Someone on the inside

It was well past 8 o'clock on Tuesday evening when I finally got around to reading the email that Jeff had sent me about the new company he was joining. I skimmed my inbox past the holiday groupons and retail sales to where it had sat untouched in my inbox since Friday. Glancing around - it felt wrong to read an email about a new job when sitting at your current one - I confirmed for not the first time that night that I was one of about three people in the whole office at this hour. 

I pulled it open and clicked through a bit. Their website design was crazy colorful and eye-grabbing, which was exactly what you'd expect from a young start up. It was called Gathr (I assumed pronounced 'gather') and from what I could gather (see what I did there?) was a marketing platform that perused all of a company's social media channels, compiling intel, information and analytics about how often things were being shared. 

I rubbed my eyes, careful not to mess up the now 14-hour old mascara job, and leaned back in my chair. I didn't want to leave Platform, at least not in the eager way I had wanted to before my promotion. But I was still so early and unestablished in my career that any decisions I made now would probably set the path for the rest of my life. 

I replied to Jeff, figuring that it wouldn't hurt to at least meet with the guys he had mentioned. The company was intriguing, if a bit out of my league tech-wise. Making a mental note to call my Dad and discuss it later this week, I shut off my computer and headed home.


As I walked into my apartment, I was ridiculously happy to see Ash sprawled out on the couch watching The Mindy Project. Between work and going to Philly, I hadn't spent more than 30 seconds at a time with her since last week. 

"Hey you!" I  said, dropping my keys and absentmindedly flipping through a stack of mail she had left on the table. 

"Hey!" she said, pushing a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "How was work?" 

"The usual," I replied, shrugging off my trench coat and going to sit with her on the couch. I helped myself to a handful of her burnt popcorn.

"So.." she started. "How was the wedding?" Ash asked, lowering the volume on the television where Mindy was undoubtedly spewing off hilarious one-liners to Danny.

"It was... good," I started, before filling her in on all of the details - from Kara's bathroom remarks to the papers I had found in Dylan's room. She absorbed each detail quietly, nodding her head when appropriate but otherwise not interjecting.

"Jeez," she said once I'd finished. "Well for starters, don't worry about Kara. From everything you've told me she just sounds like a drama queen who is looking to shit all over everyone else's love life." 

"I get that feeling too," I said, picking at a loose thread on my blouse.

"As for the transfer thing... I don't think it's that weird that he didn't tell you. Especially since you never even seemed to want him to move here. I think you can let it slide."

I nodded, "I did let it slide. I just felt so... weird that he didn't want to tell me. I don't know, I kind of get the feeling that he keeps a lot of stuff from me." 

"I can see that," she replied, throwing me off a little at how quickly she agreed. But I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to seem defensive when I had just accused him of what she was agreeing with.

"Anyway," I said, eager to steer the subject away from my looming doubts about my relationship, "How was your weekend? We hardly talked."

"It was good," she said, as a sly smile pulled at her lips. "I saw Trevor." 

"Oh did youu," I remarked, wiggling my eyebrows. 

"Yes, we went on an actual date in fact," she said, keeping her gaze away from mine. 

"Ah! Where!" 

"He took me to this Italian BYOB near his place," she said, and at the mention of 'his place', I immediately thought 'Nick's place'.

"How was it?" I asked.

"The food or the man?" 

"Both," I replied with a grin. 

"Food was okay, man was fabulous. I slept over." 

"Oh my god!" I squealed, nearly jumping off the couch. I was so excited that Ash was finally actually pursuing a good guy. Determined not to let my mixed feelings about the fact that he was Nick's roommate interfere, I kept the grin on my face long after it was necessary. "I'm so excited for you."

"Calm down," Ash said, laughing at my over-eager response. "It's only been like two dates, it'll probably all fall apart." But even as she said it, she couldn't suppress the tiny smile that was forcing its way onto her face. 

We chatted for awhile longer about the details of Erica and Ryan's wedding, Ashley's date and other miscellaneous things. Around 11:00 I became too aware of the heaviness of my eyelids, and was about to go call Dylan before taking a hot shower when Ash stopped me.

"Dani?" she asked tentatively, as I was heading back to my room. 

"Yeah?" I asked, turning to face her but keeping my eyes on the work email I had been reading. 

"There is one quick thing I meant to tell you.. and I don't know if you even care or want to know," she started, and I instantly knew that it was about Nick.

"What?" I asked, trying to sound calm and nonchalant. Internally I was bracing myself for a blow.

"On Saturday when Trev and I got home from dinner, it was pretty late, like 1:30 or something since we grabbed drinks after. Anyway, when we got back to his place, Nick had a girl over."

"Oh," I said, trying to sound indifferent. "Well, um, who was she?"

Ashley shrugged. "I didn't get an introduction, and when I asked Trevor he said he had never seen her before. I'm sorry, I don't know if you want to know these things or not..." she trailed. 

"No, Ash, it's totally fine. Thanks for telling me. But really, what Nick does is his business. I mean I have a boyfriend... it's only natural that he should be dating too. Especially since he's on that show now," I gave her a weak grin to try and prove that my words were genuine. "I wish you'd been on the inside a few months ago, but now.. it just doesn't matter to me."

Ashley nodded but didn't say anything else. 

"'Night", I said, heading back down the hall to my room. I flopped onto my bed and gazed at my phone. I had come in here to call Dylan, I reminded myself. But instead I found myself scrolling through until I found Nick's name. I hovered over it for a beat too long before shutting the phone off altogether.