Page 80 of Fight For Her
A meeting at the end of the day was never a good thing, and neither was moving my appointments to other representatives.
It would be fine. I had expected some backlash for how I reacted, so instead of letting my mind spiral out of control, I kept myself busy clearing my personal inbox and checking in with Coby.
Me:Please tell me your day is going better than mine.
I scrolled Instagram while waiting on him to respond. It looked like Lee was keeping up with the posting schedule for all our clients.Their clients, I corrected myself. The sweetest picture of a fluffy lab mix puppy curled up next to a black kitten caught my attention. The caption read: Spoiled to the Bone Grand Opening and Adoption Event. Come Meet Your New Best Friend!
My heart sank. That wasmyevent. I’d started the preliminary planning before I moved. I pitched it that right before the holidays would be a great time to run it. Tears formed in the corner of my eyes even though I was so proud of Lee or whoever Claudia had hired to fill my position.
A text from Coby popped up.
Coby:Three of my patients canceled because of the stomach flu that’s going around. Sooo…I’m currently misting myself with rubbing alcohol.
Why could I see him doing that? I wiped the moisture from my eyes. Everything in me wanted to tell him about the shoot yesterday. I wasn’t sure what held me back.
Coby:What’s wrong and how can I make it better?
Me:Just work stuff. Nothing to worry about.
Me:I’ll call you later.
I set my phone on my desk and sat back in my chair. It vibrated, letting me know I had a new text. Picking it up and reading it would mean I’d end up starting a conversation with Coby that I wasn’t ready for. Especially since he was already updating his resume looking for physical therapy practices nearby. Now wasn’t the time to tell him how miserable I was at this place. I left my phone where it was deciding to figure everything out after the meeting.
With my stomach in knots, I knocked on Victor’s frosted-glass door at exactly four. The sound of my fist against the thick material reverberated through my bones. His assistant opened the door with a grim look on her normally neutral face.
“Edwards, come have a seat,” Victor called.
Of the three times I’d been inside his office, I’d always been equally intrigued and weirded out by the collection of items he kept on display. Each time, I discovered something new to focus on. The first time had been a sculpture of sorts on a pedestal in the corner. I was about to comment on how I also loved Oogie Boogie fromThe Nightmare Before Christmasbut luckily, looked closer and realized it wasn’t Oogie Boogie but a human-looking face on a large sack-like body. I shivered and kept my mouth shut.The second time, I’d realized the pattern on his lamp shade was eyes of varying colors. It gave me the creeps.
Today, when I very much needed to focus on what he was saying to me, my eyes fixed on a painting I hadn’t noticed before. How I hadn’t noticed it was beyond me because this piece of art depicted multiple human-like figures engaging in various sexual acts. It was oddly horrifying and mesmerizing.
“I’m not happy.” Victor steepled his fingers and brought them in front of his face. “I’m sure you’ve surmised that though.”
I pulled my gaze away from the creepy painting. “Yes.”
“After your little outburst, I had to deal with a pissed off photographer and agent yesterday. We almost lost our hottest client because of you.” His voice was cold as he enunciated every syllable.
Heat crept up my chest to my face. I steeled myself, formulating my response.
“There is one thing every single person who represents this agency needs to remember. But maybe I didn’t make it clear to you.” He leaned forward placing each forearm onto his expensive wooden desk. “My word is law.”
My eyes tried to wander away from his cold glare, but I forced them to keep contact. This was something I wouldn’t back down from. Willing air into my lungs, I began to speak, but before I could get a word out, he cut me off by standing and walking to his office door. He opened it and gestured for me to leave. My tongue was heavy with what I wanted to say. I swallowed hard and went to the door.
“You’ll be on errand duty for the rest of the week. That should teach you a lesson. Remember, Kendahl, you may think you’re something special because of your little five minutes of fame, but deliberately disobey me again and you won’t be able to work PR for a lemonade stand.” He spoke with such severity that I stepped out of his office without a word, grabbed my belongings, and hurried directly to my car.
I drove around for an hour letting Victor’s words replay in my mind over and over again. Instead of seeing the glitz and glam of what I wanted Hollywood to be, darkness came through. Graffiti covered overpasses, stand still traffic, and barricaded alleyways stood out among the palm lined streets. Every turn led to another street that looked the same as the one before it, too large yet too suffocating. I wanted to breathe and to see something real. I pulled off the road and parked alongside a few tourist shops, resting my face against the steering wheel.
The reality of what he said hit me at once. He’d known about my video, probably for the whole time. Years of talent, hard work, strong morals, and building relationships with my clients may have had no bearing on him hiring me. My face stung like I’d been slapped. Being condescended to the way I was and then relegated to a gopher was worse than a physical slap to the face.
Going back to my apartment didn’t even offer the comfort I needed. The furniture was not mine, and I was only able to bring what personal items I could pack into my suitcase on the plane. The service that delivered my car to me wouldn’t let me pack anything in it due to liability issues. The place felt cold and empty like a ghost town.
I longed for my worn in zebra striped duvet I’d had since college and my old bathroom door that never fully shut because the hinges were rusty. I missed staring out my big front window watching gray clouds roll in as afternoon thunderstorms ripped through town. I missed the smell of orange blossoms that permeated the walls each spring. Hell, I even missed cranky Mr. Fry banging on his ceiling with his broom handle whenever I’d walk around with my heels on.
I crawled into my cold bed and pulled the scratchy white duvet up to my neck. Admitting defeat and crawling back home would be like forcing myself into clothes that were too small. How could I admit that I’d failed or that I wasn’t good enough to make it in a city like Hollywood.My phone rang from my purse by the door where I’d dropped it, and I made no move to get it. What was I going to do?
I pried my eyes open and rubbed dried mascara from my lids. Judging by the pitch blackness of my apartment, I’d fallen asleep. It could have been any time from nine o’clock at night to three o’clock in the morning with how groggy I was. Sitting up, the reality of the day hit me again, and I fought the urge to let my bed swallow me into the bliss of sleep, but my bladder needed emptying and my bra was digging into my armpit.
I dragged myself to take care of business and grabbed my phone from my bag once I was ready to get back into bed. I hadn’t responded to Coby all day and had missed my daily check in with my mother.The glow of the screen lit up the darkened room, and I squinted until my eyes adjusted to the light. It was just past eleven, which meant I’d slept for at least three hours. There were two missed calls from Coby and one from my mother. It was too late there to call, so I opened my texts instead and noticed an unread message that Coby had sent in between his calls.
