18
Camilla
I was making coffee for the office, wondering how I could have forgotten my cell phone at home. There were two things I always, absolutely always, carried around with me, and those were my wallet and my cell phone.
But this morning I slept in and I had to rush out of my place so I wouldn’t be late for work. I almost went out with a mismatched jacket and skirt, having dressed in a hurry. I was so lucky to arrive here before my shift started.
“I’m dying for that coffee right now,” Megan whined behind me, typing something furiously on the keyboard. She had been talking about the coffee for the past half an hour, until I caved in and decided to make it. “I feel like I’m going to fall asleep any moment.”
“I feel ya,” our colleague, Ben, added. “I stayed up too late. I was playing Counter Strike.”
“You and your games,” Megan told him. “How old are you, again? Thirty-five? And you’re still playing games? No wonder you don’t have a wife.”
He flashed her his grin. “Who needs a wife when I can spend all my time on my computer? Games are way better than women. And they are way less demanding.”
“Amen to that,” Joshua, our other coworker, said. “I had an argument with my wife last night and she made me sleep on the couch.”
“Did you, really?” Megan asked him. “Sleep on the couch?”
Joshua blushed, looking sideways. “Yeah.”
“You’re crazy,” Ben told him. “If I had a wife, I would never let her treat me like that.”
“Well, you don’t have a wife, so don’t act like you’re a know-it-all,” Megan rebuked him. “Each marriage is different, so don’t judge them that easily.”
“What’s there not to judge?” Ben bit back. “She forced him to sleep on the couch, for God’s sake. Would you want your husband to force you to sleep on your couch?”
Megan rolled her eyes. “Like I’d let him.”
“That’s my point. And Joshua, our man here, is a wimp.”
“To each their own, people,” Joshua replied to them.
I giggled softly, pouring our coffee in cups. And I’d thought I had it bad with all that sneaking around with Merritt.
“I think we’re all a bit jittery because of the lack of sleep. So we’ll have our morning dose and we’re all good,” I said to them, always the peace-maker.
I put the cups on the tray and carried them across the room to where Ben and Joshua were sitting, serving them their coffee. Then I proceeded to Megan’s desk and left her cup before I took mine, leaning against her desk.
“Mmm, Camilla your coffee-making skills are out of this world,” Megan said after she sipped her coffee.
I let out a chuckle. “It’s just coffee, Megan. It’s not rocket science.”
Taking a sip of my coffee, I glanced at the desk next to hers, and the world stopped moving. I choked, my eyes widening when I spotted a tabloid sitting on the desk and spit out my coffee all over Megan.
“Camilla!” Megan complained, jumping up to her feet. “What the hell, girl?”
“I’m so sorry,” I mumbled my apology and grabbed the tabloid before she could spot it. There, in huge, white letters, wrote, “A Scandal in the Congress! Congressman Dawson Sleeping with an Aide!”, and if that wasn’t humiliating enough, they had pictures of Merritt and me in the bed all over the front cover.
Oh my God. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Those pictures were from my own cell phone. How did they end up on the front page of this tabloid?
I had to get out of here before my coworkers saw this and started giving me the third degree.
“Camilla? What’s going on?”
“Um…” I lowered the tabloid, making sure she couldn’t see the front page. “I’m so sorry for spilling my coffee on you. Here.” I grabbed a package of tissues from my desk and handed it to her. “Use them before the coffee dries on your blouse. I’ll get you a new one.” I was already close to the door. “I’ll be right back.”
Wasting no time on explanations, I rushed out of the office with the tabloid in my hand. I passed several colleagues, but other than nodding at me in greeting, they didn’t pay attention to me, which meant they hadn’t read the article. Good.
I went to the nearest restroom and locked myself inside, my heart pounding wildly.
Before I could stop them, the tears welled up in my eyes, and the shock wore off, letting me realize how terrible this situation actually was. I was right on the front page. Naked. With Merritt. Anyone could see this. My parents could see this. My brother.
My boss could see this. Oh God.
This was a huge scandal. I pressed my hand against my mouth, battling against a strong wave of nausea. I couldn’t panic. I had to go through this as calmly as possible…
But first things first. I had to read this article and see what they had written about us.
With trembling hands, I opened the tabloid, afraid of what I might encounter inside. How did they know about Merritt and me? We had been extra careful not to let this happen. So how did someone do this?
I found the story in the middle and I started reading, my pulse quickening with each awful paragraph.
