"You better give me a goddamn good reason why you haven't been home in the past two days!" Fifi's voice destroyed my ears as she picked up my phone call on the second beep. The volume in my car was way too loud for her screaming. My hand immediately went to the volume control and turned it down. I lifted the hand to my right ear and rubbed it softly.
"Well, and you better pay my doctor's bill for getting my ears checked after being yelled at by you.", I said back in a serious tone, even though it was meant by a joke. Fifi stayed silent for a moment, which wasn't a good sign. I could tell she was mad, and I was really scared about what she would be doing to me.
"Look, I texted you I was fine, right?", I then asked her quietly.
"You did, but that's not the same.", Fifi argued back. "I was worried sick! I had no idea where you were, so if anything had happened to you, I would have never been able to tell the police where you were!"
"That's a bit much, don't you think?", I shot back.
"Is it?", Fifi asked back seriously. "You're famous now, Tia. You have fans, and haters, I might remind you. And you just kind of ruined Lucas' career. So people are coming for you. So no, I don't think it's much." Deep in me, I knew she was just worried about me and that she only wanted the best for me. And I saw now that I should have told her exactly where I was for the past two days.
"I'm sorry.", I then admitted my fault. "I really am. I should have told you before but that's why I called you. I wanted to tell you something." Fifi stayed silent for some moments, then I heard her inhale.
"Alright. What is it?", she was now a little more relaxed and her tone told me she was excited about the things I was going to tell her.
"I've been at Lando's house for the past two days." I kept my words short and cut off right after I said the last word of the sentence. I knew Fifi would freak out so I let her scream everything out that she needed to get off her chest right now.
"No, Tia. Don't play with me!", she said breathlessly after she screamed at the top of her lungs for some seconds. I laughed but didn't say anything more to show her I was dead serious.
"Oh my god, Tia. That's amazing. Tell me everything that happened. And don't leave out details, if you know what I mean."
I just knew Fifi was wiggling her eyebrows right now. She was excited to hear all the gossip and details but I knew I needed to disappoint her. Nothing had happened between Lando and me. After we went to bed on the first night, we had some breakfast together and I wanted to leave. The weather had other plans though as it was pouring cats and dogs and I could barely see my hand in front of my body.
Lando denied me from leaving the house, not even speaking of driving in these conditions. I gave up after he picked me up and carried me back to the living room as I tried to sneak out of the house multiple times. So we spent the second day in his living room playing video games and watching movies. We even ended up watching a couple of episodes of Toxic, and he especially loved the moments where I couldn't watch my performance because they were so cringy and repeated them about a hundred times.
"Look, nothing exciting happened. We just watched some movies together and played some video games because he wouldn't let me drive home in the pouring rain.", I explained and set my indicator to the left side as I stopped at a traffic light.
"He cares so much about you.", Fifi remarked and I smiled.
"He does.", I agreed. "And I've never felt this great. When I'm with him, he treats me like I'm the best thing in the world. After everything that happened with Lucas and my family, it is like therapy."
"I get that. I'm just happy for you.", my best friend told me.
"Thanks, Fif.", I said back and a short silence settled in between us.
"So nothing happened, huh?", Fifi once more asked.
"No, nothing happened.", I repeated my answer from before.
"Nothing but disappointment.", Fifi remarked with a sigh and made me laugh.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you.", I said. "I just need to take time for myself now. Make sure I got everything organised and figured out before I settle down once more."
"You've grown up. Did you realise that?" Fifi's voice was now reminding me of the proud parents I've seen on various TV shows. I've never experienced it in real life though.
"I do now.", I replied. Fifi laughed a little bit.
"I'm really proud of you. I just hope you know that."
"I do, you've told me about a thousand times.", I reminded her. Another silence settled in between us.
"So, are you coming home right now?", she then asked me and I nodded. Then I remembered that I was on the phone with her.
"Yes, I am. About an hour left, then I'll be back home.", I answered.
"Okay. Any more plans in the next few days?", she asked me. I knew she had some plans in her head about spending time with me.
"Yes, actually. I'm being picked up tomorrow by someone from the management I met and they're going to take me to Manchester. I'll visit the headquarters tomorrow.", I explained.
"Alright. Just take the weekend off, so we can hang?", Fifi asked me and I agreed.
"I will. I promise.", I said to her.
"Alright, I don't want to distract you any longer from driving. Be safe. I'll see you in an hour.", Fifi said her goodbye and I did the same. She had hung up the phone some moments later.
