Gemotions

The spreadsheet blurred before Amelia's eyes. She blinked, rubbed them, and squinted again. The same formatting. The same color-coding. Even the same, slightly eccentric, use of Comic Sans for the headers. Across the table, Leo was saying something, but she couldn't focus. Her ears rang. This couldn't be happening.

She pushed back from the table, the chair scraping loudly against the polished floor. “Could you… could you repeat that, Leo?” Her voice sounded thin, reedy, even to her own ears.

He tilted his head, a crease forming between his eyebrows. “I said, the project's coming along nicely, don’t you think? We should have a presentation ready by the end of the week.” He gave her a questioning look, as if expecting confirmation.

Amelia’s stomach lurched. The presentation. He was talking about *her* presentation. The one she’d slaved over for months. The one she’d poured her heart and soul into. The one that was supposed to catapult her career.