"Good morning Eliza" Henry said, walking into the meeting room and taking the seat next to her. "Rough night?"
Eliza was the first one there, sitting with her head down on the table. Lifting her head slightly, she gave him what he assumed was a withering look, but he couldn't tell for sure because of the dark sunglasses she was still wearing.
"Oh my god, you should have seen the club last night. It's this new spot that just opened, only VIP invited, totes amazing. Not that you would have appreciated it" she mumbled, head back down on the table. She held out her phone without looking at it, flipping through pictures of the night before in his general direction. "I'm not sure if I'm still drunk or just hungover. Today is so going to suck."
Henry chuckled, not feeling bad for her. He would never stay out so late on a work night, let along get drunk. Really, he barely went out at all on work nights. Or non-work nights. But she brought it on herself.
"Well you better pull yourself together before the executives get here. You were finally starting to win them over."
Eliza just groaned.
"Ok, maybe 'win them over' is overstating it. But they were starting to dislike you less. And that is a definite step in the right direction."
"Uh huh" she grunted, sitting up just enough root around in her purse.
Henry's attention was taken by some of his other colleagues entering the room and after pleasantries were exchanged, he turned back just in time to see Eliza dumping something into her Venti Caffè Americano. She proceeded to pick it up and chug at least half of the 20 oz. cup.
"Please tell me that wasn't what it looked like?" he asked, gaping at her.
"What?" she shrugged limply, "I need a pick me up, obv."
"Ok, yeah, but a 5-Hour Energy shot plus that espresso-on-steroids? That'll give you a stroke or heart attack or something!"
"Oh calm down, Grandpa" Eliza said, rolling her eyes at Henry. "I basically lived on this through college. You should try it sometime. Of course with how high-strung you are already, your head might pop off or something." The jolt of caffeine must have been working its magic quickly because she had at least managed to maintain an upright position and a little color had returned to her face.
"You know, experts have shown that your body gets better, long-lasting energy from natural foods and drinking at least 8 glasses –"
"Shhh"
Henry looked up to see Mr. Saperstein entering. Eliza wasn't sure which would be more painful to sit through, one of Henry's lectures on a day when she clearly wasn't up for it, or another boring ass meeting about stupid company stuff. She was having enough trouble remembering what the company even did at this exact moment.
"Do you think I can leave the shades on and sleep sitting up? No one would notice right?" she whispered to Henry.
Henry just shot her a disapproving look and shook his head. Eliza huffed and took the glasses off, tossing them in her purse and wincing as the bright light assaulted her eyes.
It was going to be a long day.
Only seven and a half more hours to go.