Page 18 of Is It Casual Now?

eighteen

“Well done, Jamie.” Scott greeted Jamie as she plonked her breakfast bagel down onto her desk. The white paper bag was scrunched tightly from her grip as she had been down to the wire getting to work on time. Even though she started at noon this week. Her early week. But it didn’t matter the shift she was on, she still preferred a breakfast bagel over any other option to start her workday.

“Huh?” She looked up to see Scott beaming over at her. “Well done? For only just making it to work on time?”

“No.” Scott laughed and shook his head. “For the blog post.”

“Oh.” Jamie smiled. It had definitely hit harder than she had expected it to. It was part of the reason she had run late for work. She’d been caught up reading comments and looking at pieces other writers had done, taking her initial article and running with it. She had cringed a little bit as some of the writers might have taken it a little further than she would have, and definitely in different directions. But she had jumped in the shower and forced those thoughts away.

This was a good thing. The kind of momentum she had been striving years for. She was finally hitting her stride and her website hits had dramatically increased. Including all her other articles. And it served the diva right to be called out on shit she had blatantly lied about.

“Thanks, Scott.”

“I’ve started following your blog. And I’ve been reading some of your older posts. It’s fascinating. And your writing gets stronger all the time.” Scott’s young, fresh eyes stunned Jamie a little, and she wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed or what else it might be that washed over her. Being in the limelight for her writing hadn’t ever been a problem. Probably because most people only had something negative to say about her topics, and nothing at all to say about the quality of her writing. The only time they even bothered to point out anything was when a typo or a missed comma had snuck through.

“Oh thanks.” Jamie buried her head in the bag to grab out her bagel and hide the pink that had undoubtedly scattered across her now warm cheeks.

“Kettlehouse.”

His voice was so close that she just about jumped out of her chair as she whirled around to find her boss standing two feet from her. He loomed over her, and she hissed internally at the toxic masculinity that reeked from the man.

“Good job on the article with that manager chick.” He leered as he made no secret about peering down her cleavage.

She silently seethed at his description of Siena. “Thanks.”

“What manager woman did you do an article on?” Scott asked, wheeling his seat closer and giving their boss no choice but to step back or be run over.

“It’ll be in tomorrow’s run, you can read it then.” Their boss scowled at Scott before laughing at his own pathetic excuse for a joke.

He turned back to Jamie. “But don’t think it gets you off the hook. I still need the interview with the pop stars. You better get a date to me soon or I’m gonna start thinking you’re blowing smoke up my ass.”

Scott had rolled his chair back to his desk, but she was certain she had heard him mutter something along the lines of that not even being a possibility in his dreams. His commentary was ignored.

“I’ve given you enough time on this. Get it or move onto something else. You need to be getting more scoops like that blog poster who just blew it out of the water with information about that false-saint celeb. Skinny bitch thinking people can be hot and have brains.”

“On it,” Jamie muttered, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. He couldn’t just tell her to offer him her blog pieces before she posts them. Of course he couldn’t. He had to sprinkle on the extra arsehole cologne. He turned away not waiting to see if she had anything else to add.

What she wouldn’t give to see him trip over his own feet as he marched back to his office. It was ridiculous how he continued to run this office like it was 1970. But she knew better than to complain.

“What a fucking ass.” Scott scowled.

“Yep.” Jamie turned to look over at Scott. His face was still twisted into an unimpressed version of the happy young writer Jamie had judged as being too green behind the ears. “Thanks, by the way.”

Scott nodded in acknowledgement, but apparently, he was more concerned about the blog comment. “How doesn’t he know the blog is yours?” Scott asked. “It doesn’t take a genius to see your writing style shine through there and the articles here. Does he even read?”

“He does know. He’s just being an extra layer of asshole today.” Jamie shrugged. “Besides, people see what they want to, I guess. The whole industry is built on first-appearance judgements. It’s why it’s so important for fans to know that their idols are just humans as well. They make mistakes, they aren’t perfect, and they might not fit into the molds the world expects them to fit into.”

