by Jack Harbon
“Alright, chill, I’ll be there in a bit.”
“Hurry,” Roman said, hanging up a moment later. Kit bit back a smart comment and let it go. When he looked to Chad, he could see his friend was slightly upset.
“I’m sorry,” Kit said immediately. “He told me I was supposed to have the day off. I mean, I met with Alma three days ago and, all I’ve done since then is work my ass off for him. Today was our day, and I’m a dick for having to go.”
“Kit, chill,” Chad said, waving his hand. “We’ll hang out after you get done doing whatever it is he needs you to do. I’m not mad, I promise.”
Kit finally took a breath and eased up. One of his biggest pet peeves was when people cancelled or plans changed during the last minute. Naturally he was opposed to being the person to cancel. While Chad wasn’t fuming or anything, Kit still felt bad about leaving.
“I promise, I’ll make it up to you.”
“Just go.” Chad smiled. Kit gave him a quick one-armed hug before he waved down a taxi and climbed inside.
Kit made it to Roman’s office in a decent amount of time, and though he looked relaxed, his mind raced. What was the emergency? Why was his free day cut short? Roman stood with his back to the door. He spun around when he heard it open, the deep lines etched in his forehead easing away.
“What took you so long?” he asked, irritated.
“I thought it was my day off, my mistake.” Roman rolled his eyes at Kit’s sarcasm and handed a receipt over. “What’s this for?” Kit asked.
“I need you to get my dry cleaning. Now.”
Kit stared in disbelief. “You mean to tell me that I rushed over here to get your laundry? Roman, I’m not sure you know what an emergency is, but—”
“Kit, stop talking and go. I have a meeting in thirty minutes and I don’t have my fucking shirt. I’d get it myself, but I still have paperwork I need to finish before the meeting. I’m not going to say it again,” he said loudly, his voice just under a shout. Kit looked at him and clenched his fists. All of this over a fucking shirt. He snatched the paper from Roman’s hand and yanked the door open. Before leaving, he paused. In a low voice, he said,
“I’m beginning to wonder how many assistants you’ve had to hire in the past six months alone. Wouldn’t surprise me if they all quit.” He closed the door and stormed back to the elevator.
Unbelievable. Screaming at him over a goddamn shirt that wouldn’t make a bit of difference. What was wrong with the shirt he had on now? What was so special about this shirt that Roman couldn’t go without wearing it?
He stepped outside and read the receipt. The cleaner wasn’t far, thankfully. Kit crossed the street and narrowly dodged a taxi, flipping the driver the bird once his heart began beating again. His phone vibrated in his pocket but he ignored it. Roman could go fuck himself for all Kit cared.
Oleander Cleaners was relatively empty when he entered. A woman stood at the front twirling her hair around her fingers as the man behind the counter went looking for her items. Kit stepped up behind her and finally checked his phone. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Roman who’d been texting him. He opened Chad’s message and made a face.
“Again?” he sighed. Following Chad’s instructions, he logged into Twitter to see if Jaylen really was tweeting about him. Just as Chad said, there the guy was, subtweeting him once more.
“Thinking about the trip to Florida again. Fuck.”
“I mess everything up. I mess it all up, always.”
“If you love something, take care of it.”
Kit could feel his anger rising once more. He was so tired of this back and forth game. One minute, Jaylen wanted to brag about all the ass he was getting now that he was single again. The very next minute he was in his feelings all over again, bitching and moaning about not having someone to hold at night. Though he didn’t follow Jaylen anymore, Jaylen followed him. Kit began writing a tweet himself when he heard the man in front of him speak.
“You’re next.”
He dropped his phone back into his pocket and stepped up to the counter, handing the receipt over. “My boss needs his shirt,” he said, shrugging. The employee nodded and walked to the back. In his irritation towards Jaylen, he’d nearly forgotten that he was supposed to be irritated with Roman as well. The grown man who threw fits when he didn’t have his shirts.
Was this what being an assistant meant? Getting treated like a mule 24/7? Kit had seen The Devil Wears Prada before but had assumed it was just a movie. Bosses couldn’t be that bad, could they?
The cleaner returned with his item a minute later and thanked him for stopping by. On his way out, Kit grabbed a mint and popped it into his mouth.
Roman took the shirt gratefully and unbuttoned it quickly. “He got the stains out, that’s good,” he said to himself. He looked up, surprised to see that Kit was still standing there. “Can I help you with something?”
