total snake in the grass.

1

My little brother's got a girlfriend, and guess what? She's my coworker! But man, she's a total snake in the grass.

During a company meeting, she had the nerve to post a photoshopped picture of me in a bar, looking all cozy with some dude, on the company chat. And she captioned it, “Some people act all innocent during the day, but they're out there selling their soul at night.”

I just laughed, took a screenshot, and forwarded it to the family group chat: “If I let Amber marry into the Reed family, then I'm officially a failure!”

...

So, my brother's been dating this girl, Amber, and they're all lovey-dovey, the whole nine yards. Last week, he even brought her home to meet Mom and Dad. I was slammed at work with a big project and had to work late at my bar that night, so I missed the whole family dinner thing.

A week later, I finally had a free minute and was scrolling through our family group chat. There she was, Amber, plastered all over my phone screen. My brother was all gushing about how amazing she was.

"Mom and Dad, I told you, she’s a total sweetheart! No gold digger vibes, and she doesn't let me throw my money around. She even likes the family atmosphere. She mentioned wanting to come over for dinner again, and she really wants to meet my amazing sister. Should we think about making things official?"

I zoomed in on the photo, staring at it for a solid few seconds. Yep, this Amber was the same Amber, my roommate, and co-worker. For the past couple of weeks, I'd been hearing her go on and on in the office about how she’d hooked some rich, clueless dude who was constantly buying her expensive things. She gets these huge cash app transfers, like $888 and $999, which everyone was jealous about.

I didn’t pay it much mind. But little did I know, the clueless dude was my own brother.

I put down my phone and looked over at Amber, the office princess, currently surrounded by coworkers who were just eating out of the palm of her hand. Just now, she was trying out a lipstick, and everyone was oohing and aahing.

She opened a brand new Tom Ford lipstick, glanced at the color, and tossed it to some random coworker. "Here, take this. I just realized the color is not for me.”

“Sarah, this one’s for you, I just realized it’s not my style anymore."

My coworkers lost their minds, totally grateful. "Amber, you're too kind! This lipstick costs a fortune!”

Amber gave a dismissive smile. “It’s nothing, when you’ve got a boyfriend like Scott, a couple hundred dollars is like a few cents.”

"Oh yeah, and he was trying to buy me some more Louis Vuitton bags, but honestly, I’m getting tired of them all. Maybe I’ll bring them in for you guys soon.”

My coworkers were falling over themselves with gratitude, calling her the luckiest girl and saying she was destined to be a rich housewife.

I was fuming. My family is pretty well-off, but we keep it low-key. We were taught to be self-reliant, that men and women are equal. Which is why I'm out here working...