2| The Name of the Game

"Oh my god he said that!?" Lydia exclaimed, brushing her long blonde hair away from her face.

I nodded my head, resting it in my hands. "It was so humiliating guys. And if I don't come up with something incredible by Monday I'm screwed!"

Cole reached a large hand out, rubbing it across my back in a comforting motion. "You're a great writer Ky... we'll think of something. He's not gonna fire you."

I smiled at my friend. Cole was sweet, and truthfully he was the total package. He was tall and fit, although not as muscular as Dakota. He had a dimpled grin and baby blue eyes with dirty blonde hair and tanned skin. Cole had always been there for me. I'll be the first to admit I've thought about taking things further with him, but I could never bring myself to breach the subject. Now I appreciate our friendship so much I would really hate to jeopardize that. Besides, Cole hadn't ever made a move so I was fairly certain he wasn't into me anyway.

"You know what? Let's get some shots," Hayden suggested from across the table. Hayden was gay and often had great articles written from his perspective. He was also a crazy amazing hype man. I loved his look and admired the tattoos that coated his slender arms. He always had different earrings and rings on to match whatever button-up shirt he was wearing, and his dark brown hair was always styled without a hair out of place. "Some of my best brainstorms happen when I'm drunk," he continued.

"Hayden's right Ky," Ellie chimed in, "it's your birthday! Let's get drunk and come up with something amazing! You need to loosen up." She flashed a white smile my way, pulling her sleek black hair to one side so that it hung freely over her shoulder.

"You're right..." I said, "maybe that's what Dakota meant... I'm boring even on my birthday," I groaned. I was being dramatic I knew, but I also couldn't believe that I was on the brink of losing my job... my dream job.

"No babe you're not," Hayden said, "don't think about Dakota- he's an asshole. Think about yourself and how you deserve a fun night out!"

I took a moment to survey my surroundings. We were at one of my favorite restaurants at a booth in the bar. It wasn't super fancy, but it was cute and had great cocktails and fun music.

"I used to be fun," I said, taking a large swig of my gin and tonic, "I don't know when I stopped being fun. Do you guys know when I stopped being fun?"

"You didn't stop being fun," Lydia started.

"Well," Ellie cut her off, "Yeah. I mean you're still fun, but I think you just put the job first. Like always. It's kind of gotten in the way of some things, like partying and dating."

"Dakota thinks I don't date too... is that what you all think? That I don't date?" I asked, starting to feel panicked now. It was like all the hard work I put into research for my job was completely backfiring.

"Let's get another round and some shots," Rory suggested, polishing off his rum and Coke and putting a large, muscled arm around Ellie.

"Rory don't change the subject," I warned, "that being said, I think that's a great suggestion."

A few of my friends chuckled. "Why do you care so much what Dakota said?" Cole asked. "It's nobodies business who you date. I think if you wanted to date, you could date."

I smiled, "Thanks Cole."

"So," Hayden started, finishing off his drink. "How 'bout those shots?"

Everyone nodded in agreement and honestly, I had nothing to lose. If Dakota wanted me to loosen up that's exactly what I was going to do. I'd show him that I could have a good time, and I'd come up with a kick-ass idea for my next article.

I eagerly participated the first round of shots... and the next... and the next...

I remember brainstorming with everyone for quite some time while the shots kept rolling in. I remember whatever we were discussing got us all super excited and we had lots of laughs. Next, I remember heading to a club, dancing, having some more drinks, and then...

everything went blank.

                                                                        **********

Beep beep beep beep...

"Ugh," I groaned at nobody, "make it stop."

My alarm on my phone sounded like a dagger to my brain at this point, and the sunlight streaming in from my window made me want to burrow deep into the ground forever. My mouth was dry as the Sahara desert but the thought of drinking water made my stomach churn; not that I had any water on my nightstand anyway.

I had just managed to turn of the incessant buzzing of my alarm when Cole entered my room, "Everything okay?" He asked.

"Ah!!" I shrieked, dropping my phone onto the ground. I hadn't realized that I wasn't home alone. I lived alone in a one bedroom apartment, which I LOVED. I worked hard to make my place look amazing. It wasn't huge or anything, but I had a king-sized bed in my room, a comfy grey sectional and a desk space for writing in the living room, huge windows, large TVs, and artwork that I painted myself hanging on the walls. My place was organized, clean, and personalized just the way I liked it.

"Woah!" Cole said, throwing his hands up as if he had just been busted for a crime. "Sorry Ky. I thought you knew I was here."

"I just woke up," I said, "how would I know that?"

He smirked, "You invited me to stay last night remember? You were really drunk so I brought you home to make sure you got back okay. But then an Uber back to my place was like 100 bucks cuz of surge pricing so you said I could stay."

"Oh... right," I said flopping back onto my bed and pulling my thick beige duvet over the top of me. I didn't actually remember getting home at all but I knew what Cole was telling me was the truth.