But hadn’t she done exactly the same thing with Scott? She’d assumed his happy-go-lucky nature made him naive and entirely unaware of the shit this industry could dish out and get you caught up in.

She wondered again why she bothered working there at all.

But of course, it took no time at all for her to remind herself of the benefits that kept her in place. She had a freedom she couldn’t guarantee other places would offer and that she couldn’t afford to lose. Especially the late shifts that gave her enough time to work on her own website and write those blogs that she would never offer him. He had no idea what she was making off her website, which this month wouldn’t be mere pennies. He had no idea just what Jamie was capable of.

Jamie had dragged herself through her emails and kept finding other things she needed to work on instead of calling Siena to set up the interview. They had left on a good note the other day, which had quickly turned into evening. But something akin to butterflies, that couldn’t be butterflies, had tied her in knots and stopped her from picking up that phone.

“I think it’s my turn for a real coffee. You want one?” Scott said an hour later.

“Oh.” She looked up and smiled, grateful for the distraction. “Yeah, that would be great.”

With a nod, Scott left, and Jamie realized that at least part of her hesitation to call was also her not wanting to be overheard. Siena had a way of getting Jamie to let her guard down, saying things she hadn’t intended on letting slip out.

Waiting for Scott to move away from his desk, she counted thirty seconds as slowly as she could before she lifted the handset on the old phone and tried to call Siena. She couldn’t hide the smile or the thrill that raced through her body as she remembered Siena’s touch.

The phone rang three times before it went to her voicemail. Listening to Siena’s voice, strong and professional, caused Jamie’s underwear to get a little wet, so by the time the sound came for Jamie to leave a message she was already in a head space not entirely professional.

“Ms. Frazee.” Jamie’s smile grew as she purred down the phone line. “I’m calling in relation to an interview date with Piper and Bunny. If you could please get back to me as soon as possible, that would be fantastic.” After a moment, Jamie couldn’t resist adding. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

She hung up and continued through her inbox, feeling less concerned about the drudgery she had to wade through in order to pay the bills. It was all worth it for days like these, for moments when she felt a little less like the failure of the family.

The rest of the day flew by in a rush of words and calls, and she rode the thrill of news and leads. Though thrill might not have been exactly what she would describe it. The simple fact the boss hadn’t spoken to her any more today was a bonus.

When Scott started packing up his desk and stood, she looked up at him surprised.

“Time for you to have some quiet, huh?”

Jamie looked around to see the rest of her nine-to-five colleagues packing up their things. Some rushed out without a single goodbye or wave, while others dawdled and mingled, chatting with each other as though they were friends. And maybe they were.

It was easy to forget about things like office politics when you only saw most of the others a few hours each day.

“See you tomorrow,” Scott said with a smile and a wave.

“Yeah.” But Jamie was already distracted.

It was five o’clock, and she still hadn’t heard back from Siena. It had only been a few hours, but a few more than she had expected. The previous joy in her belly swirled into a discomfort that made her now regret the bagel she had eaten.

The woman was a busy manager. It was one of the features she liked the most about her. It was definitely a turn-on for Jamie. Not needing someone to blow up her phone daily was definitely a bonus. So Jamie hadn’t minded not hearing from Siena for the first few days after she had come to Jamie’s apartment.

But now something felt wrong.

Steeling herself for whatever might come, Jamie picked up the phone again and dialed Siena’s number. She didn’t even need to check her notes. The phone rang and rang. Frustration built within her and just as she was certain the voicemail was about to click on again, the phone connected.

Someone had picked it up, and she gasped a little at the now unexpected situation she had dismissed as happening.

“This is Siena Frazee.” The voice was crisp and sharp when Siena answered.

“Ms. Frazee.” Jamie recovered quickly and put on her purr for the greeting. “Did you get my message?”

“I did.” Siena’s tone was crisp and short. A tone that made the hair on Jamie’s arms bristle and her back straighten in her chair.

