Autumn's POV.
"I'm sorry...- E"
"Wow, Autumn. That's quite the bouquet." Miranda gave me her unwanted opinion. She was definitely jealous. That was such a good feeling that I almost considered keeping them. Almost.
I quickly got up, walking over to the trash can and throwing the red flowers into it. Yes, they were beautiful but now was not the time and keeping them would only make me feel even worse about the whole thing.
Once I was back to my desk with a new cup of coffee, I noticed that I had an Email from someone named Elena Storm. Emilio's sister.
Hey, Autumn! I'm sure my brother has mentioned once or twice that I will be helping out with his new line and he informed me that you're working on one of the articles about it. Since we'll be working on this line together more than any of the other reporters, I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm currently in New Jersey and will be for the next week so, I apologize that our first encounter was over Email. From what my brother has told me about you, I assume that we'll get along well and I hope that we do.
I'm back in New York next Wednesday. Free your schedule and we'll get coffee if you'd like. Let me know. -Elena.
The article had been in the back of my mind for the last week and this stupid Email had to dig it back up. I didn't even want to write Emilio's story anymore. This wasn't for anyone but him and his good name. His flower apology was a nice gesture but not nice enough for me to give up my real job. My real story.
I had to tell Emilio that I didn't want to do his story anymore and for some reason, that thought made me feel a bit sad.
"So, who was it from?" Miranda was still standing around, bugging the living shit out of me.
"Emilio." As soon as the first syllable came out of my mouth, she rolled her eyes and her mood instantly switched.
"Oh. Well get back to work."
"Miranda? Can I ask you something?" I know my voice was a little hard compared to the way I usually speak to her but I was determined to get something out of this.
"What?" She asked in reply with the same hard tone as me.
"Why do you hate Emilio so much? Why do you hate me so much? What did I do to you?"
Miranda rolled her eyes again, throwing her hands on her hips. "I don't hate you-"
"Yes! You do. You hate my guts, you hate the ground I walk on, you roll your eyes and sigh every time you look at me. Why?" I seemingly begged. I sounded more desperate than I wanted to but whatever. I got an answer.
"I don't like you, but I don't hate you." She began to get all sheepish and quiet. That was far from like her and it scared me for a second. "I just- you scare me. Scared. You scared me."
"How do I-" I began to ask, but she quickly cut me off.
"When you joined our company, I wanted to like you. But one day, I heard Emilio talking to his brother and Joe about you and me. He said he saw something in you that I don't have. The metaphor he used was something like, you brought a light to the company and mine was beginning to dim. That's a shitty metaphor but you get the idea. When I heard that, it hurt me. I've worked my ass off to get in this company and you come here straight out of college with all your millenial ideas and other shit that I don't have. You got it easy, Autumn. I made it my mission to ensure that my job was not something you would just be given. I promised myself that if you ever took my position, it would be because you worked your ass off just as hard as I have. So, when Joe assigned you your first story, I suggested all of the extra obstacles and the interviews and-"
"All the shit that made that story nearly impossible to write." I could feel my heart rate speeding up. Not significantly but enough for me to feel it.
"Yeah, and you did it. That made me even more worried. There were so many petty tasks that you were convinced were going to make the story good and you did them. They were not easy but you still did them. After that, I was sure my job was going straight to you and I'd be back to square one. So, everytime Joe gave you a new story, I suggested more small things and Joe wanted them done so, you did them."
"Were you ever going to stop? I almost lost my job because I couldn't do one of those stupid little things that I now know didn't matter. How could you-" Once again, I was cut off.
"That's when I figured out that you weren't getting my job. Joe told me, and I quote, "if that kid can't do this, he'll never make it." I celebrated that night. And I celebrated even more the night after when during work, you brought your story into him and he didn't publish it. When he hated it. I know that did something to you on the inside."
"Hell yeah it did. That made me want to quit."
"I hoped you were going to. But, you didn't. You came in the day after with a perfect story and it was the prime story of the month. That is when I decided that this was a thing. I knew I wanted to make your life a living hell so that you couldn't get above me. And that's when I seemingly started hating you. And I figured that if you thought your job was hard, then you'd think mine had to be rocket science and you'd never want it."
"Wow. You succeeded." I'd probably die if I had Miranda's job. Now I know it's not hard but I could never. I feel like I'd become too much like her.
"Autumn, I honestly never meant for it to go this far, but I guess I just liked the feeling of knowing that there was no chance of you replacing me-"
"What? Now it's back? You gotta kick it up a notch? Don't you think you've done enough?" I snapped.
"I don't know. Maybe I have. Or maybe I need to try a little harder now that you have our boss on a leash. Now that you have the CEO of our company wrapped around your finger, worshipping every step you take, hanging onto your every word. Maybe I need to make it a little harder on you-"
"That won't be necessary." Miranda quickly whipped around to see who said that.
"Emilio. How much of that did you hear?"
"All of it. Your plotting against him is wrong, Miranda. Autumn, honestly, if I had known she was doing this, I would have fired her a long time ago."
"My job is competitive Emilio. Not all of us have it as easy as you or him. I had to do what I had to in order to keep my job. "
"Trust me, I worked harder than you did to get here. Did you think even for a second that your wrong doing would get your job taken? Perhaps by Autumn. Or, you could lose it all together?"
"You-your're firing me?" She seemed startled and shocked like she didn't just admit to making my job hell.
"Did you consider the consequences of your actions?"
"No, I didn't and I should have. Please don't fire me, Emilio."
"Go home Miranda. We'll have to talk about this. I want you both here tomorrow morning by 10:00 AM. Sharp." His voice was dismissive, clearly towards Miranda.
She sighed heavily and turned her back, leaving quietly. I simply couldn't help myself. I had to say something to her. It was the absolute least I could do.
I lightly grabbed her by the upper arm and whispered to her, "I really hope this comes back to bite you in the ass. Hard. And if it doesn't, I plan to." I know I had to look decently menacing. The look on her face told me so.
Emilio cleared his throat, causing our side eye staring contest to come to an abrupt stop and I let her go. I really wanted to yank her by her hair and scream at her until I lost my voice but what kind of man would that make me? Not much of one. So, I did as Emilio silently asked and just walked away.
Of course, I didn't get very far because Emilio did the same thing to me as I did to her. The only difference was that he was holding me way closer than I would ever hold Miranda.
"Go home. I expect you back here tomorrow-"
"Of course you do. Want, expect, demand. You ever try asking for something first?" I sassed, snatching my arm away from him. He may have just done something about my bully of a boss, but he was not getting back in my good graces that quickly.
I did what he said though. Not because he told me to, but because I wanted to go the fuck home.
I gathered my things and made a break for the door, but right before my hand touched the door handle, I heard him call after me from a distance.
"Autumn! 10 AM. Sharp."
I rolled my eyes at him and threw my head back in an annoyed manner, shouting back, "Fuck you!"
I knew he'd want the last words so I quickly walked out of the glass door before he could reply.
A/N: We're both super sorry we took an entire month and 3 days to update. Hopefully it won't happen again. We're both on summer break so updates will be more frequent in the near future. We can't promise much but we can promise that the next update is not 33 days away. Tons of love, -K and Ash.