It’s a cliche, right?
Handsome, nearly forty-year-old boss bachelor hits on one of his employees. Tries to have his way with her at every turn. Corners her in her office, traps her in his office, takes her out for dinner with no one else.
It would be the stuff of MeToo nightmares if it wasn't for the fact this guy was that girl's ex-boyfriend. And the girl was me.
The fact we had a relationship didn’t make any of this acceptable, mind you. But I can understand how people fall back into relationship patterns.
Every day that went past, spending hours near each other, or directly working together, I could feel the sexual tension resurfacing.
It wasn't what I wanted. It was like my body reverted to the pattern.
In a way, it wasn’t it ever went away.
Our relationship hadn’t fizzled out when he decided to break it off with me. We were hot and heavy before suddenly we weren’t.
Now, in these close surroundings, I wondered what other people thought of these moments between us.
Did the staff who were walking past me, ignoring my eye contact, think I was off limits?
Or to them, was I the office slut, as they assumed Douglas and I were shagging, and that’s how I got the job?
I found myself drafting an email to the office.
To whom it may concern,
I’m Andie, and I’m a designer.
Not a woman of ill repute. Not someone who wants to get it on with our boss, though I used to shag him senseless for months on end. But I’m not here because I’m trying to get back together with him or because I still fantasise about him.
Ok, the second part is a lie.
I do still see him naked in mind, when I’m showering, writhing around in bed, and when I see lingerie in stores. But I don’t want to get back together with him, nor do I want to act on the muscle memory. No, nope, not at all.
So don’t avoid me, come say hi, I promise I’m not trying to shag you either.
Cheers. A.
I of course deleted this email. Like I was ever going to send it. Yet, I felt like at some point I had to clarify my stance, have my final word on things.
Perhaps it was because my friends didn’t seem to care about my feelings when it came to working with my ex. I suspected the complete strangers in this office wouldn’t care much, either.
There was another email waiting for me, once I had trashed my draft. It was from Sophia and it was to the entire design team.
Yes, I was part of a team, and I had assistants, too. Not that any of them wanted a bar of me. Sophia said she needed to see fabric samples before her buying trip next week.
Before I could give them to her, though, I needed the assistants to put together a short brief to go with it.
It would require having a conversation with the people ignoring me.
Fuck, this was all getting a little too hard to handle.
You’re reading The Andie Chronicles, the 2023 romance-fiction series from the 1 Lovelock Drive (1LD) universe.
By the way, this all started when Andie turned thirty-five, and her then-boyfriend didn’t call her.
Or the day after that.
Or the day after that, too.
Everything started to unravel when her BFFs got into bed with her ex, too… ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
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A little lost on what’s happening at 1 Lovelock Drive?
Well, you see, Andie’s break-up started back in February and so much has happened since then. These stories will help you catch right up! xx