In the name of fairness, Em had to admit that her frequent overtime wasn't entirely finance's fault. She was sitting on a barstool they had stolen from the kitchen, happily zoning out while Jenny braided her hair. She'd walked in with her usual low ponytail, since she didn't know how to do anything else with it. Jenny saw it and offered to work her magic, and like always Em immediately agreed.
Jenny wasn't too talkative, but she was very expressive. She wouldn't join a conversation, but she'd react so you knew she was listening. She always said that she was too blunt, so she didn't talk unless she wanted to offend someone. So generally, she only joined in when they were talking shit.
"Do mine next!" Kate walked in from the managers meeting.
"I got you." Jenny replied without looking, completely focused on her craft.
"As per usual, the meeting was completely unnecessary." She sat at her desk. "How's the proposal coming along?"
"Some of it is good." Em glanced at her laptop. "We have hit a few minor roadblocks, but it's nothing we can't fix."
"Just need to get those creative juices flowing." AJ said.
"It's way too early to have good ideas." Em agreed.
"They gave us a week so we'd have time to do it right. Can you have it ready for review by EOD Monday?"
"Absolutely." Em and AJ said in unison. Em rolled her eyes.
"Stop copying me." She said.
"How could I possibly be copying you?" AJ said. He reached over and poked Em's stomach, and she flinched.
"Hey!" Jenny said. "Don't fuck with my canvas."
"My bad, Picasso." He rolled his eyes. Em kicked his chair. He tried to kick back, but Jenny yanked her back at the last second. Em laughed.
"Sucks to suck, dude!" AJ tried to kick her a few more times, but each time Jenny evaded him. Em couldn't stop laughing. Then Jenny pulled just a little bit too hard and the chair slipped out of her fingers, sending Em flying across the room. She squealed, bracing for her collision with the wall, but somebody caught her. Everyone fell silent in an instant.
Em looked up. Quentin Blake looked back at her. As always, his face was completely unreadable. For all Em knew, she was about to get fired. She looked him directly in the eye, hoping to gain some insight into what was about to happen. Was he mad? Annoyed? Disappointed?
Quentin ripped his eyes away, staring at the rest of the group.
"Get back to work." With that, he stormed out the door. The Marketing department was completely silent. After a long, tense moment, Jenny finally spoke.
"That was fucking weird."
"Really fucking weird. "AJ agreed. "He didn't lecture us for slacking off."
"Maybe he was having a stroke." Jenny said.
"Maybe he finally got over whatever his issue with Marketing is." Kate said.
"What do you mean?"
"That's how he treats every other team. We're the only ones he lectures like that. Apparently, he wasn't always like that, too. At some point he just started getting on it for everything."
"Damn." AJ said. "But if he had an issue with the work being done here, he'd just fire us, right? Why act like that?"
"Because he's a rich dick and he thinks he can do whatever he wants. Em, do you need me to pull you back over here?"
"... that would be nice." Jenny laughed and came to get her.
"Let's see if we can't get something done today."
They did, in fact, manage to get some work done that day. Em was proud of herself and the team. They were pulling together something good.
Marketing was the smallest department at Novatech. It was on the dev floor, with the engineers and programmers. They had a little corner to themselves, but they shared the break area. It was close to the end of the day, and Em really needed to stretch her legs. She usually grabbed a bag of chips to eat on the way home, since Novatech always kept their kitchens fully stocked. Who would say no to free food?
The moment she stepped in the kitchen she felt eyes on her. Why was everyone in here today? There was a group of women from the dev team openly glaring at her. The other people in the room at least pretended they weren't looking. It was always like this. Em knew that she wasn't exactly the darling of the company, but she could not figure out why they hated her. Not that it mattered, anyway. She was only here to grab a snack.
There was a version of her that might have snapped at them, made some rude remark and stood up for herself. That version of her couldn't work at Novatech. She didn't have any connections. No one was looking out for her. It was a miracle she was hired in the first place. The moment she stepped out of line she'd be fired. So she kept her mouth shut and walked to the cupboard. Her heels were far too loud in the uncomfortable silence. She took her chips and made her way back to the door.
