Cheating

"What?" Maddie asked Ava when she came back inside and found her standing in their living room her arms folded across her chest, staring daggers at her.

"Do you care to explain to me the meaning of what happened at the shop earlier? Or are we supposed to pretend as if nothing happened?" Ava asked, not making any effort to hide her annoyance.

Maddie slowly sighed, "I'm sorry, I should have known Rickie would be able to trace my location."

Hissing in annoyance she brought out her phone from her purse and turned off her location on her phone because she knew that was how Rickie was able to find her.

"Maddie, you told me Rickie was the one who gave you his credit card and he permitted you to go shopping with it. So you can imagine how shocked I was when I heard him say you stole his card. What was the meaning of that?"

Maddie slowly shook her head and walked into their little bedroom and Ava followed behind her.

"Maddie, I'm still waiting for your explanation," Ava said as Maddie silently took off her clothes preparing for bed.

"Why did you take his card without his consent? We could have gotten arrested for theft. What were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

Ava went closer to her and realized she was crying.

"Maddie, what happened?" She asked, her voice now soft with concern.

Wiping her tears with the back of her palm, Maddie sat down on the bed. "I caught Rickie cheating," she said sniffling.

"What?" Ava asked in shock.

"When I got off work today, I decided to stop by at his place and..." Maddie's voice broke as she began crying again.

"Oh Maddie, I'm so sorry," Ava hugged her as she cried. After a while, Maddie stopped crying.

"I walked in on him with another lady in bed," Maddie chuckled humourlessly, "the most painful thing is that he wasn't even remorseful, instead he dared to ask me why I visited him unannounced. Like I need permission before I can visit my boyfriend."

"No, he didn't!"

"Yes, he did! I was livid Ava, I never imagined that he was cheating on me and the fact that he wasn't even sorry for what he did made it worse." Maddie paused for a moment to recollect herself. Ava passed her the bottle of water on their nightstand and she took a sip before she continued.

"He asked me to leave, that he was going to call me. Can you imagine the audacity? On my way out of his house, I saw his credit card on his coffee table and I took it."

"And you decided to punish him by spending the money on it," Ava finished for her.

"I know it sounds stupid, but that was the only thing I could think of at that time. I was pissed, Ava. I still am. That bastard cheated on me when he made me believe that we were in a monogamous relationship. What did I ever do to deserve such treatment from him?" More tears streamed down Maddie's. "I still can't get off the image of him and that girl in his bed," she cried.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Ava handed her some tissue to wipe her tears with. She felt sorry for her friend. Maddie has always been unlucky when it comes to men.

"I'm sorry you had to be embarrassed like that because of me," Maddie said after she had stopped crying.

"It's okay. Even though I would have appreciated it if you had told me what was going on. But it's fine. Please stop crying."

"I'm sorry. I already spoke to Mason and he said you aren't in any form of trouble because of what happened."

Remembering Mason and what he told her about putting on the nude pants to work tomorrow, a smile curved up Ava's lips.

"What is making you smile?" Maddie asked her.

"He wants me to put on the nude pants to work tomorrow."

"Mason?"

Ava nodded in response.

"You know what that means right?" Maddie asked, smiling for the first time since they got back.

"That he is actually stalking me?"

"No silly. It means that he likes you."

"Maddie! Need I remind you he is my boss?"

"So? Who said your boss isn't allowed to like you?" Maddie leaned closer, a mischievous look in her eyes, "I heard that office romance is...."

"Maddie please don't start!" Ava said, interrupting her.

"All I'm just saying is....."

"You should go into the bathroom and clean up because you look a hot mess," Ava said, pointing at Maddie's smudged mascara.

The expression on Maddie's face changed and she immediately threw the box of tissue in her hand at Ava, it landed on her face and they both started laughing.

***********

The following morning, Ava arrived at work dressed in nude pants, a black turtleneck top, and one of the stiletto heels Maddie had picked out for her at the shop. Ava felt confident in her dressing as she walked into the office building. She smiled to herself when the men at the reception couldn't keep their eyes off her as she walked past them. Even Nancy couldn't hold back her shock when she saw Ava.

"Good morning Nancy," Ava greeted her with a smile as she walked past her into Betty's office.

"Wow, you look..." Betty seemed to lack words to describe Ava's look as she walked in. It wasn't just her outfit, there was something different about her. She seemed more confident than she was, the previous day.

"Good morning Betty," Ava greeted.

"A good morning it is indeed. I love your pants," Betty said still staring at Ava.

"Thanks," Ava responded.

"Are you going somewhere?" Ava asked when she saw Betty packing her water bottle and her purse.

"Yeah, I need to leave, I got a call from my fiancé, we both need to go somewhere important. I already called Mason to let him know."

"You are going to come back right?" Ava asked.

"No, not today. But I will be back tomorrow."

"What? You are going to leave me here all alone?" Ava's heart was beginning to beat fast, as she thought of the sudden responsibility of becoming Mason's assistant. She had thought that the few more days that Betty was going to spend teaching her, would give her more time to prepare herself for the role.

She was yet to finish learning the ropes, and now she was going to be left to do things on her own. She wasn't ready.

Betty came closer and placed her hands on Ava's shoulders, "don't worry, you are going to do just fine. If you are confused about anything, just text me and I'll tell you what to do."

"Betty please don't leave me," Ava pleaded.

"Come on, you are going to do just fine."

Betty's phone started ringing and when she looked at the screen she said, "I have to go now. Remember to take Mason's coffee to him once it's 9 o'clock," with that said Betty dashed out of the office.