Chapter 4: New Paths, New Connections

I woke up that morning pretty much determined to forget last night, yet the immense pounding in my head and full bladder wouldn’t let me. So, I decided to try and be productive and that is how I found myself up early on a Saturday morning, sitting at my kitchen island and eating a bowl Fruit Loops while looking through job listings on ConnectUs. Plenty of corporate marketing opportunities but nothing that was really standing out, until something did.

“No fucking way” I whispered, leaning forward towards my laptop screen and potentially permanently burning my retinas. I then jumped and clutched myself as my phone started ringing, frightening me out of my trance.

“Hey.” I softly smiled.

“Morning my baby, how are you?” Reed said in his deep guttural morning voice. God, I missed him.

“I’m doing fine, how are you?” I asked.

“I’m okay, I was a bit lonely last night without you here though.” He said “What happened, I thought you were coming over after you were done?” He finished.

“Long story, nothing to worry about though. I’ll just tell you when I see you” I sighed.

“Okay my baby, that’s fine.” He said. “Listen, I just wanted to tell you to have a good day today okay? And Good luck job searching” he said.

I smiled. I don’t know how I managed to find a guy as a amazing as Reed, truthfully speaking. He managed to put me at ease just by talking, when he spoke it was like everything was going to be okay.

“Thank you” I said quietly, and I could hear him softly laugh on the other side of the line. Probably because he knew I was blushing by now.

“Okay, talk later then. I love you” he said.

“I love you too” I replied and we ended the call there. Just saying that had started to feel more and more right, at least as of last night it started. I don’t know what got Alex so heated to the point he would try to jeopardise my chances of literally having an income and just because he didn’t know how to fucking regulate his feelings didn’t mean we all had to suddenly coddle him out of his drunken stupor.

I just had to learn to let go, and this time I mean completely, because just when I thought we were okay, he starts making me questions my sanity again because he’s so indecisive. I don’t want to keep being his “what if”, I want to be someone’s first choice and that person right now is Reed. That’s where all my focus has to be. I can’t function like this anymore. I want to be happy.

I shook my thoughts away, made myself a vanilla late, and got back to looking at the ad in front of me. I wonder why all of a sudden. I mean of course it was nothing to do with me, that would be really self-centred of me to think that…but then again, I’ve been using this Job sight ever since I got laid off to find free-lace work outside my regular network of clients and I never saw an ad by this company before. Maybe I didn’t scroll down enough? I have no idea. Well, either way –

“Here goes nothing” I unenthusiastically said to myself as I sent my resume off to BrightSky Incorporated, Position – Marketing Manager and Business & Statistics Analyst. Well, if I get a response it should be interesting and considering that the due date was today, asking for a response was being hopeful.

Update – I didn’t get any response. None.

It had been two weeks since I last applied for the position, and since then although I managed to bide my time with more of my own work and applying to other companies, this one truly agitated me. I don’t know why. Maybe because I had such a close connection proximity wise to both the men in charge of that company made the rejection all the more hurtful. Even if there was no outright rejection. It hit my ego hard. It made me feel as though the position was being dangled in front of me by people who could easily make it mine and to top it all off, Alex had been avoiding me ever since the party. Oh, how the turn tables.

No answered phone calls, read texts, read DMs. No response – as if he disappeared off the face of the earth and that fucking pissed me off. I’m not the best at putting myself out there and partially made a fool out of myself by the end of the party chasing after Alex [looks like nothing has changed] and maybe that left a lasting impression on a person I possibly spoke to that was considering me. Maybe I was over thinking this? At that moment I didn’t care, I was just so annoyed. I stood up in one swift motion and without thinking reached for my house phone.

“4:15 – They’re still open’ I thought as I looked at my wall clock.

“Hello, is this BrightSky Incorporated?” I asked. What the hell was I doing?

“Yes, how may I help you today?” a friendly receptionist said.

“I’d like to make an appointment to see the CEO about an…investment issue?” I lied. I still have no fucking idea what any of these guys even do. 

“Okay, let me check his schedule and see if he’s available, one moment” she said as I heard her furiously typing.

