The Rebound Curse

I grabbed a toast on the plate and placed it in my mouth before gathering my work stuff. With one free hand I put on my heels, almost tripping myself in the way. I fixed my hair a little and brushed non existence dirt from my clothes. When I was sure I was ready, I took the piece of toast from my mouth and turned towards Foe who was currently on the couch, in her pajamas, with a bowl of cereal in her hand. Her eyes glazed lazily as she watched the TV.

“I’m off to work now. Call me before you go over your friend’s house or if they come over, kay?” She just grunted annoyingly, turning up the volume. I rolled my eyes and opened the front door.

“Have a fun Saturday and don’t burn down the house!”

She answered this time, “Can’t promise anything.”

And I was out the door.

Fortunately, I didn’t see Noah on Friday. Well, I did see him. I saw him when I was hurrying to the bathroom but he didn’t see me, since he was talking animatedly with an employee. Today, however, I definitely can’t ignore or avoid him because I was having a meeting with him.

I pushed the door open and Eric came rushed to my side like any morning with a Starbucks coffee on one hand. He took my bag and we hurriedly walked to my office.

“Don’t forget you have to go see Noah Jackson to go sign some papers and stuff,” Eric reminded me.

“Yeah, yeah,” I mumbled.

I sat down on my chair and began getting the paperwork ready. I stacked them neatly and placed it in a manila folder to which then I placed in my work case. It was about noon when Eric came to tell me that Noah had sent a car to pick us up. During the car ride, my legs kept shaking and my heart beat sped up as we neared the building. It started getting hot all of a sudden and it was if I could feel sweat rolling down my face.

I got out and smoothed down my green sweater dress and flipped some hair away. When I had bought this dress, Gabe told me that it brought out my eyes and that I looked “completely gorgeous” in it.

I took a deep breath, counted to five seconds, and then entered inside the building.



“Mr. Jackson is in a meeting right now. He told you to wait for him in his room, ma’am,” said the plump lady from before.

I nodded and walked through the doors to Noah’s office. I tried to make myself comfortable, sitting in front of the desk as I waited, but that proved to be almost impossible.

Giving up, I tried to keep myself busy by looking around the room. It was a big office. Bigger than mine, that’s for sure. The office had modern, sleek furniture in it. There was a huge glass window on one of the walls and you could see the entire city.

I kept looking around until they rested on a certain picture on his desk. It was a picture of Noah and his brother, Nick, doing the whole manly handshake thing. They looked young, probably in their college years. They look happy. Forgetting where I was for a second, I reached towards the picture and closely inspected it.

I couldn’t help but smile and feel relief. Noah’s eyes held no grudge for his brother in any way. It was better that he was mad at me instead of Nick. I’d hate to be in the middle of breaking their brotherhood bond.

The sudden sound of the door opening and closing scared me senseless, making me drop the framed picture on the floor. The glass broke and I immediately went on my knees to pick up the pieces.

“Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to break it. I was just looking at it and - oh.” I realized who had just walked in the room. I nervously tucked my hair and continued to try to clean the mess without cutting myself.

“Just leave it. I’ll get someone to come clean it.” I felt my face reddened as I got up from the floor, with the broken picture in one hand. I set it on the desk softly but it made a loud ‘CLANG’ which seemed to echo.

“I’m really sorry about the frame. I could buy you a new one or-”

“It’s fine,” he repeated, and walked over to sit on his chair, “Let’s just get this over with.”

I was surprised at the demanding tone in his voice. Albeit, I was just a bit hurt that he ignored the topic of the last time we saw each other. I inwardly scolded myself. I should be happy, not hurt.

“Alright,” I began taking papers out, “This is your contract. I understand that this is practically a multi-million wedding so you should probably have your lawyers go over the details with you.”

He pushed it aside, got up, opened a drawer, and came back up with a similar manila folder. “This is yours stating that if anything should go wrong with the planning, your company would take full responsibility. With a few exceptions, of course.”

I nodded and glanced at the sheet. I’d have to go over this with Eric or Jackie. I got up and took my hand out in front of him for him to shake.

“It’s a pleasure seeing you again. My assistant will arrange another meeting for us soon.” I kept it formal.

I turned around and began walking towards the door. A hand clamped down on my shoulder before I touched the cold metal handle. I was startled. Just a little. I turned around and looked at him curiously.

“Yes?”

“You forgot your pen.” I think he saw my face fell a little, because the ends of his lips curved up a tiny bit.

“Oh. Thanks,” I muttered and took the shiny, blue pen from him. What did I expect? A full blown explanation of the way he acted last night? Well, yeah. Of course he wasn’t going to. God, I’m such an idiot.

I walked out again, only to trip. I swore I saw his feet lifting up as if to make me trip on purpose. Maybe it was just a figment of my imagination?

Instead of my head colliding with the door or floor, Noah’s arms shot out around me protectively. I felt his warmth radiating to my back. It felt oddly nice for his arms to be around me like this.

I looked up behind me, “Thanks again…” I trailed off when I realized just how close we were. I looked at him awkwardly before carefully pulling myself away from him.

“Eh uh, I should get going. Thanks again and sorry about the picture frame.” I quickly walked out the door.

When I was out in the open world, I let out a long sigh I didn’t know I was holding. Then I realized that I was clutching on the pen. There were nail marks on my hand since I was holding it so tightly. I massaged the hand a little once I was in the car. What a weird moment back there…

I picked up the pen and noticed something.

I have never seen this pen in my life before.