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Cass rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “That man.” She chuckled. She loved Devin for me. She often spoke about how cute we were and made sure she had an invitation to our wedding.
“Exactly. If I let him get going, I wouldn’t have come in at all today.”
“I can only imagine,” she said with a smile in her voice.
“David not here yet?” I asked her about the other occupant of our office. I did not like David. He was a sneaky little shit who tried everything in his power to get me fired. He didn’t like me for a reason only known to him. If I ever got praise for anything, he got a stick up his ass for days and took his attitude out on Cass and me. I put him in his place often. I refused to bring management into our petty squabbles, but he didn’t feel the same way. I was called into our supervisor’s office more times than I cared to speak about, just for his complaints to be unfounded. It was a tiring cycle but a game I played because I loved my job and wanted my promotion. David was also in the race for it, but I was sure it was mine. He had seniority, but I was the better employee. I took on more editing tasks and was also familiar with graphic design. I took several courses in college as electives, so I could work various departments. I’m not sure what David could or couldn’t do, but he wasn’t getting this job over me.
“Not in yet,” Cass answered, sounding a little distracted. “Like I said, no one is here this early but me. Early bird gets the worm and all that.”
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I would have been in earlier, but—” Before I could finish my sentence, the senior editor—my boss—stuck his head into our office. Mr. Jacob Brown was a short man with a receding hairline, extra-large glasses, and skin so pale you had to wonder if the man ever went outside. He reminded me of the teacher fromThe Incredibles, the one Dash stuck a tack on his chair. The thought always made me laugh.
“Tristan, a word?” he asked but didn’t wait for me to respond. He just went back to his office. I looked at Cass to see if she knew what was going on, but she just shrugged and shook her head.
“Maybe he’s going to tell me I got the promotion,” I said, hoping. It would make sense for him to give me the news before the workday actually started so I could start my onboarding in another department.
“Oh my God, bestie! This is it!” Cass jumped from her chair to hug me. I hugged her back, excited that my hard work was finally going to be recognized.
“Okay, relax. How do I look?” It was stupid to ask because I knew I looked fine. I was dressed business casual, which was the norm for our office—a light blue shirt with no tie, nice khaki-colored pants, and brown dress shoes. I asked more to calm my erratic nerves.
“You look great, love. Now go. Let me know what happens.”
“Will do.” I smiled.
I ambled over to Jacob’s office, a spring in my step. The door was ajar, but I rapped my knuckles on it anyway before stepping inside. I was surprised to see David occupying one chair in front of his desk but paid it no mind and took a seat in the remaining chair. Jacob sighed and looked at me. He took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose before returning them to his face. That did not bode well for my promotion, and my stomach gave a sickening lurch.
“Tristan…” he began without preamble, “… it’s come to my attention that you’ve been pawning off your work to the other employees in your office. I gave you this manuscript, and I haven’t gotten any feedback from you.” He grabbed a stack of papers from beside him and tossed it to the end of the desk in front of me. I looked at the manuscript, and I didn’t recognize the title or author, so I gave him a confused look. “David here was kind enough to tell me you gave it to him and, since he has other scripts to edit, he hadn’t finished it yet. I want to know whyyouhaven’t gotten to it and why you’re trying to make your peers do work I assign to you.”
What the fuck was going on? I had never seen the book he put in front of me. I would never ask David to do anything for me. Everyone in the company knew I couldn’t stand the man. Why would Jacob believe him? There have been plenty of times when anything David said was proven false. Why was this one different?
I was about to ask when I saw that damn green ink. Unlike most editors in this building, David had to be different. He was the only person who didn’t use red ink. And as I flipped through the pages, I saw green ink everywhere.
I. Was. Pissed. It wasn’t the first time he tried to get me in trouble, but it was the first time he fabricated proof. At no point would I pawn off my work. I prided myself on my work ethic, and I stood on that. For Jacob to question it made me angry. For David to do this pissed me off. I glanced at David and saw a slight smirk playing across his lips that he quickly covered up when Jacob glanced at him. This motherfucker!
“Jacob, I don’t know what you’ve been told, but you know how I work.”
“I thought I did, Tristan. But how do you explain this manuscript being completed by David when I put it in your inbox?”
“I didn’t get this manuscript. I don’t even recognize this. I’ve juggled several manuscripts at one time my whole career. I remember the ones I worked on.”
“If I may,” David interjected, causing me to whip my head to look at him and narrow my eyes. I knew he was about to say some bullshit, and I was right. “Tristan, this isn’t the first time this has happened. I’ve been quiet long enough, but I have other manuscripts you’ve given me that I’ve finished.” This rat bastard reached into his messenger bag, pulled out four others, and put them on the desk. I had never seen any of those either. I racked my brain to try to figure out what the hell was going on. I knew David was sneaky, but this was a new low, even for him.
Our inboxes were on our desks. Anything dropped off could be taken from the box without anyone knowing. And Jacob was old-school and liked edits done on live paper, and he sent them back to the authors for them to correct for better visibility. David must have taken them from my inbox and knowing Jacob wouldn’t keep track electronically that I received them, used that to say I made him do my work.
I couldn’t breathe. I felt like my lungs couldn’t draw in enough air, even though there was plenty in this office. What could I say to defend myself? That David stole my work to get me in trouble? That would make me sound delusional and bitter, even though it was true. How would I be able to prove it? David’s stupid green ink was a glaring symbol of his truth, even if he was a lying fuck.
“Jacob,” I said, pleading with him. “You have to believe that I wouldn’t do this. You know how I work, and I would never make anyone do my work for me.”
“I believe what I’m seeing, Tristan, and David has proof of the work I’ve given you with his edits. I’ve worked with David for years. He has no reason to lie to me about this.” I wanted to assert that David had been lying about me for years. Why would this be any different? But I kept that to myself.
“I hate to do this…” Jacob said, pulling in a deep breath, “… but you are in breach of the employment contract you sign every year. It states you are in full control of any works given to you on behalf of this company. As this isn’t the first offense, since David has produced several manuscripts to prove it, I have no choice but to terminate your employment, effective immediately.” Jacob took off his glasses again and rubbed his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me there was too much on your plate? I would have divided these up between the other editors.”
I didn’t pay his question any attention. He fired me? For something I didn’t do? I was the best editor they had, dammit! I was tempted to knock all his shit over, but I was numb. I’d worked at Brickmans for eight years, since I finished college. This was my work experience in the field. What editors would work with me if they knew I was fired for not doing my own work, even though it wasn’t true? What was I going to do?
In my haze, I didn’t argue with him. “I’ll clean out my desk. Thank you for the opportunity.” What was I saying? My brain was screaming at me to fight back, but my gut was telling me to keep quiet, that this was only the beginning. Since I didn’t listen to my gut to stay in bed, I decided to listen now.
I numbly walked back to the office and plopped in my chair. Cass was smiling from ear to ear when she saw me walk in, dropped her smile as soon as she saw my expression. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
I had to fight back tears as I looked at her. It started to hit me. I was fired. And it hurt. “I… uh…” I swallowed roughly. “I got fired. David…” I let myself trail off because I couldn’t finish.
