"You quit?" Sugar asked as we got ready to go to the Broadway show. I was curling Noel's hair as she sipped on some ginger ale because she had just finished throwing up for the 4th time. "Just like that?" Sugar's shock was apparent in every word.
"Yes." I simply said, fixing one of the curls to sit just right on my sister's shoulders.
"Was it something I said?" She proposed.
"It was everything you said, Sugar. Now can we change the topic? If I think about it too long, I will start to panic, and today I want to have fun. So the worrying part can wait till tomorrow."
"Yeah, okay. But hasn't Alex called you a billion times today like he always does?" Sugar questioned.
"I shut my phone off."
"Why didn't he try calling me then, I wonder." Sugar continued.
"I think he was busy with the auditors, and then he had a flight to catch." I guessed.
"Hmm, something doesn't seem right...maybe he hurt himself..."
"Sugar!" I yelled. "Please, as I said, I don't want to think about Alex right now."
"I am just saying it's bizarre behavior from a man who always gets in touch with you. He knows where you live. He could have just shown up here and dragged you to work if he wanted, especially since he pays for half this apartment-- oh god, how are we going to afford this place now!"
"He doesn't pay for half the apartment; I do!" I defended myself. "The company was just compensating me extra for my long commute."
"Yeah, by giving you an extra 2k a month! Leaving me to pay very little a month for this place!"
"How much?!" Noel exclaimed. "On top of all the money you were already making? Holy crap!"
"Why did you quit? I was just telling you to set healthy boundaries-- Oh god, we are going to be homeless." Sugar panicked.
"Sugar, what the hell? That was not the tone you were taking today morning when you were being high and mighty!"
Sugar took a deep breath to calm herself. "Sorry, but I make 15.29 an hour. This place definitely costs more than that. I don't want to move in with my parents, Char; I can't do it!"
"We will be fine. The perk of working 24/7 is you don't have any time to spend your money. I have enough saved up to get us through this year, at least." I assured her. "As I said before, we do the panicking tomorrow!"
"Okay, okay! Sorry, it's just that I am aware that you and, in turn, Alex were pretty much paying for this place, and I was getting milk and food once in a while. I know I am an ungrateful little leech, but I have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle which I intend to pay you back in full when I am a famous superstar." She offered.
"I'll make sure to sue if you don't!" I laughed.
"Deal!"
"You two are so weird," Noel finally interjected.
"Okay, I am ready if you girls are!" Sugar said, applying a bright pink lipstick that went perfectly with her milky white skin and dark red hair. She looked like a 50s beauty with her curls hanging neatly around her face, almost touching her shoulders.
"Let's go," Noel and I said in synch.
All three of us made our way toward the door. I opened it getting there before the other two, and was blocked by another obstacle. No need to guess what or who that was. He was standing with his fist in midair. I guess I got to the door right as he was about to knock.
"Oh lord, I thought you were flying to California today!" I asked the obstacle.
"I had something more urgent to take care of here," Alex responded.
"No, you don't. I am no longer your urgent matter." I assured him. Then feeling bold, I tried to move him out of my doorway; I got halfway out the door before he grabbed me by both my shoulders and lightly pushed me. He used close to no energy, but still, I was back inside. "Ugh, let me go!" I wiggled roughly, trying to get out of his grip.
"Ladies, could you give us a minute," Alex said to my sister and roommate.
"Sure. Glad you are not dead, Alex!" Sugar, the traitor said.
"Thanks?" Alex said.
They both shuffled out the door, and as they did, I heard Noel say, "that's Alex? Ohh, now I get it. I would work 24/7 for that guy too." The door slammed behind them, leaving just Alex and me alone.
"Now, what is this about wanting to quit just because I asked you to take a meeting with the auditors one Saturday?" Alex asked, letting go of me.
"It's not just one Saturday. It's every Saturday or Sunday or both days, and I am sick and tired of it." I shouted.
"I told you time and time again. We are a start-up...."
