No one but you

And here I was.

I was standing nervously outside my boss’s office in the middle of the Christmas party.

Only three months ago, I couldn’t even imagine myself in this situation.

Little did I know how it will be when I proposed to Chloe to make a bet on our CEO.

God, she was really desperate with her crush on him. So I only did it for her, to help her to draw his attention, for him to notice her.

But everything went wrong from the very beginning.

Right now, my insights screamed to me that I needed to be in another place. But I guess today, after all these years, when I was following my heart, I finally decided to think about what is best for me and how to protect myself from heartbreaking.

So I took a deep breath and knocked on his door, only to hear his voice.

“Come in.”

***

I’ve been working for Donovan Corporation in New York for almost a year now. I’ve had my ups and downs here, but most of the time, I’ve been enjoying my work as part of the event-management department.

Well, I guess the head of my department, Amanda Myers, will be stricter about my work. At first, it was apparent she didn’t like me, but I’ve managed to satisfy her with my work on some of our events. Because I know now, she appreciates my skills and knows she could count on me in everything.

In two weeks, our corporation will be holding an annual charity event. The most famous and wealthy people from New York and even from around the world will attend it. So, it will be an understatement to say that the atmosphere in our department was nervous.

Today will be another meeting about this event, and even our CEO, Nathaniel Donovan, planned to participate. So I need to look good and presentable at work, but also I’m going out to the bar with my friends since it’s Friday. So yesterday I was having a difficult time deciding what to wear, but I was glad I did it. This way, today, I’ve time to take a shower.

When I walked out of the bathroom, I found my roommate Chloe standing there with folded arms and angry glare.

“Girl, you occupied a bathroom awfully long today. You remember you don’t live here just by yourself, right?”

Well, good morning to you too, roomie. Chloe Bennett is 24 years old, and she’s a stunning girl. It happened that she’s not only my roommate and friend but also my colleague. Our first meeting was in the Donovan Corporation office building when I only had started to work there. She was kind to me, and soon we found ourselves getting along very well. We were like inseparable twins, and it was just a matter of time when we had decided that it will be awesome if we could live together as roommates.

We found this apartment with two bedrooms and combined the living room with a kitchen in Brooklyn and started to live here after two months from our acquaintance. Since then, we have never regretted our decision. We had so much fun together and supported each other in every possible way, no matter what issue it was.

I love that girl, honestly, do. She’s gorgeous with her platinum blond hair, aqua blue eyes, and full lips. And I even didn’t start with her body! She’s very lean with a slim waist, big boobs, and long legs. We’re like black and white with our looks, but we complement each other perfectly.

I’m a little older than her, cause I’m 25 now. My hair is dark, and so are my eyes, but with gold irises. All about me are my curves. Yeah, I guess I’m also thin but with round boobs, full hips, and tight butt. I’m more Kardashian’s type of girl when Chloe’s like one of Victoria’s Secret Angels. I’ve to work a lot over my body, while Chloe could eat everything and still no signs at her figure. God, she’s like a freaking witch sometimes, and I envy this about her.

Occasionally even a girl like her was suffering without man’s attention. Let me be clear here, not some man, she could just batt her lashes, and there will be plenty of hot boys at her heels... But this girl wanted one particular man, and it happened that he was our boss, CEO of Donovan Corporation, a real golden boy and one of the most desirable bachelors of New York – Nate Donovan. He was a real catch and obviously out of our league.

For the past eight months, since we started to live together, I became annoyed with her crush on Nate. What began as sympathy and admiration of his good looks, turned out in total obsession. Chloe’s been describing to me his everyday suits and his rumored girlfriends from the high-class world at the constant matter. When I looked at some of his model-girlfriends, I could easily see him with Chloe, cause, in my opinion, they’re perfectly matching each other because of their natural attractiveness.

But here is a thing, he hadn’t even looked at her twice. A glance, a nod, a polite greeting – there was everything that she only got from him. Still, he was her ideal man, “perfect match” as she called him. And one day, when Chloe was drunk, she even told me that she would give up on him only if he rejects her.

God, how could our marvelous CEO do that, when it seemed that he even didn’t notice her presence? But it was like talking to a wall — no chance of getting through. Whenever I started talking about her “zero” chances with him – she pretended to be deaf, so I just gave up and helped myself with “zone out” sessions. I started to be a real pro at that.

But since Chloe acted more and more desperate, I found myself not even annoyed, but angry. It was like I was ready to burst out if she will mention to me another of his fanciest suits. This girl was driven me nuts, and now she’s standing before me, blocking the way to my room, and she seemed pissed. What the fuck?

“Listen, Chloe, of course I know, we live here together. But today we’re going to the bar, and there’s this meeting in the evening about charity ev...”

I even didn’t have a chance to finish my sentence when her expression immediately had changed to one of her “oh-my-gosh” looks.

“Will he be there?”

I rolled my eyes with growing annoyance.

“Obsessed much?” I asked accusingly. “Fuck, of course, you are, why do I even ask? Girl, you know, I love you, but this behavior is starting to be the real pain in my ass”.

She only frowned and stood still, waiting for my answer with hope in her eyes. I didn’t have any choice, so I just confirmed her words.

“Yes, Chloe, Nate will be there. At least Amanda told us that he’s planning to participate, and we need to be the best with our preparations for the event.”

Just then, Chloe’s phone vibrated with an incoming message, and we both jumped when we saw the time.

“Shit! Chloe! If we don’t hurry, we’ll be late again! And I am still in a towel!”

“Vera, I’m sorry, really am. Go and change, I’ll wait for you and meantime I’ll call Uber for us”, she looked genuinely unhappy, and I immediately snapped back from my anger.

“Yeah, thanks.”

I went to my room and quickly changed into my denim dress and red stilettos. I only had time to apply some mascara and put red matte lipstick. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I smiled. I looked good, cute even, well in comparison with Chloe, who always looked perfect.

I heard the sound of the door opening, grabbed my bag, and walked out of the room.

“Good luck today, Vera.” I murmured to myself.

I couldn’t even imagine this morning that today will change everything in my and Chloe’s lives.