“Ah, he’s available tomorrow at 9:00am. Does that work for you Ma’am?” she asked.

“Yes, that’s fine.” I said.

“And who may I say called and requested the meeting” she asked.

“Miss…Randall” I said. Using my mother’s maiden name was the only I guaranteed myself an appointment face-to-face with this bastard without getting shut down if he or Alex recognised my name.

“Okay, I have scheduled you in. See you tomorrow.” She cheerfully said and we exchanged goodbyes and hung up.  

And that is how I ended up standing in front of the building for BrightSky. Just staring at it like an idiot. A gorgeous idiot might I add, since today I chose to wear my polyblend collared short sleeve pastel yellow mid-thigh drop hem dress and layered it with a white coat. Very corporate.  I wasn’t even sure of what to do or how I was even going to start the conversation of “hey, why the fuck hasn’t anyone gotten back to me about my application, do I suck that badly?”

Just then I was taken out of my thoughts by a man in a suit bumping into me. I stood there dumbfounded and he just turned his head around, looked me up and down and flashed me a smile and wink combo before heading straight into the building. Nice to know all the guys from here are jackasses.

I took a deep breath, straightened up my coat and walked straight through the large revolving doors. I was greeted by an opulent and luxurious lobby, with Marquina Marble flooring that contrasted the vibrant lime, orange and dark fuchsia accent chairs and couches with large abstract art hanging on its walls and white orchids in vases on top of high gloss silver and brass cement side tables.

I walked up to the silver-coated cement receptionist desk where I was greeted by a beautiful smiling red head with gorgeous pine green eyes. She took down my name and then proceeded to lead me through to the gold-toned elevators, that stood out all on their own next to the matte black ones. These lead straight to the office of CEO Liam Harrington. And that is where I was going.

The elevators opened to a very beautiful office with very similar interior style as the lobby, only the brights limes and striking silvers were replaced with dark mahogany, black and dark brown cow-hide leather accent and office chairs, a white linen sofa perched on top of a pedestal off to the left near an obscure door and large wall to ceiling windows that overlooked the entire city.

I sat down in the chair opposite an empty desk white waiting for the Liam to arrive. It was eerily quiet in here, everything all stuffy and neatly packed. Even his desk was well organised with piles of documents to one side and ready and organised documents, I assumed, in a black wire basket on the other.

“To call at 3pm – Schedule for interview” I read the sticky note on top of the pile of applications out-loud.

“Seriously Liam, Apex is going down hill. Their profit decline is not even readable on a chart and it’s going to affect our overall investment in them.” I heard a voice I only recognised as Alex’s say as I heard multiple sets of footsteps approach the office.

“I’m fully aware of that. I saw the reports, what about expenses, we may need to cut some costs.” Liam said.

“I looked through that report too” Alex replied sounding irritated, “but it’s more than that, their sales are stagnant, and if we don’t find a solution soon, they could break their loan agreements” he said.

“Alex” Liam said sounding exasperated. “It was your idea to invest in in an up and coming software and social media applications creation company, you need to find the solution” he said.

“It’s not like you disagreed with the idea when I brought it up” Alex argued, “What now that it’s failing to meet expectations you’re just going to give up on it?” he said.

“Stop making this some weird personification for something I clearly don’t have time to ‘de-riddle’ right now. Just fix it.” Liam frustratedly replied “And if you spent half your time at that damn party making connections instead of getting drunk over some girl you barely even like then this would be most likely at the bottom of our priority list right now” Liam gritted in a low voice.

“Just give me some solutions to run back to my team while I do some damage control with the other partners” Alex said.

“Get Finance and Analytics on it, appoint an interim CEO in the place of the one they have now, looking to mergers or buying up smaller tech companies that fit their branding. Just do something before we lose this okay?” Liam said, while on the other side I saw that the door open only an inch.

“Fine” Alex said, sounding pretty pissed if you ask me.

“Good, now I have a meeting so I’ll talk to you later. “ Liam said opening the door all the way as I turned in my chair to face both of them. Both Liam and Alex stood there in a soft of stunned silence, that was only broken when I got up and extended my hand to Liam as he stood on the steps of his office doorway. Liam shook my hand amused while Alex just stood there, his face now displaying no emotion whatsoever other than curiosity.