"Stop using that excuse, Alex. Most people in the company are working regular hours, and after eight years, I am not sure I would consider this company a fully blown start-up. Either way, with me, you are breaking all the labor laws put in place to protect people like me from people like you." I continued.
"I don't think..." Alex started.
"I am not done yet." I interrupted him. "I have been in the same position for these eight years. I haven't moved up. Yeah, you've paid me great, but I want to learn new things, not just help you answer questions that–to be blunt–are easy to answer as long as you have common sense. Which is, apparently, not so common for you." I was on fire today and was not holding back.
"Are you done now? Can I speak?" He raised his eyebrows at me.
"No!" I said, though I did have most of my complaints out the way, "And I don't want to schedule around your sex dates. It's so weird that I know about that part of your life." I added. "Now I am done."
He said nothing now, just smiled at me. He then got on his phone and started typing something there. "Took me a while to find it, mainly because I couldn't ask you where it was, but here it is."
He handed me his phone, and on it was a pdf with words written in the smallest print known to mankind, except the top was bold and large, and it read, 'Employment Agreement.' Was this my contract? I zoomed in a bit, and once the page rendered, I saw my name signed on the bottom. "Why are you showing me this?" I asked, annoyed.
"That right there is a legal document that will hold up in court when I DO take you there." He said, massaging his shoulders. "You see the stress you cause me?"
"Are you being serious right now, Alex?" I was dumbfounded. He was going to take me to court for quitting.
"Do you remember when we had your performance review in the summer, and you renewed your contract with LongD? Well, you renewed it for the year. Early termination of the contract means I am well within my right to sue you."
"Really? Are you going to sue me? I have every right to quit!" I argued.
"Yes, you do. With certain conditions and consequences. Read the 4th paragraph."
I quickly scanned down to find paragraph four. It read, 'The Employee, Charlotte Burns, agrees to work for LongD from May 15th, 2021, to May 15th, 2022.' "So?"
"Now read paragraph 5."
I moved my eyes a bit lower and read, 'This contract will be null and barred if and only if the Employee does not meet the expected performance listed above. If this is the case, LongD can break this contract and release the Employee from the contract. If terminated before the contract end date, the Employee cannot work for competing companies six months from the termination date. Failure to comply with any of the above conditions will be considered a breach of contract. LongD can bring a cause of action for the breach and seek monetary damages from the Employee.'
I looked up at him. I've read enough contracts to know my quitting meant jackshit. The only way I could get out of LongD was if I was fired, and Alex would never do that.
"This won't hold up in court, Alex!" was all I could think of. I had already decided to quit; I was not turning back now.
"No? Maybe not. Still, you will have to fight it. Which means you will need a lawyer. A Lawyer that's better than our– oh, I guess not ours anymore– LongD's legal team. Because if not, I can get quite a lot of money out of you. For example, the rent I've been paying for this place for the past few years. Plus, all the projects you are part of and have signed legal documentation for. You leaving before our agreed-upon time means I will lose money. If I lose money, you lose money." He smiled at me. I could have hit him on the head with a hot iron like they did in the old-timey cartoons because it always looked like it hurt like a bitch. And I wanted to hurt him! So badly!
"So you want to blackmail and threaten me into working for you knowing I am unhappy?" I accused him. "That's the kinda person you want to be in my life?" He said nothing, so I continued, "I am miserable there. I am almost 30, and I haven't started my personal life, and sometimes I feel like I am in a rut with my career as well. If you want to be the person I will blame for the lack of my happiness, then fine, I'll come back. I'll hate you forever, and after May, I won't speak to you and cut you out of my life completely."
At this, he sighed. "Of course, I don't want that. I just-- I thought we were building something together, and lately, I feel like you are slowly moving away from our mission."
"Alex, this is a dating app company. We aren't curing cancer. I can't put in the type of effort you do. I don't get as much out of it as you do. I...I don't have it in me anymore. Eight years ago was a different story. I was green behind the ears and was hoping this would turn into something, but here we are, and I am just a step above an intern." I argued.
