9Chapter 1
"What do you mean, he had a heart attack?" I demanded, eyeing Arnold's personal secretary, Hannah.
"Just an hour ago, Kristen," she replied with a sigh. "Have we not been through this already?"
I frowned. "I just don't see how this could have happened. I mean, it's Arnold, for crying out loud. He's run three marathons in his lifetime. He eats healthy. How could he just up and have a heart attack?"
"Kristen, I really don't know. He just collapsed, so I called 911. His family is with him now, and Mrs. Kelsington just called a few minutes ago to inform me that he is fine."
I sighed. "All right, Hannah. Thanks." I headed back toward the direction of my office, still in a daze. As a friend, I was relieved to hear that Arnold was doing better. However, as one of the senior executives at Arnold's company, I was not so thrilled. What were we going to do, with our CEO recovering from a major health issue? Arnold had been revving us up for a major campaign, since he wanted to find ways to expand our beverages to include more than just coffee. Our meeting on the expansion was scheduled for this afternoon, but it clearly wasn't about to happen any time soon.
I entered my office and sank into my chair, suddenly feeling exhausted. Now that the meeting was clearly cancelled, or at least postponed to a date way ahead in the future, I had nothing much to do. Everything I had been working on for the past few months was for my presentation at the meeting.
My office door burst open, and Julia came in, her heels clicking against the immaculately polished floor. "Did you hear about Arnold?" she asked.
"I did, and am still in shock that it happened."
"I know." She sighed. "I always thought Arnold was unstoppable, you know?"
"We all thought so. I'm not sure what's going to happen now."
"Well, I think the meeting's still going to happen—just not today." She bit her lip, watching me carefully.
I blinked. "Yeah… wait, what have you found out?"
"Apparently, Arnold wants someone to sub in for him as CEO temporarily."
Sub in. This was a company, not a high school. "How's that going to work? You can't just get someone to take his place, even if it is temporary. The person wouldn't know anything that's going on!"
"Mm… but you haven't heard everything yet." She leaned in closer, as if she were about to dish out juicy gossip. Knowing Julia, I wouldn't be surprised if she did just then. "Apparently he wants to put in one of his relatives who knows the business quite well. A nephew, I believe."
"Where did you hear this?" I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows.
"Arnold was on the phone literally seconds ago. That's what he told Hannah, and she told us. You were too busy mourning in your office."
"I hope it's not Terry," I grunted. "We'd be bankrupt within hours."
Julia snorted. "Please. Arnold isn't that stupid. He knows Terry does shit all day, but his sister makes him keep the guy around. The new CEO is actually smart, I think. And young—about our age." She grinned. "I hope he's attractive."
"You already have Warren," I pointed out.
"Oh, I know." Her eyes snuck a look outside the window, as if trying to look for her true love. "And boy, am I lucky. But I don't want the guy for me; I'd rather see you hook up with him."
And here we go again. If there was one thing Julia did not procrastinate on, it was trying to set me up with any decent-looking guy in his late twenties to early thirties. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the guys she deemed "attractive" were usually slimy douche-bags. "All right," I said, ignoring her last comment. "Tell me more about this guy."
She shrugged. "I can't say I know too much. He's the son of Arnold's oldest sister—so that makes Terry his cousin."
"Huh. Well, at least he's not Terry's brother or anything. That would be awkward."
"Well, I hope the guy has enough sense to sack Terry. God, the slime ball has already hit on me twice since I came in. Warren was practically foaming at the mouth."
I grinned. "Ooh, jealousy. I bet you loved that."
"You know it." Julia's smile matched my own. "Did you know that Warren has liked me for an even longer time than I liked him? He's just been too chicken to do anything about it. Gosh." She huffed, although I knew that she was anything but angry. "Just because women can do anything these days does not mean that men should not even attempt to make the first move anymore. Us girls still like chivalry!"
"Chivalry is overrated. It's about time women are able to take control of their lives." I raised my eyebrows, daring her to challenge me.
"Stop being such a feminist, Kristen. Now, let's get you out of this stuffy place and socialize with the rest of our lovely coworkers."
I pursed my lips and folded my hands together demurely. "We're supposed to be working."
"Okay, Arnold isn't here, so why should we? There's nothing to do anyway until the rookie shows up, and who knows when he'll be coming. If this new guy is related to Terry, I'll bet you that he won't even show. It's like they say: when the cat goes away, the mice come out and play."
