Chapter 3

Cleo was already dressed in a knee length plain black dress and a crop leather jacket. All I had to do was pick something from the clothes she had laid out for me. There were a few options and if I am being completely honest, none of which I would have chosen for a few drinks. I rifled through and picked out a plain white t-shirt, black jeans, and my own crop leather jacket. Cleo had laid out one of my dresses also, but there was no way I was wearing a dress unless we were going out properly.

I heard the beep of the taxi as I was pulling on my black ankle length boots. Cleo shouted just as I was coming down the stairs. I grabbed my phone from the side and we headed out. The taxi dropped us off at Blue’s smoke house. I looked at Cleo confused.

“I thought you wanted a few drinks?” I asked, confused.

“Yes, and I am being sensible. Food then alcohol.”

“Wow, there really is a first time for everything,” I laughed.

“Hey,” she jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow.

We headed inside and ordered some food. It wasn’t as busy as I expected but looking at how many tables, the staff were clearing, it appeared we may have just missed the evening rush.

“Honest opinion, you’ve been at Written ink longer than most of us in the office. What do you think of the meeting?” Cleo asked.

“It’s strange, we’ve had 4 business changes over the 10 years I've been there. Each seemed to be better than the last one. This time I thought it would stick. But we have never merged with another site before. Listening to all the jargon and numbers they were throwing out, it makes sense. But then again, we don’t see what they see.”

“The work has been drying up though, that’s what’s worrying me most of all.”

“I agree it’s been drying up and that is a cause for concern, but if they can implement their plan with the sales, that should be a good start.”

“We just need to stop making all the stupid mistakes and throwing money down the drain at every turn.”

I burst out laughing, “Yes, and getting rid of management who are allowing that and forcing that to happen is the best start they can make. Let’s just hope they employ better people in those positions with different mindsets. Otherwise, this will all be one big fat waste of time.”

Just then a waiter came over with two drinks. “These are from the gentlemen at the bar.”

We looked over to see two guys smiling at us.

“Looks like the drinks are starting earlier than planned.” Cleo laughed, pulling one towards her.

Cleo slid the other glass over to me, and we raised them with a thank you to the guys. Once we finished our drinks and our meals, we headed down the street to the bar Cleo wanted to go to. The music was in full swing, and the crowd was starting to fill up. I worked on making my way to the bar to grab some drinks. Cleo managed to find a table for us; it was one of the only ones left.

Once I had our drinks in hand, the walk back to the table was the difficult part. People were dancing all around as the dance floor was basically anywhere, there wasn’t a table. I managed to make it back without spilling a drink onto myself.

“Maybe wearing white, was not the best idea.” I laughed at Cleo.

“Hey, you chose it!” She shouted over the music.

“You’re the one who put it out!” I laughed back.

“Joint effort.”