A Charitable Scandal

The Morning Gossip

I left not long after, my thoughts so consumed with dissecting my interactions with Alec that I almost missed my stop. It led to a night of tossing and turning before waking up to another early morning. This time, though, I didn't head out well before the sunrise in hopes of getting a leg up on work. Instead, I was hoping to secure a private audience with Emi who had apparently taken my advice to heart and was coming to work at the crack of dawn every day since the announcement.

I knew her time was valuable. Colin had divided his team up into little committees, something along the lines of music, food, decorations, etc. Emily had been given lead over the venue hunt and considering just how quickly we'd need to solidify that, she was working overtime trying to find the gala a worthy location.

As expected, she was in early and thankfully the only other person in the office was Theo, who was often in early to respond to social media users in different time zones. The recent graduate gave me a cheerful wave and wished me a good morning, before returning to his work. His cubicle was thankfully some distance away from our side of the floor and I hoped our glass door would provide enough of a sound barrier to keep my conversation with Emi inside our office.

As I dropped off my stuff and hung up my jacket, Emily didn't do more than a quick wave to acknowledge my presence. She was too busy wading through correspondence emails pulled up on both her computer and her tablet, to offer me more than that. I wasn't even certain she could spare the moment to discuss Alec's strange behavior, but I figured I could always play the best friend card if she tried to brush me off. Fortunately, the second I asked for some quiet gossip, Emily sprung at the chance to pull herself away from her glowing computer screen.

"I could use the break," she said with a grateful sigh. "I almost considered going out there and talking to Theo, but he has the energy of a shepherd puppy and I'm not sure I can absorb that much positivity so early in the morning. It's been rough coming in before the sun is even up and then finding him already here, bright and perky, while I'm still a cup of coffee away from being human."

"He's like twenty-two," I said with a light laugh. "Try not to compare yourself to him."

"Ugh, don't remind me," she said with a shake of her head. "When did thirty become old?"

"I wouldn't know," I said with a devious grin, "I'm only twenty-eight."

"Alright," she said, bracing her fists against her hips, "I'm starting to reconsider my generous offer to hear you out. Your gossip isn't worth the aggravation."

"I'm, I'm sorry Emi," I said, my voice dropping along with my eyes.

"Hey, I was just kidding," she said, reaching out and giving my shoulder a squeeze. "What's up? It must be really something if you came in early just to catch me. I hear you and Mr. Radcliffe have been burning the midnight oil together these past two nights."

A blush touched my cheeks and a slight hunch marked a trembling cower that rippled through me. Even before I voiced my questions, I somehow felt Emily was already on the verge of answering them.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, watching her response from the corner of my eye.

"That you two have been working late. What else could it mean?" She sat up straight with a bounce of surprise. Her mouth in a loose small O shape and her brows raised with curiosity.

"I don't know, it's the way you worded it. It just sounded a little, I don't know, accusatory..."

"Accusatory? Wait, you think..." She slapped a hand to her mouth as a dawning hit her. "Oh no, I wasn't saying you guys were up to, well I don't even know. Not that anything funny was happening."