[Twenty-Somewhere] Episode 27: Confrontation, Negotiation, and Reconciliation

[ Need to catch up on 20SW? See a list of all episodes. ]

To: Capital S
From: R. Walker

As an avid reader, I have seen the tremendous growth of your site and been very impressed by the personality, expertise, and insight you demonstrate on a daily basis. As an account manager at Arden Advertising, I am writing to see if you had any interest in corporate sponsorship. My client, Forward Fashions, would be happy to gift you with any of their innovative clothes, provided that you shared your love of these items with your followers.

Sophie laughs. “Avid reader? You couldn’t even remember her name!”

“Shut up,” Reggie growls over the phone. “Does it sound good or what?”

“Yeah, it’s great. You get an A+ in professional butt kissing.”

Reggie hangs up without saying thanks.

A minute later, Sophie’s computer beeps. She has a new email. Well, an old email, but at a new address. The fake address she made to keep her identity as Capital S a secret.

#  #  #

Claudia strides into the library wearing what Eli calls her Killer Heels. Ramona is already waiting, her head bent down towards the book she is reading. At the click of Claudia’s heels, she looks up, and smiles. “Hi!”

Claudia clears her throat and utters the infamous breakup words.

“We need to talk.”

For the next five minutes, she confronts Ramona about the contests she secretly entered. When Ramona protests, Claudia hands her printouts of the website announcing Ramona’s wins. When Ramona apologizes, Claudia reiterates her confusion, her pain, her mistrust. And when Ramona cries, Claudia… well, Claudia doesn’t know what to do.

“It’s all a lie!” Ramona sobs.

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m upset with you.”

“No,” Ramona says. “The contests. They’re fake. I didn’t win anything.”

Claudia frowns at the printouts. “But… it says right here on the website–”

“It’s the internet. You can’t believe half of what’s on there.” Ramona wipes her nose with a tissue. “Because half of it is written by desperate losers like me.”

Tearfully she explains the pressure her parents are putting on her to ‘quit fooling around and get a real job.’ And the fear she felt at going back to visit her alma mater, because she doesn’t want to be a disappointment to her professors. And the mix of embarrassment and annoyance she experiences every time someone asks her if she’s published yet, and she has to tell them no.

“I just wanted everyone to be proud of me,” she finishes.

Claudia opens her mouth to reject this confession, to retort that Ramona went about it the wrong way, to ask how anyone is supposed to be proud of a coward and a liar.

But before anything come out, she closes her mouth again.

Then with a sigh, Claudia sits next to Ramona, and puts her arm around the poor girl’s shoulders.

#  #  #

To: R. Walker
From: Capital S

I appreciate your kind words, and your interest in partnering with my blog. However, my closet is quite full. I would like to propose that, in lieu of gifts, any blogging I do that promotes Forward Fashions would be compensated in monetary terms, perhaps per word, per pageview, or per click.

PS: I’m curious, which of my posts is your favorite?

“She’s onto you,” Sophie says after Reggie finishes reading Capital S’s reply to his proposal.

“I know!”

“Are you going to give her what she wants?”

Reggie sighs audibly. “Yes. But not right away. I want to make her sweat a little first.”

Sophie grins. “You do that.”

#  #  #

“Another rainy afternoon in England,” someone mumbles on the opposite end of the lab. MJ nods, though the speaker is not looking her way. She’s tired of the dreary weather, and tired of the monotonous experiments she’s running today. But hey, that’s life as a scientist, she reminds herself. It’s not all genius grants and Nobel Prizes.

The minutes pass, and the lab slowly empties. Soon it’s just MJ and two other girls. Then it’s just MJ and one other girl. And of course, the one other girl is Theresa.

Awkward… MJ thinks. She glances at Theresa and catches her glancing too. They both look away. Their thorny silence is punctuated by an annoying tapping noise, and MJ frowns as she looks for the source. She realizes it’s her own fingers drumming against the table.

As soon as her last procedure is finished, MJ shoves her things into her bag and bolts from the lab. Upon exiting the building, she is immediately drenched. “Of course,” she says to the sky.

Without an umbrella, there’s nothing left to do but run. So, with her bag held tightly against her chest, MJ makes a break for it.

Literally.

She screams as she goes down, dropping her bag to clutch at her ankle. Her face contorts in agony. Her wet hair falls across her eyes.

“Oh my God, are you okay?” comes the voice. The hand follows. It gently takes her arm and helps her up. Once MJ is standing, she sees the face.

“Theresa?”

“Mm hmm.” She continues to support MJ while shifting her umbrella to cover them both. “What happened?”

“I… I tripped on the slick pavement. I think I broke my ankle.”

Theresa hands MJ the umbrella and tenderly inspect her ankle. When MJ winces and gasps, Theresa stands. “Yeah, broken, or at least fractured.” She gathers MJ’s bag and takes the umbrella back. “Alright, let’s get you back to the dorm.”

Theresa starts forward, but MJ doesn’t move. “What’s wrong? Did you hurt the other leg too?”

MJ shakes her head. “Why are you helping me?”

Theresa sighs. “I’m not a bad guy,” she says.

“I know. I’m not either.”

“I know.”

After a moment, they make their way through the rain, carefully and in amicable silence.