Downgrading Miss CEO novel Chapter 3

I walked into my office, my head pounding and my mouth dry. The few drinks Alison and I were supposed to get to relax, turned into getting drunk and dancing all night. By the time we were completely drunk and ready to go home, I tripped and fell. So now, instead of only nursing a killer hangover, I was also dealing with a sprained ankle.

I was only in for a minute when Allison walked into my office groaning, wearing big, dark sunglasses while carrying in two cups of coffee. "I'm never going out with you again. My head is throbbing in pain and my wallet is now crying because of all the money we spent on our drinks."

"Don't make funny jokes when I can't laugh at them. You forced me to go out with you, I would have been perfectly content with just sitting alone on my couch watching Grey's Anatomy and fantasizing about my own dr. McDreamy. Did you bring some Advil as well? My head is pounding." Alison tossed me a bottle of Advil she always carries in her purse, followed by a bottle of water. "Ali, you're a lifesaver," I said before taking two pills from the bottle and gulping them down with the water. "So, what's on my schedule for this morning?"

Alison, who was nursing her own hangover by taking some Advil, took out her planning for the day. "You have a board meeting at 11, you better pray for your hangover to be manageable by then. Can you imagine the senior board members seeing you like, well this? After that, you have a conference call with the west coast office at half past noon and finally, you'll have a late lunch with your sister."

I sighed thinking about the morning ahead of me. I hated the board meetings, conference calls, and all those things that required me having to sit down and talk about things nobody else really cared about. Sure, the development of the new resort in Hawaii was important, but not something that demanded endless meetings and conference calls.

"Oh, and don't forget about dinner tonight," Alison added to my schedule.

"Dinner? What dinner and with who?"

"You're having dinner with Jake tonight. You know, Brandon's college roommate? You agreed to it last night. You said, and I quote, 'Sure, why not? I have no time to lose in getting out there and find myself, someone, to marry'. You can't back out now, it's all set up." She said with a smug smile on her face.

I shot Alison a smile, she truly was the only person I looked forward to seeing every day. Sure, I had friends, or rather people to hang out with. Sons or daughters of my parents' friends, the people I grew up with. They were opportunistic and spoilt whereas Alison was genuine and a hard worker. She was like me. We both grew up with the luxury of money, but neither of us took it for granted, we valued things.

"Thanks, Ali, you're the best. Remind me to give you a great end-of-year bonus." I said before I got up from my seat and made my way to the file cabinet in the back of my office. "So, this Marc guy. You've met him? What am I in for?"

"Nice try there, Lucy. But I'm not going to spill. You would have to find out for yourself because you know what the problem is with expectations. They usually lead to disappointment." Alison made her way over to the door and gave me one more wink before she stepped out of my office and went to do her job.