"You are the second person in command!" He clarified. "Sure, I can't pay you much right now, but I am personally helping you as much as I can. You make more than anyone else in the company."
"I've learned nothing but how long you need a break when you go see your entertainment for the night, or the best route to get you back to the office from some chick's apartment, or how you take your coffee. Other than that, I am just making appointments, emailing people, or helping you with your grammar."
"That is not true. You are learning how to manage a business from the ground up. You have people reporting to you. All these skills will look great on a resume...."
"If you ever let me leave and give me time to build my resume!" I protested.
He sighed again. "Char, I can't. I need you right now! We are finally getting somewhere! I am telling you, we will be in the green next year, and no one will benefit more than you from this. You have so much stock with the company, and finally, when we go public...."
"How long will that take?" I asked.
"Well, I can't give you an exact timeline, but we've forecasted really good numbers for last year."
"We did the same thing this year. We were supposed to be green, remember? But we barely broke even."
"Well, there were things we didn't predict happening the last few years...."
"If you're talking about Covid, according to you, that was going to help out business boom. Plus, I don't really care about any of that. My peace of mind comes first! I want to date, go out with friends, and celebrate my sister's engagement without you interrupting. I just want out, Alex."
"Date!" He chuckled. "So it's all this new guy. You were acting weird in Philly because I kept you from him."
"Really? Now you want to talk about Philly. Sure, let's talk about Philly! Why did you get so offended when I was joking around? Why did you contemplate coming to the hotel room with me? Were we going to sleep together that night?" I could not believe I was saying this to him, but I kept going while I was at it. "What about what happened eight years ago? Why did you kiss me?"
"You are derailing the conversation. This is not why I am here."
"I would have slept with you that night in Philly. Would you have?" I asked, not beating around the bush.
"You're the one who walked away and said I was a nightmare."
"That's not what I asked. Would you have?" He looked uncomfortable. He shifted his weight from his right to his left, causing him to move away slightly from me. His face was astonished. He probably never expected me to bring this up. He probably didn't think I had the balls. I guess I was growing a new pair right here, right now! I could tell he didn't want to talk about this anymore, which made me want to talk about it even more. "I guess I was the only one in this illusion that something was unspoken between us. Good, glad to know. I have nothing keeping me here. I still quit!"
His face hardened, and his voice became harsh. "Fine, get yourself a good lawyer then. I did the calculations, Char. I can sue you back to Jersey and then some. It would be close to a million."
"Good, more profit than you made this whole year." I know it was a below-the-belt comment, but he deserved it. "Now, if you excuse me, I have a Broadway play to get to," I said, walking towards the door once more, turning my back to him.
"A million dollars, lawyer fees, and no work for six months. It will ruin you."
I turned back around to face him. "No, you'll ruin me!" I shouted, pointing my fingers straight at him."All because you have to have what you want."
"So just stay. It's only till May, and then we can figure it out." He promised.
"Then you will find another way to keep me, and I'll be stuck again. I can't do it anymore. I am tired of pining after you and having you take advantage of that. Knowing I'll be at your beck and call." I wasn't strong and fierce anymore. Tears broke through and steak down my cheeks. Alex got closer to me and wiped one of my cheeks. My cheeks felt numb and warm at the same time. His touch softened me even more, and I pleaded again, "Let me go, please!" I whispered.
"I need you." He whispered back. "Just till May!"
His fingers lingered on my cheeks, his touch soft and gentle. The yearning deepened as I realized this was how he held me that night too. I moved my head closer to his. At first, I could have sworn I saw his face moving towards me, but then I felt him move back. I scoffed. I snapped his hands away from my cheeks. All the embarrassment from that night eight years ago came flooding back. I hated him, and it felt good. I wanted to keep hating him, so I folded. "Fine, you want to keep me prisoner, till May. Do that. You get what you want anyways. I'll be miserable and probably hate you a lot more than I do now."
"Fine, I'll see you at work Monday unless, of course, something else comes up tomorrow." He coldly said and walked out, slamming my apartment door behind him.