Chapter 4

"Ruth!" Nora shouted with sarcastic enthusiasm. "Of all places. The steps? Really?" She said with a fake, cheerful smile still plastered on her face.

The queen of the evil witch clan, also known as Ruth, smirked with satisfaction at her sidekick, Melia.

"Oh we're sorry girls...is this where YOU usually sit?" Ruth said, obviously enjoying herself. "Yeah! Is this where you sit?!" Melia added. Ruth shot her an icy look as if to say, I like you, but only when you don't speak.

Nora allowed her fake smile to disappear from her face. "Listen. There's a whole campus full of places to sit and eat. Let us have our steps," she said seriously.

Ruth and Melia looked at each other, then resumed eating their lunches with no intention of moving.

"That's it," Nora mumbled under her breath. She marched toward the witches and began pouring her bottle of fruit punch onto Ruth's head.

"AHHHHHH! You bitch!" Ruth screeched. With that, she was up from the stairs and marching angrily away. Melia continued to sit on the step beside what was now a fruit punch puddle, her mouth hanging open in shock.

"MELIA! LET'S GO!" Ruth shouted back at her. Suddenly registering what was going on, Melia jumped up and scooted after Ruth like a puppy.

As soon as the witches' backs were to them, the three girls burst into laughter.

"Did you actually just do that?!" Lynn laughed. Ali had by this time dropped to her knees, laughing so hard she couldn't even make a sound.

"I sure did," Nora said confidently. "And she's going to get me back at some point for it. BUT DID YOU SEE THE LOOK ON HER FACE?!" Nora yelled, causing all three of them to yet again erupt into laughter.

Lynn enjoyed the rest of the lunch, despite the fact that thoughts of Rich were constantly blowing in and out of her head with the summery breeze. As 1pm approached, the full-on sick feeling had returned to her stomach.

"Lynny bynny, you look sad again," Ali said, her expression thoughtful.

"Yeah..." she didn't know what to say. Her friends were constantly having to put up with her extreme mood changes. "You know you guys are the best for not just ignoring me completely."

Nora and Ali glanced at each other with concern, as they often did whenever Lynn started thinking about Rich.

"Alright we're walking in the back door and not passing his office," Nora said with authority. Lynn looked at her with exasperation in her eyes, then realized it was probably for the best.

"Okay I guess that's a good idea," Lynn answered compliantly, trying to hide her feeling of defeat.

Lynn had managed to get back from lunch and spend the first couple hours of the afternoon hiding in her cubicle undisturbed by Rich. She was thankful to be busy with calls and paperwork if it kept her distracted and helped the time pass.

But as the afternoon came to a close, Lynn's steady flow of work was interrupted by a sudden presence just outside her cubicle. She looked up and saw one of the tech guys standing there, staring at her awkwardly.

"Umm, hi. Sorry if you've been standing there for awhile...I didn't realize anyone was there," Lynn said quickly.

"Oh that's okay," the guy said with an easy smile. "You seemed busy so I didn't want to bother you."

Lynn looked at him expectantly, waiting to find out what he wanted. He looked into her eyes for a few moments saying nothing, then shook his head as if suddenly remembered why he was there.

"Right! So, I heard you needed a new computer. They uh, sent me down here..." he paused awkwardly, then reached for the cart beside him and motioned to the new computer. "So can I um..."

"Uh, sure," Lynn answered, wondering what she had recently done to deserve the computer god's generosity.

He stepped into her cubicle as Lynn was getting up from her chair to move. But instead of getting out of his way, she accidentally bumped her knee into his and stumbled against the side of her desk. He quickly reached forward to grab her arm but instead of steadying her, he planted his hand directly on her butt.

They both looked down at his hand in horror, and before he could pull himself together enough to remove it, Lynn jumped passed him out into the hallway.

Within seconds she had ducked into Ali's and Nora's joined cubicle, letting her embarrassment cover her face in a dark red flush.

Ali looked surprised to her. "Hey girl! Wait...why are you blushing so damn hard?" Ali asked.

"He...touched...my butt," Lynn stammered.

"He WHAT? Who?" Nora, questioned, now interested.

"The guy...the techy guy. He was at my desk and then he was reaching for the computer and I was moving but I was in his way and then..."

"And then he touched your butt!" Ali half shouted.

"SHHHHH!!!" Lynn said aggressively, darting her eyes down the hallway to make sure nobody had heard.

"So, whatever! You don't even know the guy! He's just some nervous, awkward techy guy who was so blinded by your beauty that he subconsciously just had to touch your butt!" Ali teased. But Lynn was hardly amused.

"Well, by the sounds of it he'll be in my office for awhile so I'm going to just hang out here for a bit," Lynn said as she dropped her head down on the edge of Ali's desk.

Both Nora and Ali stifled a laugh as they turned back to their computers.

Well at least I'll have a new computer, Lynn thought to herself. Not that I have any desire to ever come to work again.