Chapter 17 — April

“Hi.” I waved at Stephanie and Vanessa, one of the marketing execs, standing outside Starbucks. I wondered if they were waiting for me, or something else was going on.

“We thought you wouldn’t turn up. What took you so long?” Stephanie asked as she shifted her weight between her two legs and was trying to keep warm or she seriously needed to pee.

Everyone said L.A. was a bit chilly this year, but for me, it was great. I loved it when it wasn’t burning hot and I didn’t feel I turned a shade of red every time I stepped outside into the sun.

“No, Mr. Winters wanted to clear something up.”

Vanessa tucked her blonde strands behind her ear and said, “Good. Look we need to talk to you about something and we said Starbucks, but there’s a bar down the block we usually go to.”

I laughed. “If I start drinking then there’s no way I’m going to go back to the office.”

“Good,” they both said in unison as they motioned for me to walk in the middle of them.

It was pretty difficult as the sidewalk was busy and everyone was heading home, but in L.A. most likely going to a party. There was no such thing as, “It’s a weekday, need to go home and rest up for tomorrow.” Here was party land and everyone wanted to be out all the time.

“We have no intention of going back to the office today and neither should you. It’s late and we’ve been working since the crack of dawn. We need to have a life, we need a break once in a while. Otherwise, you’ll be working like a fool and the men, let’s just say they get away with whatever they want because they're men. We have to appear to be good little girls all the time and look as if we’re going the extra mile.”

“Why?” I shrugged thinking what she was saying was crazy.

“We’re women. We’re still fighting for equality. Men have to think we’re working even when we’re not. Do you think any of them are still working? No. They’ve gone out having a good time? Tomorrow morning, they’ll come to the office say they’ve had a long night and they need to catch up on things then by lunchtime, they’ll give their presentation or have finished doing whatever they’d claimed to have done the night before. Is this the first time you’ve worked in an office?” Vanessa stopped and took my hand, trying to stop me from bumping into someone.

I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about.

“Guilty,” I said as someone pushed past me. No doubt late for a party.

“You’ve got a lot to learn.” Stephanie swung her braids away from her face.

They were so long and beautiful she reminded me of Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice.

I nodded in agreement and a few more strides and we arrived at the bar. I thought they would go to something more trendy with a younger crowd. I inspected them both a little closer for the first time today and realized like me, they were approaching their late twenties. And how the days of wanting to be in a bar with neon lights and a crowd were probably a thing of the past or not somewhere they would go on a weekday.

“Usual, ladies?” the dark, tall barman said as they both entered.

“Sure, and one more, we have a virgin in our office.”

They laughed and I didn’t appreciate them assuming I was a virgin and announcing it to the barman. I frowned in response to their observation of me.

“Sorry, April, it’s a name we use for anyone new who comes out for a drink with us,” Vanessa explained to me.

“Oh,” I said feeling silly I thought they were talking about my lack of sexual activity as I went bright red.

“Sorry,” Stephanie blurted. “You thought we meant you were a virgin?” Then she hugged me to apologize.

“Well I doubt it, a hot number like you in L.A.” Stephanie took off her cardigan and we sat on a bench at the corner of the bar.

“This is our place on Monday’s and then we have another one for Wednesdays and back here for Fridays,” Stephanie explained.

“Just you two?”

Vanessa shook her head. “No usually, there’s four of us. Blair and Kate too, but the early start we had this morning and the rough weekend, they had to go home and catch up on some zees.”

“Here you go ladies, three cosmopolitans and here you go, virgin,” he said in a thick brogue. “Do you have a name?”

“It’s April. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Iain. In case you’re wondering about the accent, I’m Scottish. Most L.A.’s don’t even know where Scotland is.”

I laughed. “It’s part of the UK. Not a different planet.”

He agreed as he rubbed his stomach. “I like you! Let me know if you like my cosmos?”

I took a sip at the open invitation and then agreed it was fantastic. I’d only had one since I’d been in the city and this was the second one. This was the first time I’d been asked out. I wasn’t an actress, didn’t have peers who were on my level, but there was something about Stephanie and Vanessa which told me we were going to be friends.

“So, what happened on the weekend?” I couldn’t stop sipping on the cosmos and I was feeling a little light-headed, it didn’t take much as I noticed he’d probably put a lot more rum than I was used to and it tasted like sweet heaven.

“We had a party at our joint and let’s just say the guy I’ve been hinting at being with all winter has finally taken the clue that I’m interested.”

I looked at Vanessa bewildered I didn’t know what she was talking about.

Stephanie explained, “She’s been over our neighbor asking for sugar, milk, honey, and God knows what else. Knocking on his door, concluding he must be gay because he’s not interested in her, that and because he only has male friends over.”

My gaze darted to Vanessa.

