At lunchtime that day Charlie could be found in Accessorize, searching for a sparkly ring that could pass as an engagement ring to the drunken, untrained eye.

"Are you okay there?" the smiley girl who always served Charlie (she spent a lot of time in there, magpie that she was) asked her. "Can I help you at all?"

Charlie shook her head automatically. "Oh no, thanks, I'm fine." The girl smiled and moved to walk away. "Actually, maybe you can," Charlie said impulsively. "If you were going to pretend to be wearing an engagement ring, what one of these would you choose?" She held out two rings with sparkly "jewels" afixed to them.

The girl's smile flickered ever so slightly. "Um - what?"

"Well, I kind of like this one, with the pink stone, personally," Charlie said, looking down at it contemplatively. "I've never really been one for diamonds, you see. So if I was actually engaged, I'd probably want a pink stone. Or maybe purple. But perhaps the one with the fake diamond looking thing looks more realistic?"

"You know these aren't actually engagement rings, right?" the girl asked. Her tone was still perfectly nice but she looked very very confused.

"Oh yeah, of course I know that." Charlie nodded vigorously. "Trust me, I wouldn't buy a real engagement ring from here. No offence" she hastened to add.

"None taken," the girl reassured her. "But can I ask why you want a fake engagement ring in the first place?"

No, Charlie thought to herself, suddenly realising that the girl thought she was insane, and the truth probably wouldn't help. "It's a . . . deterrent," she said, trying to look as normal as possible. "You know how sometimes when you're out, if you flash a ring at weirdos, they stay away from you?"

The girl laughed and held out her own be-ringed engagement finger. "I usually find the opposite happens." Of course you do, Charlie thought bitterly, her own bright smile slipping for a second. "I think you're probably best to go for the diamond one in that case. Yeah?"

'Sounds good to me."

Outwardly, Charlie smiled. Inwardly, despite knowing she was being completely unreasonable, she suddenly hated smiley Accessorize girl. This was what she was competing against after all.

Clutching her new fake engagement ring tightly, she headed back to the office. And, of course, the first person she saw when she arrived there was Mr Aaron "I Only Want What I Can't Have" Ward himself. Oh, and looky there, who was he chatting up but Belinda. Their newly engaged colleague. She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she reluctantly approached them. 

Aaron immediately looked uncomfortable, which seemed to be his default expression around Charlie these days. "Alright?" he muttered, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"I am indeed," Charlie announced breezily. She turned to Belinda and looked pointedly at her ring finger. "Wow, Belinda, I honestly cannot believe how gorgeous that ring is," she added. "So when's the big day?"

"August." Belinda beamed proudly. "We're doing it as soon as possible."

"Oh that's lovely!" Charlie smiled, shooting a sidelong look at Aaron as she did so. He clearly wasn't sure what she was playing at. She hadn't been sure either, but suddenly inspiration struck. "You know, I was just in Accessorize and the girl behind the counter was engaged. She said the ring seems to attract men, rather than putting them off. Weird eh? Do you find men have been sniffing around you more?"

This may have came across as inappropriate from anyone else, but everyone knew Charlie was a law onto herself - one colleague had once called her the Queen of Verbal Vomit; and a more cutting co-worker had once told her "you really should start thinking before you open your mouth - and then just don't say anything" - so Belinda wasn't shocked at the question, she simply giggled, contemplating. "I've not really noticed," she said finally. "I'll have to keep a look out for that."

Charlie turned to Aaron who was looking decidedly uncomfortable. She, on the other hand, was really starting to enjoy herself. "What about you, Aaron?" she asked, keeping her tone light, smiling. "Do you find 'taken' women more attractive than single ones?"

Aaron didn't really know what to say, it was clear. "Attraction and relationship status have no connection to one another," he said, flummoxed.

"Oh well," Charlie grinned. "That's not much help then. Belinda, keep me updated - I'd be interested to know if an engagement ring is a good way to pull. Might even give it a try myself!"

They didn't need to know that she already was planning to, she thought excitedly as she skipped inside the building and into the lift.

As the lift doors closed, someone else quickly slid through them. Aaron. Looking none too happy.

Uh-oh.

"Mind telling me what that was all about?" he asked grimly. Grim worked well on Aaron. Unfortunately.

The fucking cheek of him, Charlie raged inwardly. "I was only asking a question," she said, struggling to keep it breezy.

"Is this because of what happened between us?" he asked quietly, his eyes softening slightly. Although his grim stance had reverted back to awkward. This was literally the first time they'd been alone together in months, and the tension between them was palpable.

Egotistical arsehole. Charlie looked at him in disbelief as the lift pinged and the doors opened on their floor. She looked him up and down, distaste transforming her otherwise pretty face into a sneer.

"Contrary to what you might think, Aaron, the world revolves around the sun. Not you. Please get over yourself." And with that she turned away and stomped to her desk.

She pulled out her phone and texted Thea. "Ring purchased. Aaron still a man-whore."

Instant reply back. "Prick."

Satisfied with that, she slid her phone into her bag and unlocked her PC. As she did so, she felt someone looking at her. Surprise, surprise - it was Aaron. Did he think she was in a relationship again or something? Or could his ego not handle the fact that he was less important than the mighty sun? Giving into a childish impulse, Charlie stuck her middle finger up at him. Then turned away, hoping no one else had noticed.