I looked at her incredulously. "I think you just made up that last phrase. I've never heard such a thing in my life."
Frustrating Julia was quite an entertaining pastime, as I'd come to discover in the past few years, and today was no different. Julia scrunched up her face and pouted. "You're really cruel, you know that?"
"I know." I smiled. "Now, off to work, missy."
She responded with unintelligible grumbles.
"I'm home early!" I announced, pushing the door of my apartment open. "Allie? Emma? Anyone?"
A crop of springy blonde curls appeared above a newspaper. "Hey, girl. What the hell are you doing back? It's four o'clock in the afternoon, and you usually come home at least two hours later."
I placed my bag on the coffee table and sank into my favorite velvet-covered armchair. "The boss is out." I related the story of what had happened with Arnold, and Alison listened intently with wide eyes.
"Oh, I hope he's okay," she gasped, one of her hands fluttering toward her mouth. "So, they're just going to get a new CEO? Just like that?"
"His nephew," I confirmed.
"God, nepotism sucks." Alison groaned. "I think that you should be the new CEO instead. You're brilliant, gorgeous, and completely capable in every manner."
"I haven't been with Kelsington for very long," I reminded her, rolling my eyes. "Plus, we're not getting a new CEO—he's just going to be temporary until Arnold is feeling up to handling the job again."
"Whatever. In a fair world, you'd be the big kahuna for sure. Instead, good, hard-working people like us have to put up with swarms of assholes every day." She growled with frustration and crumbled up the newspaper that she had been reading.
"What happened this time?" I asked, preparing myself for another long-winded rant with plenty of expletives thrown in. Alison was famous for her temper, verbosity, and, well, loudness. It was surprising to me that she could look like the girl-next-door, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she became a fiery redhead with an Irish temper. However, she was also undeniably loyal to Emma and me, and she had her sweet moments… although I really couldn't recall the last time she spoke without calling at least one person an unfavorable name. Today, she was apparently cursing the whole world. I was ready for at least thirty minutes of pure anger release.
"Oh, that stupid new client, Max Markese. He thinks he's freaking Zeus or something. Just because we sign him up for our record label doesn't mean he can swagger around like he's Mick Jagger. God. No one has humility anymore, you know? Stupid America. We should all move to Switzerland—the people there know what it's all about. Why do you think they were neutral in the two World Wars, when all the other countries decided to be stupid and have innocent lives killed?"
I snorted. "Switzerland? How the hell would you find a job there? You work for a record label—you can't just uproot yourself whenever you feel like it."
"Well, I need to get fucking promoted soon, or else I'll blow a fuse at Max. I hate being the manager's assistant. Jeff's all right as a boss, I guess, but he's such a pansy and lets Max walk all over him."
"Max… so is he going to be the next big thing in this country?"
"He's pretty good," Alison admitted. She had let out most of her steam, it seemed, since she was already willing to compliment such a hateful person. "The problem is that he just wants to do all this manufactured crap that so many shitty pop singers are doing instead of his stuff, which is definitely better. His style is kind of bluesy, folk rock, but poppy at the same time. It's hard to describe. I'll bring you a demo tomorrow and let you judge for yourself."
"I don't get it. I thought a lot of artists wanted to do their own work instead of trying to fit into the pop scene?"
Alison exhaled softly. "It's all about the money, babe."
I nodded, and the two of us fell silent, contemplating the selfishness of the world. Well, at least I was. Alison was probably plotting the demise of Max Markese.
As an economics major in college, I knew a lot about people striving for their own self-interest and pretty much nothing else. Cynical? Perhaps. Realistic? Definitely. At least I knew how the world worked and wouldn't get hurt by the selfish acts of others.
A loud bang shattered the quietude. Alison and I looked over toward the door, where Emma was struggling with a large bundle of papers. "A little help here," she called out, glaring at the both of us.
Alison grinned and took the papers from Emma's arms. "God, you're such a baby," she teased. "How was work?"
"Tiring. People bitching about their broken bones and how they'll never be able to play sports again. The usual."
