Chocolate Girls with Golden Hair (17 page)

On her way back to her desk, she saw
Michelle in the hall. Bianca dashed in her direction fast, but
before Bianca could reach her, Michelle headed in another
direction. It was obviously no accident. Michelle was definitely
avoiding her. Soon, the guilt crept into Bianca's heart, which was
soon replaced with regret. Michelle was her only real friend at the
firm, the only person she could talk to, and because of her actions
the night before, she had unintentionally damaged that
relationship, and Bianca didn't like herself for it. Michelle was a
good person, always stood up for her, and seemed to always be on
her side. Now Bianca may have severed that relationship with her
childish and selfish games. If only for the sake of a harmonious
work relationship, Bianca simply needed to apologize and there was
no way around it.

Bianca left Michelle a voicemail
message informing her that she wanted to talk. Patiently, Bianca
waited for Michelle's call. But the call never came. Two hours
later and still no word from Michelle. Bianca forced herself to
head over to Michelle's desk. She hoped to confront Michelle but to
her dismay, Michelle's desk was unoccupied.

Because Bianca remembered seeing her
earlier that morning, she was sure that Michelle was in the office.
She was just nowhere in sight. Bianca took an early lunch, grabbed
a sandwich from Au Bon Pain, then headed over to the art store
where Lee worked. Though she hoped to see Lee, he was in a meeting,
unable to see her. This was a first. Bianca found it weird that no
one seemed available for her today.

Was it a coincidence, or was she just
paranoid?

Upon Bianca's return to her office, she
saw Michelle, two other secretaries and Camina coming from the
lunchroom. Michelle's eyes barely shifted in her direction.
Coincidentally, Camina was wearing the same full-length red skirt
as Bianca.

"Hello," Bianca said, speaking to
everyone.

Everyone returned her greeting except
for Michelle, who strolled ahead of everyone else.

After everyone left, Bianca headed into
the lunchroom and stood at the coffee machine, about to pour
herself a cup of coffee. Soon she heard clacking high heels coming
in her direction. Her first thought was that it was Michelle, but
when she turned around, she saw Camina staring at her with her arms
folded.

Camina's eye's scrolled up and down
Bianca's skirt. "So, you're dressing like me now?"

Bianca ignored Camina's accusation,
poured herself some coffee and added two creamers.

"I don't know what kind of game you're
playing," Camina said. "But you are playing with the wrong one, and
I know you don't know much, but you should know that."

A nonchalant expression covered
Bianca's face. "Lighten up, honey. It's just clothes."

"It's more than that. What do you think
you will accomplish pretending to be someone else?"

"This is who I am." Bianca stepped
towards the table and sat down.

"This new attitude and look of yours
are going to take you somewhere you don't want to go."

"And where would that be?"

"Straight to hell."

"I guess I'll enjoy the
ride."

Camina huffed and puffed like she was
going to blow the house down.

It seemed everyone was able to see into
Bianca's future except Bianca, herself. They seemed to believe that
she was making some terrible mistake, but Bianca was having fun,
more fun than she'd ever had before. She had regained her will to
live, and she was not about to stop now.

Minutes later, she again tried to reach
Michelle on the phone, and Michelle kindly dismissed her, informing
Bianca she would call her back. For sure, that was not likely to
happen. Her attempts to connect with Michelle was going nowhere,
but Bianca was not easily discouraged. She was driven to talk to
Michelle even if it meant following her home.

Later that afternoon, almost at the end
of the day, Bianca spotted Michelle in the file room. Quickly
Bianca dashed inside after her and closed the door behind her.
Michelle sat in the lotus position surrounded by a pool of Redwell
folders.

Michelle seemed startled when she saw
Bianca standing before her. "Hi," Michelle said.

"Did you get my message?" Bianca asked
her.

Michelle continued placing the papers
from her lap into the file folders as if oblivious to Bianca's
presence. "I got your message."

"I want to talk to you about
last─"

Michelle was quick to cut Bianca off.
"You don't owe me an explanation."

"Will you let me finish?" Bianca
insisted.

Michelle stood up, holding four jammed
packed folders in her arms. "I have to get these files to Mitchell.
He's waiting for them."

"He'll have to wait a little
longer."

"What is it?" Michelle asked,
impatiently, with a hint of anger.

"Could you put the folders down for a
moment? Please!"

Michelle firmly placed the folders on
the table and stood against the filing cabinet. "What?"

"Thank you," Bianca said, then
elegantly hoisted herself upon the table. "You've been a good
friend to me, and I don't know why I behaved like that last
night."

"Yes, you do."

"Oh, yeah. Why?"

"Because you enjoy toying with
people."

Michelle's words brought a curt smile
to Bianca's face only because Michelle was right on.

"Yeah, maybe, but still, that doesn't
justify what I did."

"Don't worry about it," Michelle said,
as she began to pick up the Redwells.

"Well, it's not that simple," Bianca
said. "I like you, maybe not in the same way that you like me, but
I do like you as a friend and I value that."

Bianca stood up from the desk. "I'm
sorry for what I did. But I was angry with you for making up that
story about Camina. I never thought for one second that Camina held
those kinds of feelings for me, but I always suspected that you
did. Why did you make up that story?"

Michelle did not answer, but instead
raised her shoulders. "I should probably go."

Bianca pushed her hair behind her left
ear. "Will you answer my question first?"

"It was easier that way, I guess. I'm
sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Bianca
said.

