Rhea's

“You guys can come at seven,” said Rhea.

Those six words throbbed in her head as she hung up the phone. 

“SEVEN?!” she shrieked to herself.

As the stench of the day clung to her clothes, she slowly inhaled, peeled herself off the couch, grabbed her keys from the countertop, and headed toward the door. As the door slammed behind her...exhale.

“Cara, Sam, Matt, Leroy, and Dean, that’s four, and I make five, so…” Rhea mumbled while tapping on the steering wheel with her fingers, trying to calculate how many beers she’d need to buy.

“Dean is a drinker, like me, so at least a six-pack.

"Leroy told me he wants to stop drinking because alcohol makes him bloat.” 

“Cara usually never comes over empty-handed, so it should be okay, but she also brings the cheap stuff, and it always ends up in the fridge for months.”

At the red right, she tapped her phone to turn on the display: 6:13.

“I don’t know why I always do this!"

“I hope Sam doesn’t decide to bring anyone last minute; I am not up for cordial “new people” talk.”

“I definitely won’t have any time to clean before everyone shows up… oh well,” she thought to herself as she waited.

The light turned green, and she made a left and pulled into the parking lot at Trader Joe’s. 

Before she even managed to step inside the door…

“Rhea!” she heard a voice calling from behind.

Kian, her coworker, was charging at her, like a bull, with his shopping cart. 

“Why is this strange man running at me? I’m literally not going anywhere,” she thought as she brushed her fingers over her ear, wishing her headphones were there.

“How boring was that meeting today?” Kian said while simultaneously sighing.

" Oh, he's from work..." Rhea thought.

She hated small talk and only vaguely knew who this person was in front of her, but entertaining his rhetorical questions seemed to be the fastest way out of that conversation.

“So boring,” she said.

“Yeah, I wish they’d just send us an email, right?”

Rhea just stared and nodded at him without saying a word, a blank expression on her face. She was still trying to figure out who he was.

Well, at least the weekend’s finally here! Any big plans?”

“I’m having some friends over for a few beers. You should come!” 

Rhea’s lips moved, and the words came out of her mouth before she could understand what was happening. 

The people-pleaser persona inside of her came out to play. Like a hidden demon who lived in the shadows, it waited for the worst time to strike. She had no control over it.

“Did I really just invite a stranger to my house?” she thought.

“Sounds fun; what time?” he asked eagerly.

Unable to conjure up a valid excuse, she muttered “seven” under her breath and walked away awkwardly.

Still shuddering from the cringe-worthy encounter with the random guy, Rhea got into her car and checked her phone again: 6:34.

“Shit! The beers!” she thought as she was reversing out of the lot at Trader Joe’s.

It was too late, and her fragile ego wasn’t strong enough to handle re-parking and going back into the store. Facing “that guy” again would only make her feel more regret and resentment towards herself.

“Hey Siri, take me to the nearest grocery store,” she said out loud as she glanced at Trader Joe’s in the rear-view mirror in shame.

“Taking you to Trader Joe’s,” said the voice from her car.

“No, Siri, not there!” Rhea cried irrationally.

Frustrated with the car’s lack of empathy and common sense, she pulled over to the side and frustratingly typed in “convenience store” on her phone, praying that the words "Trader Joe's" wouldn't even appear.

Before setting her phone down, she peeked at the time once more: 6:41.

Rhea slammed her car door shut as she rushed inside the CVS and made her way to the back of the store. She grabbed the most expensive six-pack of IPA in the fridge and walked towards the snack aisle.

Annoyed that the chips and salsa weren’t exactly next to each other, she frantically snatched a bag of tortilla chips and then dragged her feet to the other side of the store for the salsa.

“31.99, please,” said the unenthusiastic cashier.

Rhea tapped her card on the reader and said “no” automatically, knowing the cashier would ask if she wanted to donate a dollar to fight cancer.

She grabbed her bag and swiftly walked to her car.

“I’m not a bad person,” she repeated in her head.

As she fumbled with her keys, she felt a vibration in her pocket.

“Hey, you ran away so fast before, I didn’t get a chance to ask if I should bring anything!” - read a text from a random number.

"It's him," she thought.

She set the bag on the floor and replied: “Hi, no worries! Just yourself, haha.”

Visibly blushing, she put her phone back in her pocket and then smacked her head three times as if that would help her remember who this guy was and how he had her number.

After shaking the “ick” off, she picked the bag off the floor, got into her car, and pushed the button to start it.

“Hey Siri, take me home,” she said.

“Taking you home,” said the voice.

As she drove home, she couldn’t help but replay the events that just transpired in her mind. All she had to do was say two simple words... just two words…“No plans.”

“You have arrived at, “home,” said the voice.

With "the goods" in hand, Rhea turned her arm and glanced at her wrist: 6:59.

“Now that’s what I call good timing!” she thought to herself while opening the door.

She turned the key in the lock.  

“SURPRISE!” they're all cheerfully shouting in unison. “Happy Birthday, Rhea!”

As she's shaking her head, trying to refocus her hazy sight, the first thing Rhea notices is the giant imprint on her cheek reflected on her laptop screen. She lifts her gaze beyond the screen to see about 20 coworkers hovering over her cubicle, Kian holding a box of cupcakes from Trader Joe’s.

"HR," Rhea thought. "He's from HR."