TWO

Justine

When I head back to Mr. Kernos' office, my head is swimming with a hundred different ideas. All of which do me exactly zero good, since he won't be interested in hearing them. I'm not paid to think. I'm paid to make things easy for him and make sure he has everything he needs.

The look he gives me when I knock and peep in through the door makes me want to turn and scurry away to hide in a storage cupboard somewhere. Instead, I bravely walk in and take a seat in front of his desk. I tuck my hands under my thighs so he won't see how much they're shaking.

Mr. Kernos pushes his chair back a little and folds his arms across his broad chest. "Well?"

I wait. I'm expecting him to say more, but he just glares at me.

Eventually, I fold. "OK, I saw the email when I bumped the mouse and then I needed to know what Asha sent you."

"Hmmm."

Unwisely, I continue. "And then it made me mad because it's dumb and shortsighted and... You don't want to hear that do you?" I trail off awkwardly under his continued scrutiny. "You want to hear I'm sorry and I'll pack my things." I stand to go do just that.

"Wait."

I freeze.

"Explain what you mean." His voice is gruff and demanding. I'd really rather just scurry off and hide now. I don't know what on earth possessed me to blurt that all out, but I get flustered under pressure

He's waiting for an answer. Do I dare to give it to him?

I try to read his expression. His nostrils flare a little, but other than that he still isn't moving. Isn't giving anything away.

"What I mean?" I swallow.

"You said Asha was dumb and shortsighted. Why?"

One long ear flicks.

Probably not a good thing to say about my supervisor. My mouth is dry, I try to lick my lips but it feels like running my tongue over sandpaper. "Well, reality TV still has a lot of potential in the current market. It just needs to be more interactive. I was googling Catchall Media while you were in your meeting, and they have an app, and you can vote on the outcome of their reality TV programs or chat with contestants..."

Is that the hint of a smile on his wide mouth? I can't tell. I fumble on.

"Look, I'm really sorry. It won't happen again. I mean the whole email situation. I'm sure you won't let me anywhere near your office again. But if you could just overlook this mistake, I'd be really really grateful. I love reality TV. And I love the TV Bullseye Media makes. I really want to keep working here."

I give him my best puppy dog eyes.

He sighs. "Well since Asha will be on leave for a couple of days and I can't replace you in that time, you will need to stay. I'll reevaluate at the end of the week."

The breath all whooshes from my lungs. "Oh, thank you! I promise you won't regret it. Not at all. You won't even know I'm here."

He huffs out a breath at this. "I highly doubt that, Ms. Delany, but we will make do somehow."

That deflates my ecstatic relief a little. He thinks I'm annoying. Not surprising, really. He's not the first person in my life to think that.

I'm about to hurry out so as not to irritate him anymore, when he stops me again. "Ms. Delany?"

"Yes?"

"I have a meeting at seven am. I'll need you to read through the notes I've made for the shareholder briefing in the shared drive and print them. Have them ready to prompt me if I miss a detail."

Inside, my heart drops. On the surface, I try to keep calm. It's fine. A few extra hours so I won't lose my job seems worth it. A few extra hours when I've got to get up at the butt crack of dawn tomorrow.

I hang my head and return to my desk. My stomach rumbles loudly as I open the files, reminding me I've hardly eaten all day. It's already five and there's no way I'm going home any time soon. With a sigh, I pick up my phone and message my housemate, Courtney.

Justine: wanna binge Chinese takeout on the sofa with me tonight while we watch the finale of Married for a Day? I have to work late :(

"Tell me again about stern minotaur daddy." Courtney tops up my glass from the bottle of wine we've already drunk too much of. My friend looks amazing despite the fact we're both sitting around in pajamas. She has this effortlessly beautiful way of piling her blonde hair on top of her head in a messy bun that looks at once like she did it in two seconds, and also like she might have paid a stylist.

I groan. "Courts. It wasn't like that. He looked so mad when I had to go back to his office. I thought he was going to start breathing fire."

"Can minotaurs do that?"

I snort. "No, silly."

"Right. I knew that." She takes another gulp of wine. We're onto our second takeout container of fried rice and the third box of wontons. "He is hot, though, isn't he?"

I giggle. "Yeah. he's hot. Wait a minute." I fumble for my phone beside me on the floor and google him. Then I hold it out for Courts to see.

Her eyes widen and she makes a low whistle. "He's like super-volcano level hot, Just. You should totally offer him a conciliatory blow job."

"Courts!" I cover my face with my hands. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Courtney pushes. "Go on. Let your hair down for once."

My hair, as usual, is pinned back in a simple ponytail, and the short bangs hang down around my eyes. It's the only hairstyle I can reliably nail. I know what she means though. It's been a while—literally and figuratively.

I sigh. "If he doesn't end up firing me for looking at his emails, I can only imagine what he'll do if I offer that!"

Courtney laughs. "If he's anything like most guys, I can imagine he'll give you an enthusiastic yes. You do know how to give a BJ, don't you?"

My cheeks heat. "Yes! I mean of course I do. What self respecting twenty-four year old doesn't know how to give a BJ?" I don't tell Courtney that Cameron, my ex boyfriend, wasn't that into them. Well, he wasn't really into me giving them to him, anyway. Maybe I'm just really bad at it?

Courtney waves me off. "OK, OK, forget the blowjob. What's the game plan here?"

I stuff a wonton into my mouth and say around it, "Don't piss him off?"

"That's all you got?"

"What else can I do?"

"Fight back!" Courtney stabs the air with her chopstick. "Show him how much he needs you."

"He needs me?" I don't even lift my head. I know it's not true. It's Asha he needs.

"Sure. You're great. You're thoughtful and you love Bullseye Media. Who doesn't want an employee like that? Maybe you should show him just how much you've thought about Bullseye. Pitch him some of your ideas while you've got his ear."

I groan. "I'm better off just keeping my mouth shut. He already thinks I'm an annoying snoop. Don't need to act like a know-it-all on top of that. Besides, I'll probably never be able to come up with anything good."

Courtney gives me a sympathetic look and pours me more wine until I stop her.

"I've gotta be up at like half five tomorrow to get to work on time. Don't tempt me."

She pours the rest into her glass instead. "Ooof, that's rough. Come on. Let's watch this show. Did they kiss yet? I was so sure they were going to kiss last night."