Cinderella Man

That morning, after coping with her nightmare of a dream, Aubrey slowly made her way to work. Deliberately slow. She took her sweet time straightening her hair, doing her make-up to perfection, and it even took her a good thirty minutes to pick out an outfit.

Then she followed the speed limit to work, whereas usually she would be doing forty over the speed limit. She didn’t care about being late anymore. She was going to put this whole experience, Marshall included, behind her. Aubrey glanced to her passenger seat, her eyes lingering on the resignation paper.

She let out a heavy sigh. It seemed so easy- go in, give him the paper, and never show up again. But it wasn’t that easy. Not because Marshall would nag her to death to change her mind, but because she had feelings for him. She couldn’t deny them.

The feeling of his smooth skin against hers, the touch of his soft lips against hers, the way she would get lost in his baby-blue orbs – she couldn’t get him out of her head.

As she parked her car, Aubrey tossed out the pervious thoughts. She had to stop thinking about all his amazing qualities if she wanted to pull this off. She quickly grabbed the resignation paper and headed towards the record building.

It was amazing how she could go from being completely smitten with the man to wanting to stab him with a knife a hundred times within a second. She should have seen this coming. It had Marshall written all over it.

Aubrey approached the mob of protesters outside of the building, hoping to go by unnoticed. No luck. One lady, old and wrinkly with red hair, stopped in front of her. Aubrey glanced up at her picket sign, which read “Everything deserves the right to live.” Aubrey gulped, lowing her eyes to meet the crazy woman once again.

“Hi,” Aubrey smiled meekly.

The elderly, plump woman looked Aubrey over, “Grab a sign, young lady, and protest with us. We need as many people here to help protest against one of the workers here.”

“Why? If someone chooses to abort a fetus then that’s their choice, not yours.”

“Abortions are unethical!” the woman boomed without warning. Aubrey almost jumped from the sudden outburst, but gathered herself and quickly walked past the crazy, old woman. There was no way to change her views on the subject.

“You are not God to decide who gets to die!” the woman yelled behind her. Aubrey rushed inside the record building, catching her breath. Marshall was so dead.

…

He snickered as he watched Aubrey arguing outside with one of the protester. It was cute how her lips curved and her face formed into a frown. It was even cuter to see her running away from the woman with a helpless expression.

Not soon after that, his door swung open. He didn’t bother to turn around to face her. Instead, he kept staring out the window. “Beautiful weather we’re having,” he commented.

He could hear her heavy breathing as she tried to compose herself. “You think you’re fucking funny!!” she yelled. “Protestors? Really, Marshall?”

He pondered for a minute, “Isn’t it supposed to rain today?” He turned around to face her, his expression dead serious. He could have sworn the weatherman said it would rain, but why was it so nice outside?

She groaned in frustration. “You’re unbelievable!”

“Yes, I do get that a lot,” he snickered. “I like to think I’m an expert when it comes to the dirty.”

“Ugh,” Aubrey crumbled her resignation paper, throwing it at his feet. “Go fuck yourself, Marshall.” She whipped around and proceeded to storm out of his office. Just shy of opening the door, she felt him grab her arm. He spun her around, shoving her against the wall.

He pressed his body against hers, his breath mingling with hers as they both let out heavy breaths. His hands pinned hers against the wall with ease. “Have I ever told you how fucking beautiful you look when you’re angry?”

Aubrey was too stunned to respond. Her eyes were glued to his lips, begging him to kiss her. He slowly leaned in to kiss her, but stopped. “Don’t leave, Aubrey.” His voice was a whisper as he pressed his forehead against hers. “Please.” He had feelings for her. They were too strong to deny, too strong to let go of. He couldn’t fathom coming here and not seeing her hips sway side to side as she left his office. He didn’t want to let go of her smile, rare as it was, and her sarcastic, smart-ass attitude. He wanted her.

Aubrey groaned, her patience with him thinning. Marshall’s stomach sunk. He felt defeated. She wouldn’t falter. She was bent on her ways. But, to his surprise, what followed her groan was not rejection, not…it was more like music to his ears. “Just fuck me already.”