"Why? Why are you sorry?" Michelle
asked.

"Because."

But before Bianca would explain, their
conversation was soon interrupted by the receptionist paging
Michelle.

"You should probably go," Bianca said.
"I know your boss is waiting for you."

"He'll just have to wait a little
longer."

"You're going to get into trouble,"
Bianca said.

Michelle picked up the phone on the
desk and called the receptionist and learned that it was her boss
paging her. She then dialed her boss's extension and rattled off
some excuse about not being able to find all the files, before she
hung up from him. Michelle was then quick to redirect her attention
back to Bianca. "You were saying."

By this time, Bianca had lost her train
of thought. "What was I saying?"

"You were going to tell me why you were
so sorry about what you did."

"Right. I don't want to lose you as a
friend and I know I upset you last night, maybe even disappointed
you."

In a curious tone, Michelle asked, "Are
you attracted to me at all?"

Bianca smiled and said, "Sort of, in a
friendly sort of way, but I'm not like that. I guess I just wanted
to see how far you would go."

Michelle nodded like she understood,
but Bianca could tell that she didn't.

"What about Edward. I thought you were
so in love with him."

"I am, but..."

"But what?"

"I like you, too─it's complicated,
that's why I've always insisted on the three of us going to lunch,
afraid you might pick up on my vibes if we were alone. I've always
liked you, always been attracted to your kindness, even after what
happened to your family, you still continued to be such a kind
person, up until recently."

They both shared a good
laugh.

"Have you always felt this way about
women?" Bianca asked.

"No. Just you. You're very
pretty."

"No prettier than you are."

Michelle blushed and inhaled a deep
breath as if it were a much needed compliment. "Thank you for
saying that."

"You're welcome." After a short
silence, Bianca said, "Michelle, there's one more thing that has me
a little puzzled. Why were you so insistent on setting me up with
someone else if you felt this way?" This was something that Bianca
often pondered with no resolve.

"Curious, I guess," Michelle said. "I
wanted to see if you might be interested?"

"So, maybe if I weren't interested in
meeting your friend, then perhaps, maybe, I liked
women."

"Something like that." Michelle paused.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Bianca, but I'm concerned that
you're going to get yourself into some real trouble with this new
attitude of yours."

Bianca had heard that speech from just
about everyone except the President. She didn't know how many more
times she could succumb herself to this sappy lecture. "What kind
of trouble could I possibly get into?"

"I don't know, but you're behaving so
differently, and I just have this feeling that you might get
involved in some kind of situation that you won't be able to
handle."

"After everything that has happened to
me in the last couple of months, I can handle anything."

"I hope so," Michelle said. "Anyway,
I'm glad that we talked."

Bianca stepped to Michelle and wrapped
her arms around her, and they shared a long hug.

"You're not going to try and kiss me
again, are you?" Michelle asked playfully.

Bianca pulled away from Michelle and
smiled, almost laughing. "No," Bianca said.

"Too bad. It was nice."

"Yes, it was."

Chapter 12

BIANCA STOOD PERFECTLY STILL IN the
file room as the echoes of her intimate talk with Michelle rang in
her ears. As Michelle headed towards the door, Bianca remembered
Michelle's warm words, and she was glad they talked. Almost out the
door, Michelle turned to face Bianca and flashed her huge smile.
"You may look different on the outside, but you're still the same
good person that you always will be. See you around,
Bianca."

And Michelle was gone.

Michelle's honey-coated words warmed
Bianca's heart. Her eyes stayed focused on the closed door, and she
continued to relive her poignant moment with Michelle. The layers
beneath Michelle's exterior made her even more of a remarkable
woman, and on many levels, Bianca was flattered. Incredibly
flattered.

Thursday afternoon.

Bianca came from the ladies' room after
gulping down a quarter bottle of Chardonnay. With her boss out of
the office, Bianca was left with too much idle time on her hands.
Except for answering the phones, which rang sparingly, she was left
with absolutely nothing to do. She listened to her desk radio while
she made a list of her new outfits. She wanted to figure out how
she could work six new outfits into a 5-day work week
schedule.

It was close to five o'clock when
Bianca saw a flustered Camina, heading out. She was bundled in her
fur-collared coat with a designer hat to match, and she was in
tears. Having never seen Camina cry before, Bianca was startled by
the experience. Wherever Camina was headed, she was in a huge
hurry.

Denise Sterns, the floor coordinator,
in charge of finding coverage for the attorneys working past five,
approached Bianca's desk fast. "Bianca, I hate to impose on such
short notice, but Bruce has a huge deal going on this evening and
needs some help. Do you think you could help him out?"

That was music to her ears. "Of course,
I can help him."

This was the opportunity Bianca had
been waiting for─a chance to acquaint herself with the attractive
and sexy Mr. Bruce Colby, and she couldn't wait to let Bruce know
that she would be working for him.

As Denise left, Michelle approached
Bianca. "Did Denise ask you to work for Bruce?"

"How did you know?"

"Because she was asking
everyone."

"What happened to Camina?" Bianca
asked.

"That's what everyone wants to know,"
Michelle said. "She was upset about something."

Thirty minutes later, Bianca finished
making revisions to the document Bruce gave to her. Quick to return
it to him, she stood at the entrance of Bruce's office door, which
stood ajar. She observed him dictating into his handheld recorder,
and then stepped inside his large corner office. He was not wearing
his suspenders that she liked so much, still his crisp white shirt
and clean-shaven face turned her on the same.