“Are we able to set that date now?”

“No. You haven’t sent over the one question you now want to ask.” The sound of typing and papers shuffling came through the line, as though Siena were only half-engaged in the conversation with Jamie. So different from the attention she had given Jamie the other afternoon.

“This is ridiculous. I told you I’m not doing the back-and-forth with the questions anymore. I have ethics, whether you believe it or not, and being censored isn’t part of that.”

“Ms. Kettlehouse.” The tone was so cold, Jamie involuntarily shivered despite the heat in the office. “If you wish to have access to my clients, then you will do this my way.”

“Way to get the media on your side,” Jamie muttered under her breath before she could stop herself.

“Excuse me?” The rustling and typing stopped, and Siena’s words might as well have been hissed.

“Nothing for you to worry about, Ms. Frazee.” Jamie ensured her address to Siena this time held not a single trace of the purring flirt she had first used at the beginning of this call.

“Are we scheduling a time to meet about these questions or not?” The typing began again, and Jamie wondered why the hell she had ever expected anything else from this cold-hearted entertainment manager.

This wasn’t the woman she had picked up or the woman who had spent the afternoon with her, getting to know Jamie in a way no one else ever had.

“I don’t suppose I actually have a choice in the matter.”

“Of course you do,” Siena snapped, and for the first time, Jamie actually enjoyed the fire in her voice. “You have a choice about everything you write and don’t write. You have a choice about everything you do. Don’t put blame on other people for choices that you’ve made and the things you’ve done.”

The silence stretched between them, and Jamie wondered how in the hell her life had gotten complicated. Drama had always been her interest, but not her own drama. When it came to her life, she steered away from drama in all areas.

“When are you free to once again discuss and eliminate questions the public might actually be interested in knowing the answers to?”

“You’re impossible.” The words were muttered, and pages were flicked with a force that sounded like Siena may have actually torn them incidentally. “Two days. One o’clock at the same cafe as before.”

“Fine. Your terms… once again.” Jamie didn’t need to ch eck her calendar. She knew she had to prioritize this if she wanted to keep her job. It had never seemed like such hard work before. But she knew having her byline on an interview with Bunny and Piper would help her, both in this job and for her reputation on the blog.

Ever since Siena had learned that she was behind the blog, Jamie had been less careful about others finding out. Anyone paying attention could easily see that she was both of them. The call disconnected without even a word from Siena. Jamie stared at the receiver in her hand.

“Well, fuck you, too.” Jamie slammed down the receiver and looked up to find a fellow late shifter standing nearby. They held a full coffee cup in their hands, their mouth open a little and their eyebrows raised.

“This job is filled with shits and giggles, ain’t it?” Jamie ignored what else they might have wanted to discuss. She pushed her chair back and stood. Grabbing her coffee off her desk, she decided the coffee offered at the place downstairs might at least get her through the last few hours of her shift without her going full shit fit on anyone else who walked past her desk.

“Truth.” They chuckled, taking the hint and giving a nod as they continued on their way.

She didn’t have that kind of relationship with any of her colleagues, especially with the late shifters. She never had the kind of camaraderie that seemed to come easy for everyone else. She had never seen the point in it. When she was honest with herself, Jamie had never had that kind of sharing relationship with anyone. Other than Jessie. She’d never needed it.

Even with Jessie, there were times it was still hard for her to open up to her sister. She would in the end, but it had to be on Jamie’s timing and based on her sense of comfort. And with more than just a few pushes from Jessie.

Jamie walked to the small kitchenette of the office. She didn’t particularly need the caffeine, but anything to keep her hands busy and give her a sense of control was welcome. She had always been in control, always been on a path she was sure-footed with. It had never mattered that no one else understood it—not even Jessie.

But at the moment, nothing felt sure-footed. And everything kept getting in her way. Including herself.

“And this is why I should never have mixed business and pleasure, no matter how good the sex was.”