That had felt surprisingly satisfying.

----------------------

"I'll not be home until about seven," Charlie told Thea over the phone a few hours later. "I'm just going for a couple of drinks with the colleagues, but I won't be long." She pushed her way into her company's "local" pub, which was decidedly lacking in choice of drink and choice of clientele but was actually next door to her work - which was the most important thing on a Friday night when you were gagging for a drink. Wow, she thought, walking up to the bar, she could virtually taste the (cheap disgusting) white wine already; she'd only been hallucinating about it since about eight am.

"Make sure you don't have more than a couple," Thea ordered. "We still have planning to do and you, my dear, need to be fresh tomorrow. Can't have you putting dudes off with your haggard, hungover look. That will prove nothing."

"Yes miss," Charlie grinned. "Sometimes you remind me of a teacher. I wonder why."

"Shut it." Thea hung up and Charlie turned to George the barman. "White wine please."

He grunted in response and slowly got to work. Another thing the King's Head lacked was friendly staff. But then she wasn't there for the customer service - as long as she ultimately got some wine, she didn't really mind too much whether or not they were monosyllabic neanderthals only able to communicate in grunts. She turned around to locate her co-workers. They were seated in a booth over in the corner, looking over-the-moon to have escaped the office. She could see Belinda, her boss Josh, nerdy Eric from payroll . . . oh, and Aaron. Great.

Wine in hand, she reluctantly made her way over.

"Charlie!" Josh welcomed her. For a boss, he was actually a decent guy. Albeit prone to revealing way too much information about his sex life. He'd probably be off out to a club later . . . he seemed to virtually live in nightclubs at the weekend, with a tendency of coming in with the hangover from hell every Monday. Which was good, because he would be so busy feeling sorry for himself that he wouldn't realise that Charlie was hungover too, and doing no work whatsoever as a result. "I didn't think you were coming."

"I wasn't going to but I decided I could use two or three vinos for the road," Charlie explained, taking a zip of her wine and avoiding looking at Aaron. Her blood boiled every time she saw him, so for the sake of her blood pressure it was probably best to avoid any eye contact whatsoever. "So what's the gossip?"

"We reckon Big Balls Benson is shagging Linda," Belinda giggled. Charlie gulped as vomit rose in her throat at the disgusting mental image of their head honcho Benson screwing his secretary.

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" she asked, choking down another sip of the piss-water the pub had the nerve to call wine.

"Body language, idle gossip . . . and the fact that Aaron here saw them all over each other in a pub round the corner last Friday night," Josh said triumphantly.

"Yuck." Charlie found her gaze suddenly trained on Aaron, without even meaning to. Man, the guy was like a magnet and she wanted to stick herself on him. Damn it! She cursed herself inwardly, as he started to recount his shock at finding out that the couple his friends had been laughing at due to their blatant manhandling of one another in public were two of the least popular people from his own office. 

He was a gifted storyteller that was for sure; his animation making him even more attractive. The way his eyebrows danced up and down, the sparkle in his dark eyes, the sole dimple in his left cheek . . . Charlie checked herself once again, drained her glass and headed back up to the bar for another before he had even finished speaking. Perhaps that was rude - of course it was rude - but Aaron deserved nothing from her other than contempt.

And suddenly there he was next to her. Popping up like a bad smell once again. Charlie's nose wrinkled in distaste. "What?" she snapped, not even looking at him. If she did, she might lose herself in those puppy dog eyes. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Listen, I think we maybe got off on the wrong foot . . ." Aaron began. But Charlie let him get no further.

"Off on the wrong foot?" she screeched at him. He looked taken aback. "Aaron, you're making it sound like we met for the first time today, you accidentally offended me and are now trying to make amends. We both know that is a lot of shitting bollocks - we've worked together for close to a year, and for the last few months you have acted like I didn't exist, after manhandling me at a night out and flirting with me until you realised I was single and therefore no longer a challenge."

He cleared his throat and, turning to look at him, Charlie could see his Adam's apple bobbing up and down nervously. Good - she'd wrong-footed him. That was unusual.

"Look . . ." he tried again.

"No, you look!" Charlie snapped. "Look and see that I don't give a crap about you or what you think. Okay?" She picked up her new glass of wine and headed back to the table, hearing Aaron mutter "Well, can't say I didn't try," behind her. Thankfully he didn't follow her as his phone had started ringing.

Aaron didn't return to the table while Charlie finished her second drink. Much to her relief. She was shaken from their encounter, and embarrassed that, while she'd told Aaron once and for all what she thought of him, she'd more than likely given away that she had actually cared in the first place. She finished off her drink quickly - medicinal purposes, she told herself - and bade farewell to her colleagues.

Mind you, as she headed to the door, she did wonder where he'd disappeared to. The question was answered pretty damn quickly when she walked outside. Oh look, there he was, sitting outside . . .  talking intensely to a girl. A very beautiful girl - tall, slim, long dark hair without a trace of frizz. Beautiful clothes.

Basically she was everything Charlie wasn't.

Charlie shook her head. Thank goodness she was going to find new prospects tomorrow night. Because she had definitely had it with that manwhore. She stormed past the couple. "Bye Aaron," she said waspishly as she drew level. She didn't even look to see if he reacted.

She didn't even care.

Prick.