"What I'm wondering," continued Alison, clearing not sensing the fact that Emma did not want to be questioned further, "is why you even bothered doing this whole medical school thing. Kristen and I don't work half as much as you do, yet we're still getting our greens. Well…" She paused for a moment. "I obviously deserve more than I'm getting, but that'll be after Markese makes his big breakthrough."
Emma sighed. "I want to be an orthopedic surgeon, Alison, and there's no way I'm giving up now, after four years of college and another four years of med school. Besides, I don't mind the hard work. It's just that I sometimes wish the patients would be nicer."
"How convenient. Kristen and I were just discussing how people suck. Join the club."
I couldn't help it; I dissolved into laughter. Emma and Alison both looked over at me, clearly puzzled by my sudden burst of giggles, but soon joined in. To passersby, the three of us must have been quite a sight—we probably resembled hyenas, since we were creating a lot of noise and ruckus. It felt good, though. Ever since we graduated from college, the three of us had been so caught up in work that we had forgotten how to loosen up and have fun like teenagers again.
"I say," announced Emma, after our mirth died away, "we should go out for dinner tonight at Gloria's. We should order sinfully fattening desserts and pig out. A celebration to our friendship, if you will."
"Hear, hear," cried Alison, rising to her feet and clapping her hands.
"Excellent idea, Emma," I said. "I am dying for the raspberry cheesecake."
Alison scoffed. "Cheesecake? Please. That's, like, healthy compared to what I'm going to have."
"Which is?"
"A milk chocolate—dark chocolate is way too healthy—brownie smothered in vanilla ice cream."
Emma shook her head, a smile appearing on her face. "As a doctor-to-be, I really shouldn't be encouraging consumption of unhealthy food." I gave her a look. "But as a desperately tired and PMSing female, I say: let's go gorge ourselves!"
"We're also celebrating the fact that Kristen no longer has a boss and can do anything she wants," added Alison, a glint in her eyes.
"That's not true," I protested. "We're just getting a temporary hire-in for Arnold."
"Well, for the night, let's pretend that you have nothing to worry about," said Emma resolutely. "Come on girls, let's not have the men in our lives dominate us."
I shook my head, amused. After all these years, the three of us were still very much feminists, although Alison was probably the most intense one. Emma was probably the kind that entertained thoughts of being the alpha female at work but ended up being nice to everyone—too nice, really. That was probably why she had virtually no enemies, unlike Alison, who had people hating her within minutes of meeting her. And me? I held back from most people, especially men, and instead engaged myself in work. After Aaron, I never really found a reason to get close to guys again. I didn't want another one of them to get hurt because of me.
It was proven. I was a diagnosed workaholic. Why else would I be at work at seven o'clock in the morning, when most people didn't meander in until nine?
Of course, last night was supposed to be a "wild" night for Alison, Emma, and me. We did end up going to Gloria's and feasted on various delectable treats that tasted better than heaven (or so I safely assumed). Afterwards, we went to a bar, but after having one drink, I began feeling guilty about staying out late on a Wednesday night. I was a grown woman, not a college student. Alison and Emma agreed with me that we should head on back early, and so we left the bar at around nine. I was such a goody-goody—it was terrible. Sometimes, I didn't even know why I always willingly worked so hard, since becoming CEO was pretty far-fetched. I was already the marketing director and one of Arnold's favorites—what else did I want? I wasn't too sure myself.
I entered the building, my heels clicking loudly within an otherwise silent atmosphere. No one was here yet… figures. At least I could get some work done in peace. I still needed to come up with new product ideas for our campaign. Green tea, maybe? I always did like the honey ginseng flavor…
My thoughts were scattered when I felt my face ram into a very solid object. Blinking, I looked up and found myself mere inches away from a man—a very familiar looking one with dark brown hair and blue eyes… holy crap. Aaron Kaufman—my one and only ex-boyfriend from college, the one who had walked out of my life on graduation day and never looked back. That bit reminded me of Logan on Gilmore Girls, who had done the same to Rory on her graduation from Yale.
Fate really was a bitch.
A/N: Yay...a cliffhanger. I usually never do cliffhangers, but this time I couldn't resist ;) I also have no idea when the next chapter will be out. Second semester starts February 1st and I will be, once again, swamped with problem sets, lab reports, and quizzes for Chinese class that last an hour-and-a-half. *sigh*
On a happier note, I'm going to see "When In Rome" when it comes out next week! Very excited :D