Part 10: Boy Trouble

                                    

                                          
"Everything is fine. He was just leaving," I replied cooly, never breaking eye contact with Quinton. 
Evan sensed the tension in the room, and he stepped inside. "Are you sure?"
"Positive," Quinton answered, standing up. "If you change your mind, you have my contact information."
Quinton stepped past Evan, and he stuck out his hand. "Quinton. Nice to meet you. Sorry to meet you and run."
                          
Quinton left my office, and Evan turned to face me. "Quinton? Like the kid that you were supposed to be going on a date with a few months ago?"
"Yeah. Can we not talk about it right now, please?" I replied, turning back to my laptop. "Oh, by the way, I just agreed to dinner with a former client and his girlfriend. He invited you, too."
Evan sat down in the seat that Quinton had just vacated. "You volunteered me to go to one of your business dinners. Why?"
"Babe, it's not a business dinner. He's a former client, but we're closer as friends now. It's not a networking thing. Don't worry about it. He's gonna email or text me, and then we'll know more. Besides, you work in this business, too. A business dinner isn't the end of the world," I stated, closing my laptop.
He got up, heading to the door. "Fine, but I won't pretend to be happy about it."
"You'll like Jaden, honey. I'll see you in a little bit for lunch."
                          
I decided to visit Emma for the first time today. "Hey, can we talk?" I asked, standing in the doorway to her office. 
"Yeah. My only appointment for the day just left, so I'm free except for these stupid reports," she said, motioning for me to come in. I sat down across from her, and she looked over the edge of her laptop at me. "You look like you've had a shit day already. What's up?"
"Quinton just came to visit me," I whispered.
She slammed her laptop shut. "Shut up. No freaking way. He stood you up two months ago, and now, he's visiting you at work? That's insane."
"He pretended not to know anything about Cynthia coming in to yell at me. I can't handle it right now. I'm just exhausted," I sighed, burying my head in my hands. 
"Hey, I get that. Does Evan know that Quinton showed up?" she asked, reminding me of the best part of the story.
"Oh, my God! I completely forgot about the best part! Evan heard me yelling, and he came in to see what was going on!"
She laughed uncontrollably. "That timing is insane! That couldn't have happened better if you had planned it."

                          
There was a knock on the door, and Amanda was waiting there. "Oh, hey, Izzie. What's up?" I relayed the story to her quickly, and she sat down next to me, looking at me in disbelief. "I just- wow."
"Yeah, no kidding," I began, "and right before he came in, Jaden called me and invited Evan and me to dinner with him and his girlfriend. Evan is kind of pissed about that, but there's nothing that I can do about that now," I finished up, finally leaning back in my chair and looking at the clock. "Shit! I'm late for lunch with Evan. I'll see you guys later."
                          
I walked back into my office, and Evan was sitting there waiting. "You're late," he said, not even turning to look at me. 
"I know. I'm sorry. I got caught up with Emma," I explained, grabbing my purse from behind my desk.
"Oh," he chuckled, "you were just hanging out with the girl who hates me and tries to get you to break up with me every single chance that she gets."
"We're not doing this right now. In fact, I don't want to do it at all. Let's just go to lunch, please," I murmured, trying to grab his hand. 
He jerked it away from me. "You know what? I think that I'm just gonna order in today. You go. Have fun."
"Oh, my God! You are a child, Evan! I'm starting to remember exactly why we broke up in the first place. Enjoy whatever you decide to get for lunch," I exclaimed. 
                          
He stormed out, and I sank into my desk chair. It had only been two months, and we were already back to where we had started. I couldn't deal with this right now. 
My cellphone rang, and I answered it quickly. "Isabella Davis."
"Hey, Izzie. It's Jaden. How does dinner work next Tuesday?" he asked. 
"Um, yeah, that should be fine. I'll talk to Evan, and I'll let you know for sure, okay?"
"You got it. Are you okay? You sound kind of upset," he replied.
I sighed. "Um, yeah. Well, no. I, um, Quinton visited me today," I stammered. 
"What do you mean?" he asked. His tone made me cringe. 
"I mean that he showed up at my job, and he pretended to not know that Cynthia came to see me. He didn't even acknowledge that he stood me up," I explained. 
It was his turn to sigh. "Well, he really fucked that one up, didn't he? That's a shame. I really feel like you two could have worked really well together."
"Nothing in my life, this included, has ever worked really well together. I mean, even my boyfriend and I are arguing right now. I don't know. I have to get this paperwork done, but I will call you as soon as I get a chance to talk to Evan," I countered, hanging up.
                          
Evan was standing in the doorway to my office, and I looked up at him. "Hey, come on in," I greeted him. 
He sat down, and the look on his face caused me a great deal of anxiety. "We need to talk about something."
"We do," I agreed. "Jaden just asked if next Tuesday is good for dinner."
"Um, I'm sure that it could be fine," he began.
"What do you mean 'could be fine?'" I interrupted. 
"Well," he sighed, "I, uh, I think that, uh, we need to break up. You were right. We don't work."