"Not" Revenge

"Hello?"

"Hi! This is Keller Ellis from Callista Talent Agency, may I speak to Astra Briana Cyrene please?"

"Yes. Of course! This is Astra, how are you?"

"I'm doing well, and yourself?"

"I'm good."

"Great, and thank you for asking. I'm calling to inform you that after some consideration we have decided to hire you as Will's assistant. When can you start?"

"I-I can start immediately," I say, barely containing my excitement.

"Why don't you come in tomorrow morning? That way we can knock out the paperwork and then you can start on Monday."

"Yes! Thank you so much. I will do my best Mr. Ellis."

"Please, call me Keller. We're going to be working together now."

"Of course, Keller. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I really appreciate it."

"Have a wonderful day Astra."

"Thank you, you too!"

After hanging up, I look over to Dillon.

"Well?"

I pause for a second and look down. Then I smile as I tell him.

"I got the job."

"YES!" He shouts while pumping his fist in the air.

All eyes in the cafe are now on us.

"Ssshhhh," I say, trying to quiet him. "Quiet down. We don't want to draw any attention."

He gives me a sheepish smile. Grabbing his coffee, he makes a toast.

"Here's to you, for getting the job!"

"And to making new friends," I say with a smile of my own.

Across the street, my new bosses are having a conversation.

"You sure you want to hire her? Though Astra seems like a nice girl, there are plenty of candidates that are way way more qualified than she is?"

Will takes a sip of his drink then, stares into it as he speaks.

"You know, there were a lot of people who said I wouldn't make it in Hollywood. That I didn't have the right look, or that I wasn't qualified enough. All it took was one person giving me a chance, and look at where I am now."

"You don't happen to like the girl, do you?" Keller says with a smirk.

"Don't be ridiculous! Of course, I don't like her. I just think that this is a rare opportunity for both of us. One that I'm going to take advantage of," he says a wicked grin developing on his face.

"You're still hung up on what happened between the two of you earlier?"

"Never in my life has anyone disrespected me in such a way! I was completely humiliated this morning, and it's her fault!"

"So it's not your fault that you bumped into her?"

"It. Was. An. Accident," Gritting his teeth as he says it.

"But Will, doesn't that mean that you weren't paying attention to your surroundings?" Keller says while snickering.

"I said it was an accident and that is that!"

"And because of this accident, you want revenge?"

"Not revenge. I just want to make her feel how she made me feel this morning. That's all."

"Sounds like revenge to me."

"Anything else on my schedule today?" He says quickly changing the subject.

"No, we cleared out the whole day for the interviews."

Finishing his drink in one swig, Will grabs his jacket and starts walking towards the door.

"I'm going home for the day. Unless someone's dead or dying, don't call me."

"Just don't give her too much of a hard time!"

After Will walks out the door, Keller pours himself a drink and looks out the window. Seeing a beautiful view of a Los Angeles Summer, he takes a sip and thinks to himself.

"He usually has such a cold personality. Hopefully, she can bring some light to his world."

Back at the coffee shop, Dillon and I are still talking when I look at my watch and see what time it is.

"Good gravy Dillon, it's 3 pm already! Have we really been talking for four hours? I've got to get going, and you should probably go and face the music."

"Ugh! Do I have to?" he asks petulantly.

Giggling, I tell him.

"If you don't go and deal with it now it's only going to get worse."

"Fine, but let's exchange numbers in case she finally does kill me."

Looking at my phone, he sees that I saved him as Little Brother.

"Hey, you're 23, and I'm 28. That means that I'm the older brother, and you're my little sister!"

Grinning as he says this, I tell him.

"That may be so, but women are known to mature faster than men. This means that emotionally, I'm your big sister."

"But being five years older than you, I have more life experience so that clearly makes up for the maturity thing."

"Yes but, it takes 11 more years for a man to fully mature than it does a woman. So even with your life experience, you're still six years behind me, kid."

"Mark my words, one of these days I'll show you I'm the wiser one!"

"I look forward to it," I say as I pat his head.

"Well, little brother, this is where we part ways".

"Hey, I just thought of something. Do you have any plans tomorrow night?"

"No. Why?"

"The company's holding an event tomorrow night and I could use a plus one. Only as friends, of course! And it'll be a great opportunity to meet people within the company before you officially start working".

"Why not. It'll be fun, but I'll only do it if you buy me a dress".

"Deal."

We shake on it while giggling. Then, we go our separate ways - him back to the agency, and me, to the garage where I parked my car. Ever since what happened all those years ago, I get nervous when I go to garages, especially when I'm by myself. I put my keys between my fingers in one hand and hold my pepper spray in the other as I start walking in the garage. It's creepy, even during the day. There's no one in here except the security guard. Feeling like someone is watching me, I walk briskly to my car just wanting to get out of here. Once I get to it, I quickly check under the car and in the backseat to make sure no one is there. Seeing that the car is clear, I fumble with my keys to unlock the car. Once it's open, I immediately get in and lock the doors. Feeling like I can't breathe, I think of the exercise my therapist wants me to try this week.

I rate my anxiety. It's eight. Placing my feet flat on the floor, I then take a few deep breaths in and out. I look and see four windows and four air vents. Feeling the seat that I'm on it's soft and smooth with ridges where the seams meet. Looking at my pants and shoes, I see they're grey and black respectively. I try to think of the next step, but I can't remember it. I feel like there's a jawbreaker lodged down my throat and an elephant on my chest. I see flashbacks of what he did to me as if I was there all over again. Crying out, I realize today's not going to be a good day after all.