“Is this woman Dawson’s latest conquest? They have been seeing each other for weeks… They act like they don’t know each other at work… They spend time at his or her place… Her neighbors claim they can hear loud screams coming from her apartment during their passionate moments…”
And much, much more horrible details. They knew everything!
I was blind with tears, and my chest hurt. For the first time in my life, I had no clue what to do and how to get out of this mess. This would destroy everything I’d fought for all these years. When I went out, they would eat me alive. I was sure my boss would fire me. Then I would have to face a public backlash…
Oh no. I went to the sinks and gripped the counter, looking at my pale face in the mirror. I was shaking terribly, unable to will myself out of here. I needed to prepare myself. I needed to prepare myself for whatever mess I was about to face.
This was exactly what I had feared when I decided to date Merritt. I should have known something like this would happen sooner or later. But how?
Did Merritt do this? He could have been angry with me for rejecting him after I used him to get me a job. Maybe he wanted to get even, so he hired someone to hack my phone and have those photos sold to that tabloid.
This would explain a lot of things. After all, he was a playboy who wasn’t used to hearing “no”. Maybe his ego was hurt, and he wanted to get back at me.
I pressed my hand against my chest, dejected. If that was true, then all these days, all those moments… They had been a lie. He had lied to me when he said he liked me and he just acted like he cared about me. He had probably been using me for sex and now that he got tired of me, he was exacting his petty revenge.
Only, it could ruin me completely.
No. I could go around in circles and torment myself with all these questions, but I had to talk to Merritt first and demand an explanation.
Taking deep breaths, I willed myself to calm down before I got out. I looked at the front cover of the tabloid again, feeling nauseous at seeing such intimate photos published like this for the whole world to see. I’d have to call my brother later and explain everything to him. And then my mom. Hopefully, she hadn’t seen this yet.
I ripped the tabloid in pieces until the front page and the article part were unrecognizable and threw it into the trash can. I washed my face and walked out of the restroom, planning to use the nearest phone in my office Merritt. Luckily, I had his cell phone number memorized.
Glancing over my shoulder to see if I was drawing attention, I picked up the phone and dialed his number. How many people had already seen that piece of trash?
I called Merritt, but he wasn’t answering. Ring after ring increased my anxiety, and I wished I could scream my frustration out. This was not what I needed now.
I had thought my life was going well. The work was good, and I grew closer to Merritt more and more. I was so sure my life had finally gotten on the right track, but I’d had to know better. Being with Merritt was a terrible mistake.
“Come on, pick up.”
I called Merritt again, but once more, there was no response, and I slammed the phone back to its place.
I wanted an explanation, so I wouldn’t let this slide. There was only one way I could reach him, since he wasn’t answering his phone. I would go straight to his office.
I took a deep breath and headed there, my legs wobbly. I had to confront him no matter how harsh the truth could be.
Thankfully, no one stopped me and claimed to know what was going on between Merritt and me. Everyone minded their own business, barely sparing me a glance, and I felt grateful for more moments of anonymity because all the hell would break loose after more people found out about this.
I planned to ignore his secretary and storm right into his office, but the woman who couldn’t be older than me had other plans.
“What are you doing? You can’t just barge in Senator Dawson’s office,” she said, stopping in front of me with her arms spread wide apart.
“I need to see him right now. It’s urgent.”
“Senator Dawson is a very busy man, and he can’t see you right now. If you need to talk with him, schedule an appointment with him.”
I hated how smug she looked. She was staring at me as if I was stupid. I felt an urge to push her away and get into his office no matter what.
“Do you understand me?! I just told you that it’s urgent. I need to speak with him now—” I tried to side-step her, but she prevented me from going forward, pushing me back.
“And I just told you that he can’t see you right now.”
“Get your hands off me!” I shrieked at her. “I’m going in anyway!”
“No, you are not! I won’t let you bother Senator Dawson when he is working! As I said, schedule your appointment first and then you can see him.”
I bit into my lip, telling myself to stay calm. As much as it was possible under these circumstances, anyway. “Look, I really need to see him, and I’m not going anywhere until I do. I’ll camp here in front of his office if I have to.”
“Well, then I’ll call the security and they will kick you out. How does that sound?”
I was a second away from cursing at her, but I bit my tongue before I could do it. I didn’t need to make more problems than I’d already had.
There was no other way then. I would have to wait for Merritt to finish his work, and then I would talk to him.