---
"Okay, since it's only two more minutes until the headquarters, this is how the visit is going to go:"
Lewis, a manager of Vision Management started to cut the silence in the car and looked at me friendly. He was the one that had picked me up in Birmingham with a limousine. Stacey sent her excuses that she couldn't pick me up herself. He was just as nice though and took good care of me the entire car ride over to Manchester.
"Stacey will meet us at the entrance. She is delighted to finally show you around the headquarters. You will meet the rest of her assistant team and we'll show you around the buildings. Then Stacey and you have a meeting with all the bosses of the company in the conference room to talk for a little bit. Of course, you are more than welcome to ask questions in between, no matter the topic. Does that sound good?"
"Yes, it does. Thank you.", I replied and gained a smile back. The phone in my hand buzzed and I quickly took a look at the screen.
Lando, 11:34:
"Did you arrive safely?"
With quick movements of my fingers, I typed an answer.
Tia, 11:34:
"Almost there. Will talk to you afterwards."
I looked out of the window again and watched the car drive onto a big parking lot in front of a building I thought was high enough to touch the moon. The windows reflected the sunlight and made the building look like being made out of pure silver. On the top, there was a logo put on the building. It stood out from the windows with its metallic blue-greyish colour. The car finally came to a complete hold in front of the main entrance. After the driver walked around the car, he opened the door and Lewis yielded to me.
"Thanks.", I said to both the driver and Lewis and got out of the car. I met Stacey's eyes, who walked towards me with a bright smile and open arms. Two other people were walking behind her.
"Well, hello there beautiful.", she welcomed me with a tight hug. Her scent smelled amazing as always and her hug felt warm and cosy.
"Hello, Stacey.", I said back just as happy to see her as she was happy to see me. "Thank you for having me."
"Are you kidding me?", she asked me a little louder as she let me go but kept her hands on my shoulders. "We are so grateful for you to visit us. So we need to thank you."
"Oh no, I'm happy to be here.", I replied. The compliments were just thrown around right now but I was just trying to be honest. Seeing Stacey helped and I loved spending time with her, even if it was for work.
"Well, I want you to meet my other assistants.", Stacey then got into the business and let go of my shoulders. Her arms motioned to the two people standing behind her and told them to step forward. On her right, a young man with brown hair and green eyes was standing and smiling at me. He was wearing black suit pants, combined with a red and blue button-up shirt and a black tie. On Stacey's left, there was a young girl. Her blonde hair was neatly styled into curls and was laying softly over her shoulders. A couple of strands were clipped back so they wouldn't get into her face. Her makeup was classy and not much, but the colour of her eyeshadow perfectly matched her eye colour. Her body was covered by a steel blue skirt and a black blouse. She smiled at me just as friendly as the man on the other side.
"These are Wyatt -", Stacey motioned to the young man. "And Lara, my other assistant managers." I politely shook both of their hands as I introduced myself. Even though they acted very professional and calmly, I could tell that they had both watched my Netflix show.
"It's nice to meet you both.", I told them just before I put my attention back onto Stacey.
"So, if you decide to sign with Vision Management, us four would be the main characters you would have to mainly work with.", Stacey started to explain as she put her hand on my back and we started to walk into the building.
"But that's information you wouldn't need to worry about until you signed with us. If you ever decide to do that.", she added as she showed her ID to the security guard and he let all of us through the gate just right behind the entrance. The entirety of the building was made out of glass, so the sunlight kept the rooms lighted and friendly.
"Alright.", I laughed a little as I realised how nervous Stacey was about saying the wrong thing.
"Great, so this is the main hall of the company.", Stacey then continued to explain the division of the building. "On the left here, you find the canteen, where most of the managers spend the majority of their breaks. On the right, you can find some changing rooms with showers, to give the opportunity of freshening up if our employees ever decide to come to work with their bikes."
"That's amazing." I was truly amazed by the thoughtfulness of the company and how much they cared about their employees.
"Yes, it is.", Wyatt joined the conversation. His American accent was recognisable in his words. "I use it every day and it is very comforting to know you don't need to sit at work all day all sweaty."
"I bet it is.", I agreed and continued to check out the rooms. Stacey, the others and I made our way to the elevators.
"Okay, well. I don't think you need to see all the other departments working for the company, as the IT department, right now. We're kind of on a schedule, so I think showing you around the most important departments will be enough for now, right?" Stacey looked at me as we stepped into the elevator and waited for my opinion. I was still not used to being asked about my interests and opinion by a manager.
"Sure, that sounds good.", I answered and watched the elevator go up to the tenth floor. As we stepped out, we stood in a big open room with a lot of different desks and offices. In the middle of the room, there was a separate conference room with glass walls. At single desks, people were busy working on their computers or some papers. Some other employees were walking around the room.