“But, I discovered on the weekend,” Vanessa said with a blush across her cheeks, “that he’d had his heart broken and his friends were coming over to get him to date again and taking him out. He wasn’t interested in starting a relationship so soon. They’d been together for five years, moved to the city and two minutes later, she left him for her boss.”

“More like a sugar daddy,” Stephanie added, taking a sip of her drink. “Happens a lot here.”

“Anyway, the weekend wasn’t going as planned, we had too many crashers.” Vanessa couldn’t stop smiling. “And he came over because I invited him. He helped get rid of the unwanted guests and crashers. Basically, he felt like my hero as he helped me clean up.”

“So, what about Blair and Kate?”

Stephanie laughed, “Seems they all scored at this party. We should have called it the matchmaking party. Everyone scored.”

“But not you?”

Stephanie smiled as she waved her finger,. “No, I am betrothed and getting married in six months and counting. Vanessa will have to get a new roommate and I will move in with my loved one.”

“Congratulations.” I wrapped my arms around her. The one cosmo I had finished was making me a little more than lightheaded.

“Thank you, but you’re suffocating me. Iain a little lighter on the rum next time for the virgin okay?”

Vanessa laughed. “He does this all the time. He thinks it’s funny, we don’t!”

Lain who I thought was being friendly was being far from it. He was trying to get me drunk and I wasn’t amused.

“Why can’t men just be nice? Why do they always have to have a secret agenda?”

Vanessa pulled me off Stephanie. “Don’t tell us Mr. Winters tried something?”

I shook my head, realizing I’d said a little more than I planned to say. After all, I didn’t want to give them the wrong impression about me. I needed friends; I didn’t realize how much until now.

“No. No. He’s been a perfect gentleman.” I lied thinking they couldn’t have seen me sprawled on his desk this morning. I had nothing to be embarrased about.

“Phew! We thought there were no decent ones left. We’re building a case against men in the office and Jeff is number one on the list.”

“This time, there’s hardly any rum in it, and sorry about the first one,” Iain said as he swiftly replaced my empty glass and gave me a new one.

I would wait for a little while and nibble on the chips he put on the table, to try and sober up a little bit. I wasn’t drunk, but tipsy, not only because there was too much rum in the first one, but because I drank it a little too fast.

“What do you mean?” I asked them both.

“Jeff is fucking his PA and she’s doing it because in the city it’s near enough impossible to get a job if you even suggest you’ve been sexually harassed or anything. It’s a small world when it comes to getting a new job. And the worst part is it isn’t the man that gets labeled. Oh no, they get off scot-free. They’ll be told something like, in your next employment make sure you’re never alone with a woman, to stop this kind of thing happening again. Almost as if they’re protected, but us women, we’re like troublemakers. It makes me so fucking mad.”

“I see,” I whispered thinking about Luke’s proposal to be his fake girlfriend and wondering if I should tell them what happened between us. We fucked. I blew him and then I tried to seduce him again. Technically at this rate, I’d be the one Luke should be filing a sexual harassment case against and my career in the office would be over before it even began.

“So, if Winters: or rather LW short for Lukewarm as we call him behind his back because he’s so cold and far from being loving, it’s kind of a sarcastic name for him. Probably why his ex, Kim left him at the altar. Anyway, if he tries anything or suggests something then let us know.”

“What? I never knew about his ex.”

I was shocked by her revelation. I needed to know more.

Stephanie nodded. “Yeah. He took a couple of weeks off as a result of it.”

“But I don’t get it, maybe Jeff’s PA wants to fuck him and there’s no case.” Shit I’d already given the game away. Hopefully, they thought I was talking about someone before me.

“Seriously, you’ve seen Jeff. And you’ve seen her right?”

“Just Jeff.” I shook my head, I hadn’t seen her, but I’d seen him and between his balding patch, square glasses and overgrown beard, he wasn’t the most physically attractive guy I’d met. Most of the men were clean-shaven and had the latest designer suits. Jeff looked like Christian Bale did in the movie 'Vice,' when he played Dick Cheney.

“It doesn’t matter, she does it not because he’s married, or she gets a kick out of it. She told us she needs this job to pay for her mom’s medical bills. She had a cancer scare last month and she has a ton of medical bills. Jeff said he would help if she helped him. Does that sound consensual to you?”

I shook my head at my first reaction and felt disgusted about Jeff’s behavior.

Stephanie sighed. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to scare you. We wanted to look out for you. Okay?”

I smiled at her and then changed the subject. “So, where are you going to get married and where did you meet your guy?”

She relaxed as she told me about the wedding, I wondered if I should have a word with Luke and tell him about their plans. What the hell was I thinking? He was as cold as ice earlier and he would find out what’s going on soon enough. I should mind my own business and then help the girls pull a case against Jeff. Luke had been clear from the start, but then again maybe he was no better than Jeff and I was defending him. The more cosmos I drank the more I became confused, not only about whether I was being sexually harassed or if Luke was.