“I believe we have a meeting Mr Harrington” I said.

“I believe we do” Liam smiled. And we both stepped down onto the down floor of his office, sitting down in our respective places and waiting to begin when I turned again to notice that the door was still open and that Alex still stood there.

“Baby” he quietly said.  “What are doing here?” he asked.

“A meeting” I simply replied.

“Yeah but-“ and just as he began, Liam held up his hand in a motion to silence him. Alex was in pure disbelief, and to be honest, no matter what the setting, that’s a pretty arrogant move coming from any boss, let alone you’re brother.

“Alex, don’t make this personal, you can speak to Miss…Randall? Later if you wish” Liam said again amused at my alias. Alex scoffed and walked out slamming the door.

“That wasn’t very nice of you” I said.

“I don’t get paid to be nice. I get paid to do my job. Part of my job is maintaining order and making sure we get our work done” he said shifting through his assistant’s notes, “Not gawking at girls who have no interest in us anymore” he said, matter-of-factly. Just how much did Alex tell his brother while he was drunk?

“I’m not here about any of that” I stuttered out.

“Of course, you’re not and considering that you used an alias- “ he managed to say.

“Maiden name actually” I said matter-of -factly.

“Right…I’m also guessing you’re not here about any future investments you would like for us to manage for you, so what can I help you with today Ms Thompson?” he inquired.

“I’m here about my application” I said trying to hold my head up.

“What about it?” Liam asked, curiously scanning over me, trying to break my composure I presume.

“I didn’t hear anything back” I said irritated.

“And?” he egged on.

“And I wanna know why?” I replied, trying not to let my composure slip.

“What do you think was wrong with it?” he prodded.

“Nothing!” I said “Absolutely nothing was wrong with it” I reiterated.

“So, people who have nothing wrong with their application are usually met with dead silence?” he arrogantly smirked. “That’s a new one” he continued. He was really starting to irk me.

“Listen” I said bunching my hands into fists and trying to decompress. “I am VERY, very good at my job. My stats are impeccable, my planning and execution strategies are so profound that I made millions of dollars in profit for my last company” I said.

“I am damn good at what I do” I reiterated.

“I know” he said.

“Then why the fuck didn’t I get an interview?” I said finally breaking.

“Language Ms Thompson.” he said sternly “I don’t believe that is any way to talk to your boss now is it? And I suggest that if you would like to stay on my good side, watch your tone” he said calmly.

“What?” I blinked and he smiled again amused.

“I saw your application, and you are incredible Maya. I know what and to simply let you slip through my fingers would be doing a disservice to this company” he said “You have amazing work ethical your produce results that are so immense for the lack of experience you have that I would say your leaps and bounds ahead of your peers” he said and I smiled a little.

“You’re innovative and proactive and make sure to keep up with the constant changing nature of your field and how the marketing world affects business in general and that is something we definitely need here” he continued.

“So, was there an issue? Why I didn’t get call?” I asked.

“Yes in fact. It was Alex” he sighed and I immediately understood, nodding slowly I sat back in my chair.

“You can see where I’m going with this?” he said and I only continued nodding.

“Your interpersonal relationship with him was something to really worry about and considering your past with each other “ he said “I just didn’t want to risk it.” He finished and I just stared down at my lap, tongue slipping through and licking my bottom lip.

“But today, even in the smallest instance, showed me that at least one of you is willing to remain professional” he said. “That small interaction opened me up to the idea of considering you here.” And that’s when I looked up again, hope filling my eyes. He smiled softly.

“Which is why” he said opening his drawer and taking about a already formulated contract of employment and black glossy ball-point pen “ I want to offer you a position here as Head of Marketing” he said and pushed the contract in front of me when leaned back into his chair.

“All benefits, health, paid days off, sick leave, maternity leave” he said. “and I’m told its double what you earned at your last company” he said and I looked up at him, only for him to interrupt me saying that he did a background check on my refences and that with this new salary I better produce twice as much. After looking over the contract for about 30 minutes and reading through it properly, I sighed.

