Supervillain Girlfriend!

Part Two, Chapter Sixteen: Charlie Gets Canceled

"You don't want to?" 

His face turned red.

"No! No, I do want to—" he stuttered out. "It's just— well, it's not that easy to just pick up where you left off almost a decade ago, and pretend like nothing has happened in all of those years."

Beatrice swallowed. 

"What about for me and you?" 

"B, that's different. You're my sister."

"Yeah, our mom is our mom, but I would stab her in the eye with a fork dipped in Louisiana hot sauce for the spare change in your pocket." Beatrice said. 

He chucked and rolled his eyes. 

"I'm not mad at you, if that's what you're worried about B." He said. "Well, except for maybe about the fact that you went to jail? Can we maybe, you know, circle back to that?"

She swallowed. 

"Uhm—"

Thankfully, she was saved by her phone vibrating in her pocket.

"Sorry, I've got to take this." She said without even looking to see who it was. "It could be about my car's extended warranty." 

Before words could come out of his open mouth, she answered the phone. 

"Hello?"

"B, you have to come in and train today. You're on the verge of getting into serious trouble with the company."

"You know, I don't appreciate the fact that you always talk to me like you're just about to put me in time out." She snapped. 

"I'm just trying to look out for you." He said. 

"I'm literally just seeing my brother, who I thought was dead, for the first time in almost a decade. It can't wait until tomorrow?" She said.

"I came in today and I'm in the same position you are."

"But he's not your brother."

"No, but he is my—"

Lin abruptly cut himself off. 

"He's your what?" Beatrice pressed. 

There was a sudden shuffling, and hushed voices whispering in the background before Lin got a chance to respond. After a moment, their manager Alice came on the phone. 

"How's my favorite hero?" She chirped. Beatrice opened her mouth to let out a string of explicatives, but Alice quickly kept going. "Anyway, I sure you've seen what's been on the new about your girlfriend, right?"

Beatrice frowned. She didn't usually pay attention to the news, or social media. If she did, she occasionally had the misfortune of seeing what other people were saying about her, and she couldn't deal with that very well. 

"No, what do you mean by that?" 

"Well, I'm not necessarily saying that you should break up with her, I'm just saying, you know, that maybe you shouldn't be seen in public with her anymore. You know, for your image."

"Wha—"

Before she could even fly into a rage, Lin started to wrestle the phone back from their manager. 

"Okay Alice, I think that's enough for now." He said. "B, are you coming in or not?"  

"Oh, I'm coming in alright, but only so I can kick everyone up there's ass." She spat. "Make sure you tell them to put on their running shoes."

Lin, for the most part, ignored what she had said. 

"Okay, I'll be up there in ten to pick you."

She slid her phone into her pocket and sighed. TJ, who had been listening in on most of the conversation, gave her a sympathetic look. 

"Sorry," She said, "I have to go in to work."

"It's okay." He said. "We have all of the time in the world to catch up." 

"Can I ask you one last thing before I go?" She asked. 

"Sure."

"How did you get my email address to email me for help?" 

A puzzled look crossed his face, his pale eyebrows furrowed together, and he shook his head slowly. She returned his frown.

"What is it?" She asked. 

"I never emailed you for help."

Beatrice made her way down to the lobby to wait on Lin to arrive end pick her up. It was surprisingly empty, as there was only an old man sitting in a chair in the corner with his eyes closed, who she hoped was just asleep and not dead. 

An afternoon talk show was droning on the Television above her, and she had done a good job tuning most of it out, until the sound of her own name hit her ears, and she reluctantly looked up at the screen.

It was one of those shows where women sat around a big table, with a New Atlanta as a backdrop behind them, and they all bickered with each other until their chunky jewelry swung back and forth violently. 

The blonde woman on the left seemed to be getting particularly worked up. 

"I mean, it's kind of messed up, you know? She's a lot older than her girlfriend, not to mention it's been speculated that she was homeless before. It's just like, an imbalanced power structure and stuff, you know." 

"Mhm. Mhm." The red headed woman beside her said. "I mean, it's not like she can just leave whenever she wants to. She doesn't really have any options."

Beatrice felt herself bristle at the woman's words.

Couldn't leave if she wanted to? What the fuck. I could leave if I wanted to. I've made it all on my own ever since I was a teenager!

"Rich people always want to date someone young anyway, just to prove they can. They're easier to control too." 

Plus why are these people acting like I'm a baby? I'm twenty one years old. I'm and adult. I don't need people acting like I'm a child that needs to be taken care of. 

"She probably faked the whole kidnapping anyway, just to get sympathy. You know the public's opinion towards large corporations has been changing lately, and it's not been changing for the good."

"Are you sure? That seems like a pretty immature thing to do."

"You know how people who are born in the public eye are. They never really mature, do they?" 

I wish I could just fight all of these people. That would fix my problems for sure. My mother did used to say that some people just need to be punched in the face. 

….

Wait, did I just internally my mother in a positive way? Shit, maybe I do need professional help...

"B?" 

Beatrice jumped and turned around at the sound of Lin sneaking up behind her. His brow was furrowed as he stared up at the screen behind her. 

"You okay?" He asked. She didn't like how concerned he sounded when he said it. 

"Uh, yeah." She said. "I mean, are you okay?"

He glanced at the television, then back to her and raised an eyebrow. 

"What does that mean?" 

She sighed and crossed her arms. 

"Nothing. Are you going to make me go to work or what?"