Professor Tom Ch. 06

January 1, 2008. Humpf. What a hell of a way to start a new year........

Suzy had been artfully dodging Professor Tom's calls for the last two weeks. She stared at the pile of phone messages Donna, the receptionist, had given her. After the 7th message, she found a handwritten post it on the phone message.

Donna wrote, "Girl, are you going to return this guy's call or what?!"

Well, at least she thought she had been artful in her avoidance. After a few days, even her boss noticed she wouldn't pick up the phone. He asked her why.

"Uuummm, well, uummm, I'm answering it. Uuumm, well, I mean, sometimes I answer it."

Her boss said, "What do you mean you're answering it SOMETIMES? I just got a call from Nick over in purchasing who said our vendor has been trying to reach me for the last 5 days. He thought we'd gone out of business. Pick up the phone Suzy. It's not like I pay you a salary SOMETIMES, okay?"

"Sorry boss. It won't happen again."

Her boss stared intently at her. His eyes softened and he said, "You're not in some sort of trouble are you? I mean, well, do you need some money or something?"

Suzy laughed hysterically and said, "OH GOD NO, are you kidding?! I don't need money. I'm fine. Let's just say it's related to female issues."

"Oh hell no. Don't say another word. I DON'T even want to know what the hell "female issues" means. I am so not going to go down that path. I don't do it with my wife, much less my secretary." Her boss hightailed it out of her office.

She nearly jumped out of her chair when the phone rang as soon as her boss left her office.

She sat staring at the phone. She finally picked it up on the 5th ring.

"Uuummm, Hello, this is Suzy." she stammered nervously.

"Hey Suzy, this is Lisa. My goodness girl, you are hard to reach. I've been trying to get you for the last couple of days. Is everything alright?"

Suzy breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her best friend's voice on the other end of the line.

"Everything's good Lisa. What's up?"

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Suzy blew her bangs out of her eyes. Her eyes were blurry from reading the spreadsheet on the computer screen. She'd been close to figuring out why the numbers weren't balancing when her phone rang.

"This is Suzy."

"Suzy, it's Donna. There's a Mr. Smith here to see you. He says he doesn't have an appointment, but said you'd see him."

Donna lowered her voice and whispered, "Girl, I think it's that guy that's been trying to call you for the last few days. You want me to call security or what?"

"No, no, don't do that. It's okay. Just hold him there please. I'll come out to greet him. Just give me a few minutes. Don't let him come back here under any circumstances, okay?"

"No worries Suze. I'll keep him here."

She slammed the phone down.

"FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. What the fuck am I going to do?" she thought to herself.

She sat glued to her chair. Her mind was racing a hundred miles an hour. She didn't know what to do. She felt like puking up her lunch.

She knew she couldn't continue to avoid the issue. She got up from her desk and walked into the restroom.

She slowly breathed in and out trying to calm her racing heart. She leaned over the sink and looked up into the mirror staring at her reflection.

She stared back at her own brown eyes. She often wondered what it was that men found so appealing about her.

She knew she wasn't horrid looking. She herself though she was nothing special. She thought she was average looking. When people would stare at her, she would often turn around to see who was behind her, so sure she was that they weren't looking at her.

She was often told she was pretty. She guessed it was probably true. At least based on the stares of hate she sometimes got from other women.

The women who were her friends often complimented her on her clear skin, her perfectly arched eyebrows, and her straight Roman nose. She was also often complimented on her beautiful hair. At least that's what other people said.

She continued to breathe slowly in and out.

In the midst of crisis, we sometimes have a moment of lucidity. Well, it's either that or our mind goes totally blank. It's a coping mechanism designed to keep us from completely going bonkers in times of crises or emergency. Or during times when we are desperately trying to keep ourselves from looking like complete idiots. No matter. Either one actually gets the job done.

Suzy wracked her brain trying to figure a way out of the mess she had gotten herself into.

She thought to herself. "What should I do? Should I just run out the back door? Ugh....I'll look totally stupid if I do that. Oh God, Oh God. I don't know what to do."

That's when it hit her. For Suzy it wasn't a moment of lucidity, but more along the lines of a total blank.

"Do nothing" a voice in her head whispered. "Do nothing. Nothing at all. It never happened."

She stared back at her eyes reflected in the mirror.

She thought to herself, "THAT'S IT!! I'll do nothing. I'll pretend like it never happened. Oh my God, why didn't I think of that sooner?!"

She turned on her heel and ran out into the lobby......

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