“I don’t know who she thinks she is coming in here dressed like that. It’s obvious that she is sleeping with the boss. Why else would she get to go to all of those meetings with him? It certainly isn’t her intelligence.”
“I know. It just disgusts me that someone like her is going to get the position. Just because she gets on her knees, none of us will have a chance.”
I heard a few more words and I felt my heart sink in my chest. I had known that they were talking about me behind my back, but I never would have guessed they would be so harsh. I didn’t have to hear my name to know that the two interns in the copy room were talking about me. Looking down at my outfit, I didn’t see much wrong with it, but it was clear that they did. It seemed like even my trying to stay away from Greg was going unnoticed.
The only one who did seem to notice was Greg. Last week I had turned down several invitations to go places and this week was going the same way. He finally asked me why I kept refusing him, and I told him it was because of the way everyone was talking. He didn’t take it too well and hadn’t asked me in the last couple of days. I actually hadn’t even seen him at all, but none of that seemed to matter to the two interns gossiping about me. It felt like there was nothing good that was going to come from all of this.
While I wanted to go into the room and say something to them, I just walked in nonchalantly like I hadn’t heard what they said. I wasn’t going to let them get to me, even though they had. I wasn’t going to let them see it.
I felt their eyes on me and I swallowed hard. Smiling back at their sour faces, I wished them a good day as they were leaving. Their unhappiness at me being there was clear, but I wasn’t going to back down. I hadn’t done anything wrong, even though I had surely thought about it. The truth of the matter was that I had turned him down and hadn’t done anything questionable. As much as I wished that everyone else knew the truth, at least I did.
Copying the reports that were to be sent in later that day, I tried to pull my mind off of what was said and then off of the boss himself. Greg was hard to pull from my mind, and I swore that I was driving myself crazy thinking about it.
Going back to the small desk that I had been assigned, I realized that someone was standing over me. It was Paul, the account manager for the company, and I sat up straighter. “What can I do for you, Paul?”
“Do you have those reports that I asked for?”
I told him that I did and handed him the still-warm sheets of paper. He thanked me and then paused as he was walking away.
“You know that it will die down, right?”
I nodded my head, instantly knowing what he was talking about. It was embarrassing to think that he knew, but then again, it was a relief to hear that I wasn’t the only one who had been through it. But was I not the only one who had been with Greg, or was I not the only one who had been accused? Either way it was nice to think that I had someone on my side, and even better that he wasn’t someone who wanted to sleep with me.
Just as I was getting back to work after Paul left, a shorter, round man came up to the desk and cleared his throat to get my attention. He certainly had it when I finally looked up. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a metallic top that shimmered when he moved. It was the kind of top that I would wear at a club, but he seemed quite natural in the get-up.
“Can I help you?”
Tommy smiled at me and shook his head. “I’m Tommy, Greg’s assistant.”
I took the offered hand and felt the soft shake of his clammy palm. “Nice to meet you, Tommy. What can I do for you?”
“Greg would like to see you in his office.”
I wasn’t expecting a summons by another person. With everything that was going on with the rumor mill, I figured it would be better to keep my distance, but it was hard to tell him no. I didn’t have a choice then. I knew that I was going to have to go see him, and I was afraid of how he was going to make me feel. It was fine to think of him as long as he wasn’t around, but knowing that I had to go see him, I knew that it wasn’t going to end well.
Standing up, I followed Tommy to the elevator and went up to the top with him. When it opened, he didn’t move to get out and after a minute I realized that I was going to have to go alone. I didn’t want to, but I knew that there was nothing that I could do but go. When the boss asks to see you, it’s not a request, but a command.
Stepping out, I looked around the large room and saw no partitions for another office. It was all one office, and save for a smaller desk in the corner of the room, it appeared to be all for one person. It seemed that Greg’s office was rather large. I heard some noise on the far side of the room where there was a door leading to somewhere. A man came out of it and he stopped when he saw me.
It wasn’t Greg, but a man who looked to be much different.
“Hi, I was supposed to come up here and meet with Greg?”
“Yes, I was hoping to speak to you first. Do you know who I am?”
I shook my head that I didn’t know. The tall man was short on words, but his eyes seemed to follow me everywhere I went. As he walked closer, the dark brown eyes held me where I stood.
“I’m the other owner of this company. I’m not here much – I usually leave Greg to run it – but we started this place together.”
I started to understand, but there was something in his eyes that I didn’t quite get. Why was he looking at me like that?
“I see, sir. Nice to meet you.”
“Donald.”
I repeated his name since he kept looking at me. I didn’t know what he wanted to talk about, and by the way he eyed me, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear what he had to say. I wanted Greg to pop up and take away the tension between us. Where was he?
“So you are the intern that I’m hearing so much about?”
My stomach knotted, and I wasn’t sure that I liked the way he said it. My mind went to the conversation that I had heard not too long before. Surely he didn’t mean that, did he?
I couldn’t meet his gaze for a while, but when I finally did, I knew that he knew as well. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t done anything with the man. What mattered was what everyone thought I did.
“I’m not sure what that means, sir, but I’m one of the interns that started last week.”
“What are your qualifications?”
He said it as if I didn’t have any. I could feel the temperature rising in my face, and I was feeling even more humiliated by him than I had been by those catty girls in the copy room. They kind of had a right to be mad, but the man in front of me was just toying with me. It felt worse, somehow, and I straightened my back up further to steel myself from his harsh gaze.
I recited my GPA and school to him, as well as my major. I saw a little surprise in his eyes. I don’t know why it spurred me to say more. It wasn’t like me, but I didn’t like the look on his face and the smug grin on his lips.
“I would have thought that a woman like you was brought in just to look at, more than for real work.”
I could feel my face getting red. I don’t know why he was being this way to me, but I didn’t like it. It made me mad and reminded me of the women’s words in the copy room. I had had enough, and I realized then and there that this company was not the one for me.
Donald moved closer to me and I got a vibe from him that I didn’t like. He had a predatory glare in his brown depths, and I took a step back before he reached out to take my arm in his hand. I don’t know why, but I felt endangered, and instead of shrinking back like I had before, I hit him hard across the face.
The man was shocked and released me right away. “Don’t touch me!”
He touched his face at the place where it was starting to get red. The shock subsided quickly, and then it was filled with anger. I knew that it was time for me to go and I turned to move towards the elevator. I didn’t see that it was already open or that Greg was standing there until I was in it and I had pushed the button.
Turning to Greg, who had a slacked-jaw look on his face, I told him that I quit. “You people don’t even pay us to put up with this shit.”
The elevator door closed and I could see myself in the reflection of the silver doors. I was so mad, but I bit my bottom lip. I shouldn’t have cursed at Greg, but I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I couldn’t believe the scuzzy partner that he had, or that even after I had done nothing at all, I was still deemed to be the office slut. I was too mad to think. Getting off at the fourth floor to collect my things, I told Paul bye, but didn’t say a word about anything else. Greg knew I had quit, so there wasn’t anything else that I could do.
Looking back, I was sad to see the place go, but I knew that I wasn’t cut out for that kind of environment. I knew I was going to have to get up the next day and find another job. Maybe this time I would find one that actually paid and had a woman for a boss. I definitely needed a woman for a boss this time around.