AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 15
Olivia
Iwasneverreallya big fan of those cliché openings in the movies; the ones that featured the career woman getting ready in the morning. It was usually so bubblegum. I had never seen such pure sunshine in the movies, but New York wasn’t that bright. I mean, I would love it to be, but most of the time, the buildings would just get in the way of the sun. Not to mention that those actresses always woke up with faces full of make-up, signifying that they were pumped and energized to start the day. No one was ever like that in real life. I couldn’t remember the last time Iwantedto wake up early.
Which was why I was kind of catching myself a lot today. It might just be because I hit a reset button due to my quick little visit to Norway, but I was somewhat… bright and bubbly today. I had a spring in my step as I took my morning shower, even though the hot water in my building was broken again. As I was changing, I definitely had a couple of loads of laundry that I had to carry down to the basement. And when I caught my train, I was once more being squished like a sardine in the subway.
But I just didn’t mind. Usually, upon arriving at work, I was already drained from my exhausting morning commute. But there I was, almost skipping and singing into the newsroom. I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised to see that bluebirds were following me.
“Well, someone’s chipper today,” Janet said as I passed.
“It’s a great day!” I had never said those words. I was pretty sure the last time I did was when I was thirteen years old before I got into the hell that was high school.
Entering the office, I was immediately greeted by a smiling Lucy. “Olivia! Congratulations!” She gave me a quick hug.
I hugged back, feeling optimistic about the day even though I had no idea where all this positive energy was coming from.
“Oh, thanks, Lucy! But you already congratulated me for the ski resort story,” I reminded her, not really in a way that was correcting her rudely—just a simple nice reminder. It was still cool to think that people wanted to see more of me, though. “Butyouowe me a little chat. What’s been going on around here—”
“I wasn’t talking about the story. I was talking about how you somehow managed to get yourself off Ben’s shit list,” Lucy clarified. “I mean, I had a feeling you could do it. But a lot of people have tried, and quite frankly, failed.”
Damn, that felt like ages ago.
“Yeah, it’s a huge relief. Although I’m sure no one is really ever off his shit list, right? I mean, it seems really easy to get there.” I felt weird talking about Ben from all the extracurricular things that we did in Norway.
Honestly, I was going to try to not talk about him at all with my co-workers unless absolutely necessary. There really wasn’t a need for an employee to talk about their boss all the time unless they hated them or they were fucking them on the down low. I didn’t need them thinking either of those things about me and Ben.
“I’ve been working here for a long time, and most people who make his list don’t really last for a month,” Lucy explained as she walked back to her seat and sat down, going back to what she was working on. “And you just survived your first month! I have to ask: How did you do it?”
Okay, now that was definitely a loaded question. On one hand, I would like to think that I significantly improved my reporting style ever since I did the whole gastropub story with that creep, James Jensen. I would like to think that two viral stories and seemingly almost positive reception from the public also had a huge contribution to that. I would really like to think that I got myself off his list by my gradual improvement within the job. However, I wasn’t naïve and silly to think that blow jobs didn’t play a part in all of this progress. The situation with Ben was a lot to take in, and I was nowhere near fully understanding it, but I was just sincerely happy.
So, for the time being, I was just going to say, “I think I just allowed myself to let loose and take a few deep breaths before doing the job. I just had to stop overthinking and trust my own instincts.”
I let out the biggest smile as I answered Lucy. I was just hoping it didn’t look suspicious or anything like that.
“And of course, with you helping me out along the way, I didn’t think I was going to get kicked out,” I went on to say. Though I was trying to divert the topic away from Ben, I really did mean what I said.
Lucy merely shook her head.
“Give yourself more credit, Olivia. She said it so confidently that I really believed it.
It was time for work, so I went over to my desk and saw that I already had my story for the day. It was good to be working. It had been a tumultuous past month, but I felt like I could finally say to myself that I was finally letting my journalism dreams come true. I was no longer a nobody press release writer who did nothing but fluff up people who didn’t deserve it. I was actually in a company where I could start doing things that mattered. Granted, I was still doing fluff pieces, but I suddenly found this new sense of patience, somehow knowing deep down that if I continued to prove myself, I would eventually do the big stories. I just had to give it time and not rush into it like I was trying to during my first week.
Taking another deep breath, I reached out to open the file that was sent to me, ready to start my next story. But as I was about to start reading, Eric interrupted.
“Lucy, Olivia, emergency meeting,” he said quickly. He stood there with his hands on hips and looked confused when we both didn’t jump up from our desks.
“O-Okay. In the conference room?” Lucy said as she quickly stood up from her desk, myself following suit.
“No. Upstairs. Executive meeting room.”
What? That was where board meetings were held and actual important things happened. Why did Lucy and I have to go up there? We exchanged a curious look and then started hustling to catch up with Eric.
Worry clutched in my stomach as we got to the elevators. This was the first time any of us were called up there. Was something wrong? Was Ben okay? I whipped myself up into an anxious frenzy by the time the elevator door slid open and dumped us on the top floor.
Ben
There were always trials and tribulations running a company. I made myself aware of all of that from every angle I could think of. I knew the risks of attempting to continue my father’s failing broadcasting company at the age of twenty-two. They told me over and over that I couldn’t bring back something that was already dead to begin with. It took a lot of guts to try to compete in an industry that was already saturated by household networks when OVT was simply a small office in Brooklyn. At that time we only had around thirty employees by the time my father had given up on it. I knew that I could have simply started another company; one that was fresh and lucrative for the taking—with few competitors and less work to do. I could have left OVT to rot into nonexistence if I wanted to, but I had always lived my life following my passion. It was what drove me to achieve what I did. It was never about the money or the accolades or the fame. I was once a young adult who wanted to do what he loved.
