Chapter 27 — April

Oh, fuck! The shit is hitting the fan today and the day before the wedding, I was 100% sure as soon as this got out, then I would be out of the door and there was no way I could go to the wedding with him tomorrow.

Luckily, this week Luke had hardly been to the office, and when he did show up, he spent most of his time in meetings. I hoped he wouldn't show up today, so we could go to the wedding. I could explain to him about my drunken blunder last week and maybe, just maybe he would forgive me for not talking to him first.

I knew I should have spoken to him before doing anything, I was a complete mess and it dawned on me I wasn’t upset about the job, the reason for coming to L.A. in the first place, I was crazy about Luke and the reason his actions hurt me so badly.

“Today's the day…” Stephanie whistled as she passed my desk.

It was near the bathroom near the other interns, who had a right to be here. They all had degrees and were a lot younger, I felt as if I had as much knowledge as they did working here. After a few meetings and discussions with them, I soon realized I still had a lot to learn.

Today, was the day HR called Jeff in to discuss the sexual harassment case. I wish I knew what time they were doing it, so I could brace myself. At least I had recorded the last conversation which I had with him. A couple of girls pulled out as they claimed they had too much to lose. But I was sticking to my story and so were the others, so we had a case, but not as strong as when we first started the whole thing even if it was only a few weeks ago.

“Hi, April,” Luke said as he stood above my desk.

Shit, he’s here!

I tried to smile and the other interns looked up, staring at us.

Luke hated gossip and him going out of his way to visit me when I was no longer his secretary made it obvious that something was going on between us. Well, it was. It should have been. But, fuck knew what was really happening at the moment. The fact he was standing in front of my desk made me even more nervous until I looked up. His hazel eyes smiled down at me. I could feel my heart beating out of control as I admired his light-grey suit with his pink tie. Did he have to look good all the time?

“Hi,” I whispered trying to look as if I was working and not doing a damn thing, but having him on my mind all the time.

“Do you mind if we have a quick word, in one of the offices?”

He pointed to the vacant one in front of me and I nodded as I felt as if I was a lamb being lead to be slaughtered. This was the moment of truth, I had to tell him what was going on before Jeff did or anyone else.

I stood up slowly, still feeling all eyes on me and I had Stephanie’s words fixated on my mind, ´Today’s the day,” she had said and she didn’t realize there was a double meaning in her sentence. He opened the door for me, and I swiftly followed and then he turned on the light and put down the blinds.

“We don't need all those eyes watching us.” he laughed and I nearly choked on my own spit.

“Yeah.”

He sat on the edge of the desk with his arms crossed, then he moved to a chair and I realized he was more nervous than I was. Luke didn’t know about what was really going on with Jeff, but once he did, I could predict his reaction.

“Tomorrow's the wedding, you have everything you need?”

“Yeah.”

Okay, I wasn’t trying to be difficult, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say at this precise moment. I was taken aback, that he still wanted it all to go ahead. I thought that it wasn’t happening, after all, I hadn’t spoken to him for a week apart from thanking him for the promotion.

“I need to pick you up at ten and we’ll be out all day. In case you were thinking of making other plans.”

“Yeah.”

“April, please sit down, you’re making me uncomfortable.”

Oh no, I needed to stand by the door ready for when the sparks flew and I needed to make a quick escape. Instead, I sat down in front of him and repeated, “Yeah.”

He laughed. “Has the cat caught your tongue?”

“Yeah.”

He started toward me and I held up my hand, shaking my head.

“Luke, I need to tell you something and I want you to have an open mind. I don’t want you to get angry because it needed to be done. This office, there’s a lot more going on, than you think. And well, some of it’s ugly. Really ugly. Uglier than you can imagine.”

I took a breath and I could tell by the look on his face he was ready to listen to me with an open mind.

“Here goes nothing…”

The door flew open and banged against the wall. Jeff stormed into the office, “You fucking bitch! I knew you were trouble. Trying to fuck the boss and all, now you…”

“What the hell is going on? What are you talking about?” Luke shot to his feet.

I shook, thinking that I wished I could turn back time. Why the hell didn’t I tell Luke earlier, or just spit out what was on my mind. Why did I wait so long? And now it was too late.

Jeff pointed at me. “Her and her little friends have a sexual harassment case against me. I need to…shit.”

One of the security guards raced inside and grabbed a hold of Jeff’s arm. He was fighting him and then he was being dragged out of the office and then one of the women from HR was behind him.

“Felicia, why wasn’t I informed about this!” Luke asked and she shook her head.

“Not now, I planned to speak to you when he was out of the building. I didn't think he would freak out so much.”

Luke nodded and then his face turned emotionless and he looked at me and said, “Seeing as Jeff has to leave. I suggest you do the same thing. I didn’t expect this from you. I thought you would have done better, been discrete or even come and talk to me about the issues.”

“I did. I tried,” I said in my defense, “but you sacked me from being your secretary and then you didn't even talk to me after we spent the weekend together. I thought we connected. Then you were gone for days, something others say you haven't done before and I didn't know what to think. I didn’t.”

His face reddened. “Leave!”

He moved away from me, ready to leave the office and I couldn’t help but show all my emotions as I began to cry. It was as if he was disgusted to see the sight of me and it didn’t help Vanessa was outside the office.

“You and LW?” she whispered, but she didn’t wait for me to reply and left.

I’d lost my job, my pride, my friends and someone who I thought could eventually be my man all on the same day. Being thrown out of my room a few weeks ago was nothing compared to how I felt at this moment. I was alone and not wanting to drink, but simply to go back home. Not to the apartment, but back to Minnesota.