Chapter 23 – Amelia
“You did what?”
It’s Monday morning at the office, and once again my bagel time has been interrupted - this time by my very indignant best friend. “Three days of unanswered texts and Facebook messages, and now I find out it’s because you had a one night stand, pretended to be engaged to the guy, and then banged his brains out again on his couch?!”
“Please don’t be mad at me.” I cringe a little. Rosa’s not wrong to be upset, anyway - I really had disappeared off the map for the whole weekend and -
“Mad? Sweetheart, don’t be ridiculous! I’m thrilled!”
“Thrilled?”
“Obviously! I mean, I wanted you to go have fun for a change, but you went above and beyond my wish. I’m impressed. Way to go, Amelia.”
I feel myself starting to blush. “I don’t know what happened…I just needed to blow off some steam or something, I guess.”
“Well, you certainly blew off something - or should I say ‘someone’.” Rosa cackles. “So, what’re you working with here? Did he send you a dick pic yet? C’mon, give!”
“Rosa!” I’m bright red now; I can feel it in my cheeks. “No, I do not have a dick pic.”
“Wait a minute. Do you even have his number? Did you bang and bounce?!” Rosa’s pacing my office like she’s auditioning for the role of prosecution lawyer in a Law and Order: SVU episode.
“Listen, Rosa. I’m glad you’re excited, but I promise, it’s no big deal. I got his number before I left. Just in case.” I don’t tell her that the last part of that’s less than true. When I’d asked for it, he’d given it to me without any sort of “use only in case of emergency” clause. And I’d used it more than once since then.
“Amelia. This is great. You’ve been stuck in neutral since the breakup, and you deserve to have some fun! Now, tell me all about it.” Rosa perches on the edge of my desk, looking at me intently. I sigh, pretending to find this retelling tedious, even though I’m thrilled to talk about anything having to do with Brent. I feel like a giggling schoolgirl.
“Okay, so I took the subway to the tour….”
As I finish my story, the intercom in my office buzzes. “Ms. Hope, there’s a floor meeting in five.”
“Thanks, Cindy.” I mock glare at Rosa. “See? It’s taken all week for her to get back into the habit of actually speaking to me after what you said.”
Rosa downs the rest of her coffee, unperturbed. “All that means is that it worked. Too bad you’ve already got a pal for extracurricular activities.”
“Considering how it went the last time I mixed work and pleasure, I’m gonna go ahead and say that’s not too bad after all.”
I still can’t believe I was dumb enough to date a co-worker. I hate knowing I might have to see Jason—not to mention that floozy, Violet—at work. I feel completely over him now— my crazy escapades with Brent have sure helped in that department—but it doesn’t mean I want to be anywhere near him.
“True enough.” Rosa snags the last piece of my sesame seed bagel and chews loudly. “Better hope this meeting isn’t a surprise drug test, huh?”
“That’s a myth!” I protest.
“Oh yeah,” she agrees. “They don’t drug test lawyers or there wouldn’t be any left.”
I laugh, and then add, “I meant it’s a myth that sesame seeds result in a positive drug screen.”
“Really? I guess that explains why I got fired from the Dairy Queen in college even though I swore I’d just been eating packs of sesame seeds.”
“No, I remember that story. You said you got fired because you tried to eat an entire tub of rocky road instead of helping customers.”
“I was hungry!”
“You were high!”
When we get to the floor meeting, Rosa’s “fears” prove unfounded - no suited men carrying little cups are in the room. There are, however, lots of other lawyers present. Including Jason and Violet. Great. Just my luck. Their smug smiles make my morning bagel roil in my stomach. I sit at the opposite end of the conference table with Rosa, and try to pretend they don’t exist.
When one of the partners, Gerard Styles, sits down at the head of the table, I start to understand the expressions Jason and Violet wear.
“Good morning, everyone. I’ll keep this short and sweet, since I know we all have heavy caseloads to deal with. Unfortunately, the news I have won’t ease that burden - but you’re all the best of the best, so I know you can handle it. One of our Junior Partners has elected to take their talents elsewhere in the City.”
Rosa leans over and whispers to me. “Bullshit. He’s talking about Frank Stein, and the guy left because everyone on his team, and their mothers, accused him of harassment.”
I raise my eyebrows at her and she hisses, “I’m not shitting you. A couple of the mothers said he made them feel uncomfortable whenever they came to things like the swearing in ceremony or awards events, to support their sons.”
It’s all I can do to suppress my laughter.
“So, there is a vacancy to fill,” Styles continues. “Over the next few weeks, we will be reviewing cases and considering applicants for the position. It’s open to any practicing lawyer in the firm, but I do strongly recommend that you carefully consider your own talents and abilities before submitting an application for the position. It benefits no one for you to apply to a position you don’t really want or cannot handle. That’s all.”
In his typical no nonsense way, Styles gets up from his chair and leaves without muss or fuss. He’s never been one for many words or coddling anyway, so it’s no surprise. Still, the whole ordeal is rather strange and I’m glad that the meeting’s over.
As everyone disperses into the lobby, Rosa walks with me. “So, you gonna go for it?”
“For what?”
“The junior partner position, dummy! You could totally nail it.”
“I doubt it.” Suddenly, Violet’s at my shoulder. “From what I hear, you can’t nail anything that isn’t missionary.”
“Excuse me?!” Rosa rounds on Violet, and the other woman’s smirk wavers.
“I wasn’t talking to you, Ms. Martinez.” she manages, staring over Rosa’s shoulder at me. “Although I’m not surprised you’ve managed to shove your nose into more business that’s not your own.”
“I’m sorry,” Rosa takes another step towards Violet. “Are you still cranky about losing out on the Liefeld case to me? Because I can guarantee you the clients enjoyed my company much more than they would’ve enjoyed staring at your shitty nose job.”
Violet gasps, and her hand comes to her face as she stalks off down the hallway.
“Don’t let that bitch get to you, babe,” Rosa tells me. “She’s just being awful, as per her usual. I don’t know why it even surprises us anymore.”
I nod, and we head back to our offices - but Violet’s words are still bouncing around in my head for a long time after that.