And now, she was paying for it.

Bette peered down the banister and sighed. Four and a half floors to go. Good thing she was alone, anyone else would’ve lost their footing if they had heard the disgruntled growl that she had unceremoniously let out. With no one to blame but herself, she trudged on.

After another minute passed by, she was still basking in her desolation when a shrill sound broke through her lonesomeness. She smiled in spite of herself. And though she was originally intent to spend the next few minutes concentrating on keeping herself alive, she reached inside her suit pocket and answered her cell.

“I thought you wouldn’t be able to call me until later tonight?” She teased, somewhat relieved to have some company – even if it was just a disembodied voice.

“Couldn’t wait that long.” The weary voice of her love answered without preamble.

“Missed me that much, hm?”

“Not really.” Tina deadpanned. “Gabe took his crew to shoot in Malibu this morning. I’m all alone in the office, everybody’s out. I guess I just missed annoying someone today.”

“So you called me?”

“Of course, who else would I call?”

“Someone else?”

“But I like annoying you..”

“You can never annoy me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Who lost our bet again and had to do an in-depth interview with Vanity Fair?”

“Shut up.”

“Case closed.”

“How’s LA?”

“Hot. How’s NYC?”

“Cold.”

“Wanna switch places with me?”

“No thank you, I’d rather join you there.”

“Me too babe. You’re not dating a different girl every night to keep warm, are you?”

“Of course not!” Bette categorically denied, shaking her head. “I date the same one each night.”

“…”

Bette chuckled. “You know I was just kidding. I’m having difficulty setting aside a few minutes for myself let alone find time to cheat and play the field.”

“I’m guessing things are still going crazy with the budget disputes?”

A work weary Bette sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, remembering her most recent meeting with the people from the Finance department. “Not as crazy as it was yesterday, for once I actually got them to talk to each other in words that didn’t involve bucketloads of fuck and other creative expletives. I’m telling you baby, those fucking bastards are all idiots. I can replace them all with pre-schoolers and get better results. At least the little ones only fight over toys and candy, those middle-aged fuckers fight over every single thing.”