Page 75 of All the Right Words
Olivia was a block of ice. ‘What’s out?’ she asked, looking believably like she didn’t know what was happening.
But Gina wasn’t taking her lead today. ‘I’m not lying about this anymore.’
Olivia’s lips parted, and her eyes flashed a subtle warning that Gina had no intention of heeding. ‘I’m sorry, Olivia. I just can’t.’
Olivia glanced at Harper and sighed. ‘Ahh fuck. I guess it doesn’t much matter now anyway.’
Gina gathered all her strength to turn and look at Harper. ‘It’s all true. I’ve been coaching her on dates. Giving her stuff to say, little jokes, encouraging her to open up. The pineapple story, obviously,’ she added, rolling her eyes. ‘Just like Brenda said. And itwasme over text.’
It was funny because Gina knew that Harper had already figured this all out. And yet, when Gina said it out loud, the look of shocked hurt in Harper’s eyes was awful. ‘Why the hell would you do that?’
Gina looked at Olivia. ‘Because she needed help, and she asked. I wasn’t exactly buzzed to do it. But she liked you.’
Olivia put her hands on her hips. ‘The fuck do you care now anyway?’ she asked defensively. ‘You ditched me.’
Harper looked at her furiously. ‘I broke it off with you because I was very fucking confused about what was going on. I knew something was wrong. I mean, I didn’tknowit, but Idid. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have…’ She glanced at Gina. Gina thought she was about to be hung out to dry for kissing her. But Harper paused and then turned back to Olivia. ‘Something didn’t add up, and that was making me crazy. That’s why I ended it. And that’s why you don’tmanipulatepeople like that! I felt like I was losing my mind.’
‘I wasn’t trying to manipulate you. I just needed some help. I was intimidated by you!’ Olivia said, aghast.
Harper was blazing mad now. ‘Don’t give me that. You had Gina handling entire conversations by herself. Conversations in which I… I openedup. Do you understand how humiliating that is now?’
‘It wasn’t like that,’ Harper said defensively. ‘Gina told me thatsheopened up too,’ Olivia said. Gina groaned loudly. Not only did Olivia think that was an airtight defence, but she’d also hung Gina out to dry. She wanted to go back to trying to rip her skin off.
And she didn’t like the fact that Harper was looking at her now with probing eyes. Those damn eyes. They were like searchlights. Nothing could remain hidden in their beam. ‘What does she mean by that?’
Gina gave a moment's consideration to telling her the truth. Harper deserved it. But in the end, spinelessness won out. Gina pulled her shirt tighter and headed out of the conference room. ‘I’m taking the rest of the day off, Olivia. Sack me if you want. In fact, fuck it. I quit.’ She walked out without looking back.
Gina strode through the office, and she could feel everyone trying not to stare at her. They didn’t know what the hell was going on, thank fuck. Every last one of them would have been shocked to hear the facts. Because itwasshocking. Cards on the table, Gina saw it now for what it was. A shitty, devious thing.
As she kept walking, she realised she’d just quit her job. She probably shouldn’t have done that. No, wait, it was good. No, actually, she was a fucking idiot who had thrown her job away rather than look Harper in the eye and tell her she had feelings for her. She was a coward. An unemployed coward.
She didn’t care. She needed to get out of this building and never see any of these people again. Especially Brenda. No, especially Olivia. Actually, especially Harper. Gina couldn’t see that person as long as she lived. She wanted to run far, far away and never let her see how devastated she felt by this whole damn thing.
It was a workable plan until Gina got into the elevator. The doors were closing, and Harper suddenly leapt in before they could meet. ‘You forgot the cream. You might need it,’ she said, handing it to her. The elevator moved off.
‘Harper!’ Gina exclaimed, shocked, holding the cream in one hand and her top closed with the other. She was supposed to be free. She was supposed to be getting the fuck out of this mess. But the mess had just jumped into a four-by-four box with her.
‘Yeah, I know, you don’t want to talk to me,’ Harper sighed. ‘And I probably should respect that. Being as Brenda and me, you know…’
‘Stripped me of my human rights?’ Gina asked, trying to sound as bitchy as she could muster.
‘I never gave her permission to go that far. And I never thought for a second that you’d neck that fruit pot,’ Harper said, shaking her head, looking at the elevator doors. ‘If you want to sue Brenda, go for it. She went completely power mad.’ She paused thoughtfully. ‘I think if the Stanford Experiment had been stocked with a load of Brenda’s, it would have been alotworse,’ she noted.
‘I’m not going to sue her. I can’t be arsed,’ Gina replied, squeezing a bit of the cream out and slipping it into her top to spread it on her still rather itchy ribs whilst trying not to show Harper her breasts again. ‘But you should have realised that Brenda was always gonna do Brenda. The womanlivesat eleven.’
Harper nodded, ashamed. ‘Can’t argue that. It was an epic error in judgement. I don’t know what I was thinking.’
‘There’s a lot of that going around,’ Gina muttered, feeling an itchy patch under her belly button making an irritated comeback. She smoothed on some cream and put the tube into her pocket to utilise both hands in the critical job of keeping her tits fully concealed.
‘So you’ve quit?’ Harper asked.
‘Yep,’ Gina said, looking at the floor.
‘Why?’ Harper demanded.
‘I feel like that’s obvious,’ Gina told her.
‘Nothing about this is obvious.’
