Page 13 of In Bed with the Enemy

10

AMY

I hung back as basically the entirety of the conference attendees continues to pour into the large theater that had been reserved for Ethan's presentation. I could feel the sweat on my palms as I tried to act natural, but I was incredibly nervous about my plan, and even more so when I saw just how many people were flooding into the theater.

I'd practiced the whole thing in my head, staying up well past my bedtime in order to do it. It wasn't that I wasn't confident with my plan, it was just that there were just so many people I'd be doing it in front of. My presentation hadn't attracted even a quarter of the people that were showing up for his.

In some ways, that made my blood boil. Standard Energy's infrastructure and technology were outdated. They only attracted a large crowd because they had a lot of money and assets. They were basically the equivalent of Microsoft. Everyone still just sort of used them because it was what they knew, but it wasn't necessarily the best or the right option out there.

When the last of the stragglers finally made their way inside of the auditorium, I slipped in before they closed the doors so that I could be all the way at the back. My plan had originally been to hang back so I wouldn't risk Ethan seeing me, but I didn't think there was any risk of that with a crowd this large.

I grabbed one of the seats at the end of the back row and tried to calm my beating heart as the auditorium dimmed and music started to pour out of the speakers. I had to roll my eyes at the theatrics of it all. Ethan appeared on the stage following a very vogue introduction from a faceless narrator saying things like, "Tradition," "Innovation," "Commitment."

Gross.

Just seeing him up on the stage, talking to the crowd, made my heart pound. I was quite convinced it had nothing to do with him, though. It was definitely just my nerves at what I was about to do.

I already knew his presentation topic, at least from what I was able to discern of it from the program materials. Standard Energy was trying to appear that they were on the cutting edge of the next big thing in renewable energy. The way they were doing this was to try and "upgrade" their pre-existing infrastructure. But, a pig in makeup was still just a pig.

The flashy presentation went on for quite some time and finally, at the end of it, after a lengthy standing ovation that I thought was completely unwarranted, the lights were slightly raised and people with microphones were deployed throughout the aisles in order to field questions.

I let a few people ask questions in order to try and work up my courage before I finally raised my hand. A person with a microphone spotted me and made their way over to me. As I stood there, waiting for Ethan to finish answering the current question, my heart pounded to an intense level.

Finally, it was my turn and the moderator next to me handed me the microphone. I took a deep breath and even all the way in the back of the auditorium, I could feel Ethan's eyes the moment they turned on me.

"Mr. Greene," I said, sounding calmer than I really was. "I applaud Standard Energy's commitment to renewable energy, but do you really think attaching a few solar arrays to large oil rigs is going to reduce Standard's extremely large carbon footprint? That is, assuming that you could even design such an array with a suitable surface area to power even the smallest of drills, which is questionable."

I stood there, waiting for his answer, thinking that the first in my line of "jumping down his throat" questions was already a win. But, just as I finished that thought, the tables flipped on me. Ethan let out a slow chuckle, the crowd joining in slightly before he spoke. "I'm sure we're all familiar with Ms. Reid," he said, and the crowd's amusement increased. "And as much as I applaud you for attempting to discredit a competitor since that really is the way of business, I do have to wonder why you would do it at the expense of a clean earth. We're all trying to make improvements, here. Isn't that right?" he asked, turning to the crowd.

The moderator tore the microphone out of my hands before I even had a chance to respond. "But, to your question, Ms. Reid," Ethan said, quieting the crowd. "Standard only employs the best and the brightest. Whatever obstacles they might face, I'm sure they're up to the task of solving it."

The crowd burst into applause and Ethan laughed and said, "Next question!" and the moderator walked off before I even had the chance to process what had just happened. Tears started to stream down my face as the people around me looked at me with disdain.

I put my head down and slipped out the back door of the auditorium, but not before I could hear the nasty whispers of some of the crowd around me. The tears increased as I made my way up to my hotel room. I was such an idiot. Such an idiot. Why did I think trying to embarrass Ethan Greene was a good idea? He was the head of Standard Energy. He'd had to testify before Congress before. Why did I think that I'd be able to catch him off his guard?

And the only thing it had done for me was just make me more hated and have people take me less seriously. I looked like the woman scorned, rather than the woman who was making strides in the renewable energy sector.

"Amy?" The voice was familiar and I turned around to see my own boss running after me. I tried to wipe the tears frantically from my eyes, but it was no use.

"If you want to fire me, just fire me, Jeff," I said to my boss.

"I really can't guarantee anything right now, Amy, especially not after what just happened. What on earth made you think to act that way?"

"Whatever," I said to him, choosing not to subject myself to his line of questioning that was going to get us nowhere. If he was actually thinking of firing me, I didn't owe him anything, anyways.

"We're going to have to have a serious discussion come Monday," he shouted after me and I resisted the urge to hold up my middle finger as I made my way to the elevator.

By the time I made it up to my room, the tears had mostly stopped. It's not that I didn't feel sad. I very much did, but I think my mind decided it was just going to detach from the situation. I made my way over to the stocked mini-fridge and in a rather reckless move, considering there was no price list, I popped open a bottle of white wine that was chilling on the top rack, flipped on the television, and started drinking right from the bottle.

The bottle was empty, and my stomach was growling intensely. I sighed. I clumsily grabbed the phone from the hook and pressed the number for room service. It rang and rang, but no one answered on the other end of the line. I laid my head back against the pillow and sighed.

I really did not want to go downstairs right now where all the other conference attendees were. But, I was starving and my pride was currently being quelled by the majority of a bottle of wine.

I rolled myself off the bed, took a quick look in the mirror, realized I was over caring what people thought about me, and made my way towards the elevators. My hair was up in a ponytail, I had changed out of my conference attire and was wearing jeans and a tee-shirt. Overall, I looked comfortable, to put it lightly.

The elevator chimed and I stepped into the car, blinking at the lights, which were a little too bright given my current state of insobriety. I managed to press the button for the ground floor and make it over to the bar. I successfully held it together enough to order another glass of wine and something off the menu. I kept my back turned from the rest of the hotel, deciding that facing the wall of liquor was definitely a better site and a far safer option.

"Rough night?" the bartender asked me as he poured my wine.

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