-----------***-----------

I check myself one last time before I straighten out all of the portfolios and ideas that I printed out the night before. I glance at the clock again, thirteen minutes. Donna has come in and asked me if I'm going to be okay about one hundred times today and it's kinda sweet but she's starting to piss me off. I don't need any one else to doubt me, I'm doing that enough right now.

"Here's a glass of water Ashlynn. Listen, you are going to do great, I know it."

"Thanks Donna, do I look okay."

She shakes her head enthusiastically, "I love what you did with your hair."

I run my fingers through the curls that took me almost an hour to achieve and let out a sigh of relief, "Thanks. Let me know when they get here?"

"Will do."

I glance back at the clock; eight minutes. My stomach drops a little but I sit down and try not to think about anything but dazzling the shit out of Justin. He is going to wish that he never stepped into this office.

The eight minutes go by way to quickly and before I know it, Donna voice is floating from the phone, telling me that 'Mr. Timberlake and Mr. Ayala are waiting outside my office.'

"Let 'em in Donna."

A few seconds later, Donna pushes open the door and allows Justin and Trace to step inside my office. I stand from my seat and plaster a smile on my face and extend my arm. Trace still looks as uncomfortable as every but he takes my hand anyway and gives me a polite and quiet Hello. I look back at Justin, he's wearing the pink polo that I love so much. The same pink polo that I bought for him, I knew he would do it.

And he knows that I know that he would do it because he has that smug smile on his face. You know the one,the
I-know-you-love-this-shirt-on-me-look. I hate him. I outstretch my hand to him anyway and make my smile even wider, "Mr. Timberlake."

He grabs my hand harshly and shakes it, "Ms. Summers, I like what you did to your hair."

I know you do, "Would you two like some coffee or something?" I ask, ignoring his comment.

"I'd love some, black." Justin says, staring me right in the eyes.

"Donna, could you bring Mr. Timberlake some black coffee please?"

She nods and quickly exits the room. I smile again and sit down back at my desk. I throw my hair over my shoulder and look back up at the two of them, "Lets get down to business shall we? I've taken the liberty in preparing some portfolios for you two look at, so you can get an idea of what you are looking for." I say motioning to the booklets at the edge of the desk.

Justin grabs two of the books and throws one at Trace. They glance through them for a minute while Donna sets Justin's coffee down at the edge of my desk, "I don't like any of this." Justin says, taking a sip of coffee.

"What do you mean, you don't like any of it?" I ask, through my gritted teeth.

"I don't like any of this stuff. I want something more original." He says, sitting back into the chair.

"Well, I kinda like this one-"

"Shut up Trace." Justin says, not breaking his eye contact with me.

That asshole. If he only knew how fucking long I worked on this shit, I stayed at Kinkos all damn night of Friday to get this shit printed off. But, I won't let him break me, I won't, "Fine, what is it that you would like your new logo to look like and what kind of ideas you have for advertising?"

So, for the next hour and a half Justin and I argue back and forth about what he wants, and what I can do. First, he says he wants the main color to be red. Then, I drew a quick sketch, with my red marker, because he said he wanted red and then all of a sudden, he wanted everything to be blue. Trace just sat there like a bump on a log as his eyes darted between me and Justin.

"You know what," I say, "I'm just sketching what you tell me you want, and then you go and change your damn mind. What is it that you want, Justin?"

"Are you suppose to refer to me by first name? It's not like we know each other outside of business." He says, raising his eye brown at me.

"I will refer to you by any name that I want, this is my office. Do you see my name on the desk here? That means, I call the fucking shots around here."

"I don't think that you should use language like that with a client." He says.

I suck on my teeth and turn to Trace, "Mr. Ayala-"

"Just call me Trace, Ash, Jesus."

"Fine, Trace, did you see anything that you liked?"

He puts his head in his hands, "Please don't put me in the middle, I'm exhausted just watching you two."

I click my nails on the desk and close my eyes, "I think we should just... call it a day and set up something else for another time. Then, that will give you guys time to think of what you want."

Justin stands abruptly and turns and walks right out of the office. Trace, on the other hand, stands up slowly, picks up one of the booklets he was flipping through and looks up at me, "Do you mind if I take this with me?"

"It's no problem."

"I'm sure I can get him to warm up to something in here, just let me talk to him. Thanks for your time Ash."

I smile genuinely at him, I thought that he was going to be a bigger prick than Justin but I was very wrong, "No problem Trace."

He offers me a small smile and walks out behind Justin. Um, I guess that went well? Damn, instead of knocking it out of the park, I walked him. Hmm, I guess watching baseball with Chris is paying off a little.

-----------***-----------

"You haven't told her yet have you?" Trace asks me as I throw the two booklets he bought from Ashlynn's office into my desk drawer.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, locking the drawer.

"You haven't told Kim that we're working with Ashlynn. That's why you're locking those books up."

"That's not true." I say.

"Do I look like an asshole? I've been your best friend since birth."

I sigh loudly and rub my forehead, "No, I haven't told her yet." Trace chuckles but I cut him off before he can say anything smart, "Listen, she would freak out if she found out, okay? I don't need that shit right now."

"Dude, you're the one that wanted to play this game. You are the one that said you wanted to show Ashlynn that you've moved on and blah, blah, blah. This is all on you."

"Do you not think that I know that? Ashlynn started with me the other day-"

"No, she didn't. She freaked out just as much as you did when we walked into that office. You're just being an asshole."

"What is with you Trace? One minute you hate her, the next you love her. Pick a damn side."

He throws up his hands in defeat and grabs his keys off of the desk, "Whatever man, I'm going. We have another meeting with Ashlynn on Thursday, don't forget."

"Oh, I won't."