"So are you, like, poor?" Em froze. She knew this voice. Tiffany McClain, one of the heads of development. Her claim to fame was having been the founder's junior in college. Among the marketing team, she was famous for being a condescending bitch.
"Sorry, what was that?" Em's best move at the moment was pretending she hadn't heard.
"Oh, gosh. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings. I was just concerned. Novatech has a reputation to maintain, and I can't help but notice all your clothes are from three seasons ago."
"I see." What the fuck was she even supposed to say to that.
"You know, I have extra clothes I was going to donate to charity, but I can give them to you instead." Her little harpies laughed.
No thanks, I don't want to catch whatever made your skin look like that.
"No, thank you." Em felt the rage gathering in her stomach, but she couldn't let it out.
"You don't have to be embarrassed. All of us support the company's charity hires. It's so inspiring that you made your way here after growing up on the streets. We all admire you, don't we girls?" The harpies nodded, clearly holding back laughter. Em felt her face flush. She looked down, focusing on one specific tile, and breathed.
"Thanks, Tiffany. I'll see you around." She walked out of the room, trying to portray some confidence, pointedly ignoring the whispers.
Em wasn't going to let these people see her cry. That was the last bit of pride she could hold on to in this godforsaken company. She walked down the hallway fine, but the moment she turned the corner she broke.
She wasn't offended by that shit. People had gossiped about her for her whole life, and she'd never felt bad about herself. She was just frustrated. Novatech was the only place she just had to sit there and take it. She had no right to defend herself here. The company ran on a different set of rules. Em had enough composure not to sob, but she couldn't stop the tears from running down her face. Her vision blurred, but she kept walking. She headed straight past the marketing department. She couldn't let them see her like this.
She made it to the end of the hallway, and then she curled up in a ball on the floor.
She just needed a minute. Just a minute, and she'd collect herself and get back to work. She leaned against the wall and ran a hand through her hair. She tried to stop the tears from dripping onto her dress. Em had been through much worse than this, but that didn't make it stop hurting. She almost wanted to laugh. She must have looked ridiculous. God forbid anybody see her like this.
"Em!" She turned to see AJ rushing towards her, clearly concerned. "What happened? Are you okay?" Well, shit.
"I'm fine." She stood up and straightened out her dress.
"No, you're not. Tell me what's going on."
"It's just Tiffany being a bitch again. I have no idea why I'm crying about it." Hearing that, AJ practically growled.
"That cunt. Can't she get a fucking hobby?"
"Right? It's like, how do you have time to keep doing this? I thought you had a job."
"We both know her ass doesn't do any work."
"And yet she feels the need to get on me all the time. I'd rather be a charity hire than a fucking nepo baby."
"Except the nepo baby doesn't need to worry about getting fired." AJ sighed. "I'm sorry you have to keep dealing with this."
"I'll be okay. I have to be." AJ opened his arms, and Em fell into him. She really needed this hug. AJ wrapped his arms around her and patted her back.
"You got this, Em." She buried her face in his chest and breathed deeply. "Stop smelling my boobs, weirdo." Em burst out laughing. AJ always knew how to cheer her up.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Both of them turned to see Quentin Blake storming down the hallway. Em stood in front of AJ protectively. Quentin was fuming. He wasn't even looking at her, completely focused on AJ.
"I'm sorry." AJ stuttered. He took a step back, clearly nervous. Of course he was. Quentin was one of the most powerful people in the city, and he had murder in his eyes.
"You didn't answer the question." Quentin stopped, towering over Em and glaring over her shoulder. "Why the fuck were you touching her?"
"Mr. Blake." Em said firmly. Quentin looked down at her. "You're completely right. Our behavior was unacceptable for the workplace. I promise, it won't happen again."
"You were crying." He said. His voice was completely different than before. It had a softness to it that Em recognized from hazy, hot nights together. Em pushed that thought down.
"I apologize. We will get back to work immediately." She headed down the hallway, AJ right behind her.
"Wait!" Quentin grabbed her wrist. "Why were you crying?" It occurred to her later that he might have been trying to be considerate, but in the moment all Em could summon was an inexplicable rage.
"Not to be rude, sir, but it's really none of your business." She looked pointedly at her wrist, and after a moment he let her go. She walked away.