“Not a problem” I said confidently, and signed, dotted and crossed every line of it, handing it back. He smiled and stood up as I did the same.

“Welcome aboard Ms Thompson. You start Monday.” he smirked and as we shook hands. I gave him a stiff smile before proceeding to grab my purse and coat and heading towards the door.

“Hold on before you leave” he said and I stood behind my chair, “Delia, come and make a contract copy for Ms Thompson please.” He ordered, pressing his desk intercom and soon after another red-haired assistant came walking through, grabbing the contract and heading wards the copier just outside the office door, and soon after she was gone, she right back in the office and handing me my contract in a manilla envelope and shuffled her way back out again without a word.

Odd.

“Let me walk you out” he said and he placed his hand gently on my lower back and pushed me towards the door. My skin began to feel hot for some reason and my breathing started to come out in small hitches.

“Are you okay, Maya?” he asked concerned yet his eyes lingered on my lips. When did he get so close? I just nodded and looked straight. I heard him laugh under his breath.

“Just take a left turn down the end of the hall, pass all the cubicles and the elevators should be infront of you to take you back down the lobby” he said and I thanked him as we stood outside his office.

As we stood there I noticed his office stood smack dab in the middle of the end of the hall, and on opposite sides of the office were two other offices, one vacant and one for Alex. I stared at Alex’s office for a second, his name plaqure so shiny on the high-resent coated Dark oak door with matte black handles, that resembled his brothers’. And on the opposite side, an almost identical one, with no owner.

“That’ll be your office” Liam said from behind me, startling me.

“I’m going to need you close by for debriefing and meetings. Your essentially controlling how we distribute our budget now, so again those results your get us are very important” he said.

“Understood” I said and he stared at me for a moment.

“I had a good time at the party by the way” he confessed. “Thank you for making it…bearable” he finished. I smiled softly.

“You’re welcome” I softly replied. A set of footsteps approached us and stopped as the body attached to them stood there without saying anything for a brief second. The person that carried me looked at me shocked but remained composed while  I just looked shocked.

“Mr Harrington, here are the latest reports from the Financial department” Reed said handing the report to him and looking back at shortly then making eye contact with his boss, who had his eyes darting in between the both us with an amused look on his face.

“Is there something I’m missing?” he said. “Do you two know each other” he asked and we both remained silent. He laughed.

“She’s my girlfriend, Sir.” Reed confessed and I blushed.

“Oh, this should be interesting.” He laughed. “Dismissed Mr Williams” and with one hand he waved Reed off.

“Hey, you can’t just talk to people like that” I began, and he lifted his hand ordering me to stop talking while he scanned over the report. The nerve, if I didn’t need this job I would have actually smacked his hand out of the air by now.

He then looked up at the report and waved me away before heading into his office and shutting the door behind him. Working here is definitely going to be interesting I thought.

When I finally got home, it was around 5PM, and I had a pizza in one hand, white wine in the other and “Romance in metro haven” which was basically this show inspired by Metro Haven and about this group of friends who all had these budding careers but struggled at keeping relationships. It was amazing.

When I finally sat my ass down and began to unwind, my home phone on the side tale next to me rang. It was Reed’s caller ID and just like that, all the emotions from the whole day came flying back again. I answered and said nothing.

“Hey my baby.” he whispered.

“Hey” I said nervously, and he laughed.

“You said that like you’re in trouble.” he laughed.

“Well, am I?” I laughed nervously.

“Of course, not baby.” he said softly. “I was shocked that’s all.” he said.

“That makes two of us.” I said and he continued to laugh.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had an interview where I work” he asked gently “I could have helped you, prepped you, and especially when it comes to Mr Harrington who can be kind of a hard-ass” he said.

“Oh, trust me I know.” I laughed. “Would you believe me if I said that it was to surprise you when I finally got the job?” I asked sweetly.

“Nope.” he laughed again “In-fact you’re notoriously bad at them. “ he said.