"Feeling alright?" he asked.

"Not at all," I stated. "Since you're here could you please get me some ibuprofen and some water?"

"Yeah hold on," he said as he headed out of my room to the kitchen.

I had a moment of silence before my phone dinged, the tone indicating that I had a new email.

"Who the hell is emailing me on a Saturday?" I groaned, rolling over to pick my phone up off the ground. The angle at which I had to lay to reach my phone made me feel like I was gonna puke. When the name "Dakota" flashed on my inbox, I felt even more nauseated.

He probably wants to fire me early. Or remind me of my impending firing just to discourage me even more.

Despite my negative thoughts, I brought myself to open his email:

Ms. Adams,

I can tell that you were drunk while sending this due to the astonishing amount of typos and emojis in your email. I'm sure you realize how unprofessional that was, but I am going to let it slide as it seems you have taken my advice. I like the idea and I am giving you the green light to do "eleDATE." Come to my office first thing Monday morning to discuss further, and clarify some things that didn't make sense due to your alcohol intake.

Oh, and drink lots of water today.

-DK

Just then Cole returned with my pills and water. "What's wrong Kyla? You look like you saw a ghost."

I looked from my phone to my friend, my eyes widened in shock. "Cole... I emailed Dakota last night- or I guess super early this morning. What the hell is eleDATE!?"

"You don't remember sending that?" He asked, "We were all pretty excited about it actually... which in hindsight it probably wasn't the best idea to actually contact Mr. Kramer while drunk."

"Ya think!?' I exclaimed. "He called me out for it already. Let me see what I sent."

I returned my attention to my phone, clicking to my "sent" emails.

Hi Dakota,,

Since you think that I donnt date and you think me ideas for articles are boring 🥱. I havehad some drinks and come up with an idea. think you will like :😄. It's called "eleDATE" - catchy rite? But the gist is that I will ride the elevator each morning from top to bottom, and I gotta ryde it with a man from the office 🙃. I will blinfold so that I won't know who it is 🫣🤫. Then, I will choose to go on another ridee with them or send them home. Well not home but ya kno. It's like workplace speed dating. Anywhooo I'm not sure I explain correctly right now but I tell you more in person. Can't wait to strt. Okay bye.

-Kyla Adams

"What. The. Fuck," I said the second I finished reading.

"Is it bad?" Cole asked, sitting beside me on my bed.

"Yes it's bad! What were we thinking!? I don't want to date the men in the office! And I certainly don't want to do it blindfolded and in an elevator-- I mean, how does that even make sense!?"

"Kyla calm down," Cole said, "let me see your email."

I sat there panicking internally until Cole finished reading my emails, handing me back my phone.

"Yeah the email itself was really not well-written, but overall this is a good thing Ky!" He said. "Dakota likes the idea. For how horrible of a job you did writing that email, at least he gave you the go ahead, which means you get to keep your job. How is this not good news?"

I groaned, "It is good news... but I really don't want to do this! I can't date several guys at once and the fact that I'll be going on a date every day is insane to me. What if we can't even find enough people in the office who want to date me?!"

This was a big fear of mine actually. I knew I wasn't bad looking but I hadn't had a ton of dating experience. I have an intense fear of rejection, and it tends to hold me back from a lot of things.

"Kyla breathe," Cole soothed. "The dates will be short- like literally 10 minutes maximum if the elevator stops on multiple floors, so you really will only be stressed for that long each day. Besides, if it's bad then it's over in 10 minutes and if it's good you get to date the guy again. And please Ky, there's tons of single men in the building. I'm sure there's 20+ guys just waiting for the chance to date you."

I took a breath. "Thanks Cole. You really think this is a good idea?"

He nodded, placing a hand on my knee. "I do."

Cole left shortly after this conversation. I was pretty sure he just didn't want to deal with my anxiety--not that I blamed him. I wasn't sure what to do with myself at this point.

I started by rolling my ass out of bed and getting into the shower. The second I was in I regretted not putting on music or a podcast, because now I was alone with my thoughts... and my thoughts were not positive. I was freaking out about this stupid "eleDATE" idea. I mentally cursed myself for drinking that much, and I cursed even more at Dakota. If his stupid, handsome face wouldn't have told me I was boring and threatened my job, then I would never have drank that much and I would never have come up with this idiotic idea.

I turned the water off when it started to run cold, stepping out and wrapping myself in a fluffy towel. I sat back down on my bed, not even bothering to get dressed as I pulled my phone back out, re-reading my emails.

I sent out a few SOS texts to Ellie and Lydia, inviting them over for a girls night. The boys were probably the culprits behind this idea anyway, and I was hoping that the 3 of us could brainstorm again. With any luck, we would come up with an idea that was even better than "eleDATE." With any luck, I would go to work on Monday with a kickass idea that didn't involve me dating half the office.

I just had to hope there was a better idea out there.