Page 42 of Dirty News
Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and it swung around to fall over her shoulder as she jerked her head in agitation. “I wanted to talk to you after lunch was over, but youdisappeared.”
“Oh, yeah? After it was over? Hmm.” She tapped her chin. “Was that because she picked one of the other men and notyou?”
I had to laugh, and knew I’d better hurry up and fill her in on everything. So I did just that, telling her the whole thing as fast as I could before we were called into our boss’soffice.
The anger in her eyes subsided, and she actually looked sympathetic. “Oh, I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Duke. I really am. And I’m sorry for acting so jealous.” She sighed and shook her head. “Not in a million years did I think a woman would be the first to break the no dating, no sexual harassmentrule.”
Even though she looked relieved, she also looked a bit worried. “What are you thinking? Do you feel like that says a lot about what would happen to us if we were ever foundout?”
She nodded. “Ido.”
“Well, I don’t. That was sexual harassment, plain and simple. She’d been told by each one of us that we weren’t into her, and she went on anyway. That’s harassment. There’s no harassment between us.” I patted her on the shoulder. “Try not to worry, please. I will make things right. I promise you Iwill.”
“You better not quit,” she warned me. “I’ll be really mad at you if you do that just to keep seeing me. I’d most likely get fired even if you did quit, anyways. Artimus would know we’d had something going on while you were still anemployee.”
She was right. But I wasn’t going to quit, not if I didn’t have to. I had other ideas rolling through my brain. But all of those ideas would have to wait until some time had passed. Artimus wouldn’t budge on that rule just yet, and I knewthat.
The door to his office opened, and Mrs. Baker waved us in. “He’s ready for you twonow.”
“Both of us?” I asked, hoping that meant goodnews.
She nodded. “Yes, comeon.”
Lila walked into the office just in front of me. Two chairs were sitting in front of Artimus’s desk, and we each took a seat. “Good morning, you two,” he greeted us. “I’ve got the results from our surveys and would like to share them with you thismorning.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Lila must’ve been holding her breath, her chest not moving at all. I felt pretty confident we were going to get our way, but still had a few nerves aboutit.
Mrs. Baker took two folders out of a desk drawer. “Here are the folders that have the paperwork for the new jobs you’ve both earned.” She pushed one to me and one to Lila, a big smile on her face. “Congratulations, you’re both our new co-anchor on WOLF MorningNews.”
Lila and I looked at each other, and then we both jumped up and hugged as we laughed. “We got it!” Lilashouted.
“No one had to lose!” I shouted rightback.
Then the sound of throats clearing could be heard, and we ended our little celebration. Artimus and Mrs. Baker both wore frowns. He shook his finger at us. “No physical contact,guys.”
“Oh, yeah.” I looked at Lila. “Sorry about that, Lila. I guess the excitement got to me. I’m just so glad no one had to lose. And I’m excited to get to work withyou.”
She nodded. “Me too, Duke. And I’m sorry too.” She looked at our boss. “And to both of you. Sorry aboutthat.”
I nodded at our bosses. “Yeah, metoo.”
This shit was going too far in my opinion, but I wasn’t theboss.
“Come on, let me show you both to your offices,” Mrs. Baker said as she led usout.
We walked down the long hallway, all the way to the very end. The door on the left had my name engraved on a gold nameplate, and the one right across the hall had Lila’s name engraved on it. “Oh my God,” Lila murmured, “this is reallyhappening!”
Mrs. Baker handed us each a card with our pictures on them. “You’ll use these cards to slide through the locking system to get inside your offices. So keep them with you at all times. The doors lock on their own once they’reclosed.”
We were close to my door, so I opened it, and all three of us went inside. “This is out of this world,” I mumbled as I looked around the large corner office. I pointed at the two doors that were inside. “And thoseare?”
Mrs. Baker smiled. “A walk-in closet and a private bathroom, complete with a shower. You’ll both need to be here at four every weekday morning. We’ll need you to be ready by six to start the newscasts, which will go until eight. And of course, you’ll both have your evening and nighttime slots too. We’ll need you in hair and makeup two hours before those newscasts begin. Things are about to get very busy foryou.”
I could see that. “Lila, let’s go see youroffice.”
She was excited, and we headed out to check out the office across the hallway. She ran her card through the lock then opened the door to find another corner office just like mine. “I can’t believethis!”
“Believe it, both of you.” Mrs. Baker made her way out the door, leaving us to ourselves. “I’ve got more to attend to this morning. There’s so much to do with the network going live in only a fewdays.”
