealed the slightest glimpse of cleavage. She questioned herself as she dressed earlier this morning, wondering why she was putting in so much effort into her appearance to get Adrian’s attention. She hated him, after all.
It’s not for Adrian. It’s for me. I’m freshly single, going to Vegas in two days, and life is good. I can get sexy all for myself if I want to.
Natalia had indeed dumped her boyfriend last week, an event that required a two-hour discussion over the phone. She had been upset by the breakup, but it wasn’t one that knocked her down. In fact, it did quite the opposite. She hadn’t realized how much that relationship was dragging her down, and suddenly felt free to plan her days as she pleased.
Now, Natalia only worried about what awaited in the future, mainly her new job as an engineer, whenever those cards fell into place.
When Natalia arrived at work, she headed straight for the main call center, where all the staff was to meet for breakfast and a morning meeting before the phones turned on. The room was crowded, people standing in the rows with nowhere to sit. A group even huddled in the hallway just to have some fresh air.
“Damn, girl,” Melissa said when Natalia stepped in, forcing her way to her friend’s desk. “Look at you. I know you said you’re a model, but my goodness, you’re hot! Look at those calves. You could kill someone with those things.”
“Oh, thanks, girl,” Natalia said, grinning from ear to ear.
Melissa sat behind Denver, so Natalia spun around to see him.
“You look very nice, Natalia,” he said. “Like you should be the boss around here.”
Natalia noticed two suitcases parked on the side of Denver’s desk. “Thanks, Denver. You’re off to Vegas today, right?”
“Yep,” Denver replied, patting the closest suitcase. “These are mine and Adrian’s bags. We’re off as soon as Lopez says we can leave. We’re still on for Monday at the Hoover Dam?”
“Of course.”
What Natalia wanted to say was that Denver should tell his little buddy to stop being such a prick if they all wanted to have a fun vacation. But she could never be so aggressive toward Denver. He was the ultimate gentleman, raised with every manner in the book, humbled by growing up during segregation. That Denver was close friends with Adrian was perhaps the only reason she held out hope for Mr. Asshole at all. Denver was a sound judge of character, and would never suggest spending an entire week in Las Vegas with someone he didn’t trust. Their solid friendship was Adrian’s only redeeming quality.
She spotted Adrian on the other side of the room, chatting with a guy named Michael, who somehow worked only four times a year.
Natalia hadn’t paid any attention when she entered the room, but was now realizing that several of the men in the office were trying to steal a quick glance, mainly looking at her legs, validating that she had accomplished what she set out for.
Lopez called for silence in the room and delivered his version of a motivational speech. He stressed the usual topics of getting on and off each call promptly without making the customer feel rushed, plus the opportunity for upselling. There was no better chance than on-sale day to encourage fans to spend big money on their purchase, especially after they waited on hold for an hour—they wanted to get their time’s worth of tickets. After concluding with an offer of support should anyone need it throughout the day, the meeting adjourned and everyone went their separate ways to their desks.
Natalia wished Melissa and Denver a good day before slipping out to the hallway and to the crowded elevator lobby where the upstairs crew was waiting. Sixteen of them in total crammed into one elevator, Natalia ending up smashed next to Adrian. She felt his elbow rubbing against her arm as they rode up one level. He looked over at her and smiled, saying, “Morning.”
Her heart hammered against her chest. The moment had finally arrived, and it had come so far out of the blue that she nearly forgot how to respond like a normal human being.
“Hey… good morning,” she replied, immediately pissed at herself for missing the opportunity to start an actual conversation.
He knows I exist, she thought as the elevator doors parted on the third floor and everyone piled out, Adrian immediately hurrying to get three paces ahead of Natalia. He made contact with me, even if he didn’t want to. But he knows I’m here. And he didn’t just say good morning, he smiled at me.
Maybe everyone had been right about Adrian taking his time to open up to people. Nine months in and he finally said hello. Maybe in another six he would ask how she was doing.
He just knows you’re going to Vegas together and is running out of time to keep up this shunning. It has nothing to do with the outfit or how close we just stood next to each other. He just doesn’t want to ruin the trip.
And if that was the only reason he’d speak to Natalia, then so be it. A memorable trip was truly the only objective that mattered.
But she couldn’t resist the excitement that accompanied that first spoken word from Adrian’s mouth. He was capable of speaking to her. Acknowledging her. Not only did it change the dynamic for their trip—she was counting on at least a full day of the continued antics—it changed everything for the rest of their time working together. The thrill was gone. The game was over. What would Natalia worry about during the slow days, now that Mr. Asshole had finally admitted she existed in the same world as him?
The mind games had become such a part of her life during the past couple of months that she felt even more freedom on top of being newly single. She really was heading into this Vegas trip on top of the world, and nothing could bring her down. Not even Adrian, who she figured she’d end up stuck with alone once Denver and Caroline both called it an early night.
Adrian didn’t matter, though. Not in Vegas, not ever. She would lay out some ground rules once they were there and make sure he understood to stay out of her way if she wanted to strike up a conversation with a man.
The upcoming trip was her opportunity to find herself. Some time away, on her own, was exactly what she needed to figure out who she wanted to be in this next phase of her life.
For now, she had to get through the busy day ahead. Just before the phones came to life, she glanced over and caught Adrian gazing at her legs.