“Okay fine” I sighed. “I kinda forgot where you worked” I cringed.

“Oh.” he said feigning shock. “So, Ms Maya Rachell Thompson, a woman whose favourite colour is pink, a woman obsessed with peonies, who grew up in the West End of Metro Heights –“ he said.

“Reed.” I laughed.

“ – who loves wearing bright and vibrant colours despite being classified as a light autumn, and only wears floral embroidered slingback heels and flowy dresses that caress her figure, whatever that means.” He continued teasingly.

“Reed, I get it.” I laughed.

“A woman so close to my heart and possibly the love of my life and she doesn’t even know where I work, well I feel offended I simply have to” he finished, and I stayed silent. Oh my god. I all I did was sigh in contentment and I heard him do the same.

“I’ll see you Monday at work baby.” He said ever so gently “I love you.” he said.

“I love you too” I smiled, and we both lingered on the line for a moment before exchanging our goodnights. I held my phone close to my chest, before putting it in the extension again and flopping on my bed, kicking my legs and giggling like I was 15 again.

I love Reed. I actually love Reed. And it finally felt so good to know that.

The next day I was due for some much-needed girl time after having Alex call me non-stop to try and explain himself and why he had been so distant with me. His voicemails were just incoherent lines of crap he would string together like, “it would be awkward for him” and “if only I told him, he would have gotten me the job right away” to “he missed me and he’s sorry for not talking to me” and a one-time drunken “ I love you and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I thought too” and that’s when I deleted it. No more chances, not even as friends, this time he has a lot of work to do to repair this.

I met with Taylor at a local ice-cream and waffle food truck just two streets behind where I lived in Hudson Hamlet and right near Scenic Park.

“Wait so you didn’t know Reed worked there?” Taylor questioned as we walked down the streets of Greenwich Village, eating cupped ice-cream.

“No, I really didn’t” I said “Well, I mean, not really” I said, scraping the ice-cream off the small spoon with my teeth.

“Reed only told me that he worked in Private Equity. I didn’t even know what that was and then he kept talking about numbers and stats and I guess he assumed I knew what he was talking about because it sounded all finance-y.” I slurred with a bit of Ice cream stuff in my mouth. Taylor giggled.

“Then on the way to the party, Alex had mentioned something about working with him or running in the same circles or something” I sighed.

“Oof” Taylor said as she shook her head. “Yeah, Alex’s circles outside ours are never good.” she expressed.

“You think-“ I stopped and turned to her nervously asking “What do you think of Reed?” I proceeded to ask. Taylor tilted her to the side while thinking, spoon still in mouth and staring up just past my head. Then she exhaled and looked back down at me.

“Well, I don’t exactly know him cause we’ve never met” she started. “And from all the things you told me about him he seems great, his business reputation is impeccable…” she gestured her hand towards me.

“His personal reputation, from what I’ve heard through the grapevine isn’t the worst but he certainly wasn’t who pictured for you to be honest.” and at that I looked down and bite the inside of my cheek. Was I so completely in the dark that I was so unaware of this promiscuous reputation that my boyfriend had? And was it that bad or just one too many scornful women talking or in this case gossiping very loudly?

I then looked back up at her ready for her to proceed and tell me to just have one last good fuck and let him go. She then pauses and proceeds to exhale again, contemplating on what to say, maybe it was the desperate and pleading look I gave her.

“It’s a good thing rumours are just rumours” she said gently holding my chin. “And I think he makes you happy sweety.” she smiled softly. “And to me that’s all that matters” she said. “Just be careful okay?” she warned softly. All I did was nod and she smiled at me, as we proceeded down the street to a Sandra’s for midday Mimosas.

I wish I could say that the brunch with Taylor got me thinking about my relationship with Reed, and basically questioning its entire foundation but honestly after a short while, and on my way home after picking up some Orange Chicken for dinner, I was well and truly over it. His past had nothing to do with me, nor did his old dating habits. As far as I was concerned, currently, he was an amazing boyfriend, partner and friend. I wasn’t going to let some baseless rumours rattle me out of a great relationship.

I was happy. I was going to make sure I stayed that way.