Stacey and the other managers looked around the room. They seemed like they were looking for specific people. As a group of four people, two men and two women, stepped out of one of the offices, the managers started to walk once more and I followed them. As the group of four saw us approaching them, they stopped walking and with their conversations. All of the four smiled at me friendly as we stopped in front of them.
"So, this is the potential client I wanted you to meet.", Stacey said and motioned to me with her hand. "This is Tatiana Gauvin, the actress from Tox-"
"From Toxic on Netflix. Yes, we know who she is. Who doesn't?", one of the men said and cut off Stacey with his sentence. He didn't mean to be rude, he just seemed as excited as Stacey when she first met me some days ago. He hold out his hand and I shook it politely.
"It's nice to meet you, sir.", I said.
"It's my pleasure. My name is Harvey Specter, the CEO of Vision Management.", he introduced himself and I straightened my posture a little bit. I had no idea that I was talking to the boss.
"Maybe we should transfer this conversation into the conference room?", one of the women suggested and Stacey nodded.
"Yes, I think this would be better.", she agreed and I followed Stacey and the four higher positions into the glassy conference room. After I sat down, Stacey stayed stood and started to introduce the higher positions.
"So, you've already been introduced to Mr Specter, our CEO.", she began. "Then we have Michael Ross, the Junior CEO." She motioned to the other man. His blue eyes looked at me friendly and he fixed his blonde hair with one swift motion of his hand. "Rachel Andrews and Jessica Gambret. Both of them are Senior Partners of the company." I greeted all of them in a professional and friendly way.
"Now, Tatiana.", the CEO wanted to start but I interrupted him politely by raising my hand.
"Oh, please. It's just Tia.", I told him and he nodded understandingly.
"Okay, Tia.", he restarted. "What is your first impression of our company?"
"I think it's great! You show thought and care for both your employees and clients and I think that's great.", I answered truthfully. Mr Specter smiled as he heard my answer, as did his fellow board partners.
"I'm happy to hear. Do you have any questions about us as a company or the building? Whatever you want to know, we will answer.", Mrs Andrews then joined the conversation.
"Exactly. We want you to be comfortable in our workspace. That's our main goal. To let you forget what you went through with your old management.", Mr Ross agreed. They made sure I knew their intentions but I didn't feel like they were being a show-off or promised too much.
"I don't, really.", I replied. "I'm just really impressed."
"That's great to hear.", the CEO repeated. "Now, unfortunately, we have to also talk about business. Would you consider signing with us?" The room went quiet for a bit, then I dared to speak my mind.
"If you can write down everything Stacey and I promised on back in Birmingham, then yes. I absolutely would.", I told them.
"Great.", Stacey then said. "Because I have already told them about the conditions we came up with and the option for you to leave the company. Everything should be written down in this contract." She pulled out a few pieces of paper and laid them down in front of me.
"Now don't be scared of the size of the contract.", Mr Specter tried to calm me down as he saw my big eyes. "You can take your time to fully go through the conditions. Some of it is just formalities we have to write down, but you're more than welcome to take your time and read everything carefully."
"I would love that. Thank you.", I said and started to go through the entire document. To be honest, I went through it thoroughly. I just needed t make sure I wasn't being played again and all the conditions were written down as Stacey and I agreed on. When I finished reading the contract, I was completely convinced the company and their functionaries held their word and didn't seem t play me. So I took the pen in my hand and quickly signed the contract with the new management.
"Thank you so much for listening to my suggestions.", I told them as I handed them the original and they made sure the contract was being copied so I have one as well.
"That's the least we can do for you. I mean, without the client, we wouldn't have any work. So why not listen to them, am I right?", the CEO joked and made everybody in the room laugh.
"Do you have any wishes left, now that you have signed with us?", Mr Ross asked me then. I looked from one official of the company to the next, until I reached Stacey's eyes. I hold eye contact with her before saying my first wish.
"Do you think I could travel to the next Formula One Grand Prix? This way I could promote my signing with your company and I can see my friends.", I argued and looked at their faces for their reactions. They were still looking at me the same way, friendly and open for my words. They still wanted to make sure I was feeling comfortable and well, even after I had signed the contract. Now, every last doubt in my body about their friendliness only being a charade went fully away.
"Of course you can go there.", Mr Specter told me right away. I happily smiled at him and dropped my head for a moment out of happiness.
"Oh and Tia?" Mr Specter got my attention back to him. "From now on you don't need to give us a reason as to why you want to go somewhere. You just tell us where you want to go and we'll give our best to grand your wish."