“Actually, you can. You can tell me why you’d bother letting me have the day off, then freak out whenever your dry cleaning isn’t here. It was my day off, and you got an attitude whenever I was rightfully upset about having to rush down here. I could have been doing something important, like a doctor’s appointment or something,” Kit ranted. He glared Roman, who seemed amused by his anger.
“Are you done?”
“I’m glad this is so funny to you. I’m seriously considering quitting and just working at McDonald’s. At least working there, I’ll get to deal with many different types of douchebags, not just one.” Kit caught himself before he could say anything more. This was the kind of attitude that had gotten him in trouble back home. He tried his hardest to think before he spoke, but every now and then…
“This is your job, Kit. This isn’t some hobby you do whenever you want some cash. I’m not paying you to show up whenever you feel like it. I’m paying you to be here when I need you to be here. I’m paying you to watch your tongue while you’re at work. I’m paying you to do the things I ask without any lip. If that’s not something you can handle, maybe you should quit. Maybe you should go work at McDonald’s. Like you said, plenty more unsavory people there. Your work ethic will fit right in.”
Roman pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the chair next to where Kit stood. Kit was too stunned by the man’s body to even come up with a comeback. He never would have guessed that under all those suits and t-shirts, Roman had the body of an underwear model. Kit had to force himself to look up when he realized he was staring down at Roman’s Adonis belt.
“Look, I can be a handful,” Roman continued, sliding his arm through the sleeve of the button up shirt. “I can be a huge prick. Hell, I can be a lot like Yolanda.” This earned a reluctant smile from Kit.
“But?” he asked.
“But nothing. That’s just how it is here. You think people here work for me because they like my personality? Do you think I took over as Chief Creative Director because I’m nice and I always make people feel good? No, that’s not how things work. People work for me because I’m good at my job. We have customers because my team is good at what we do.”
“Being nice doesn’t hurt anyone, either,” Kit suggested.
“Business is not nice. Your feelings will get hurt, Kit. There are people who would kill for the success you have. Money makes people into the worst versions of themselves. You start seeing the side of people most of us manage to keep hidden. So, either you man up and you do what needs to be done, or you go home. Do you want to go home?”
Kit fought the urge to roll his eyes. He wasn’t going to give Roman the satisfaction of being right, but he knew that he was. He knew that Roman wasn’t his friend. He was the boss of everyone on this floor, and if Kit couldn’t work with that, he’d just have to go home.
“No, Roman, I don’t want to go home. I just wish you’d stop treating me like I’m nothing but an assistant.”
“But you are just an assistant,” Roman said. “Look, I get it. I’m not nice when I’m upset, but again… Eith
er you deal with it, or you quit. I’m not going to make the decision for you, because believe it or not, you do good work. That’s why I can handle your piss poor attitude towards me. Judging from the way you left my office after our interview, I know that you won’t hold back when someone tells you that you can’t do something. You like proving people wrong and making them look stupid. Am I wrong?”
“No,” Kit said. He thought back to his and Bria’s move to New York. Their parents had beaten them over the head with the fact that moving away was going to be their biggest mistake. And look where they were now.
“That’s why I keep you around. Had you been anyone else, I wouldn’t have hesitated to kick you to the curb. But then I’d be proving my boss right. I had to fight to get another one after the mess that was my last assistant. The truth is, you’re smart, and you work hard.”
Kit glanced up at Roman. “I’m also your last option. Aren’t I?”
Roman’s lack of an answer was answer enough. Roman continued. “I spoke with Alma Middleton about how things are going with the renovations. She told me she was impressed with how knowledgeable you were about design. You had a clear, cohesive idea.”
“She said that?” Kit didn’t mean to smile, but he couldn’t help it. Alma had complimented him, yes, but he’d worried she was only being nice. That she told the same thing to Roman proved she truly felt that way.
“She said that. She’s impressed with your work, and so am I. I’m not going to apologize for not being nice, but I will say that I’m pleased with what you’ve done in such a short time. I appreciate how much you value your job and want to do something well the first time around.”
“I shouldn’t have called you a douchebag. It was unprofessional, and I’m not trying to lose my job over something this small. I’m sorry,” Kit said.
“Don’t make a big deal out of it,” Roman said dismissively. He began buttoning his shirt up, and Kit almost sighed with disappointment.
“What’s the deal with that shirt anyways? The one you had on before was just as nice.”
“This is the one Ari told me he thought looked nice. I have a boss to impress as well,” Roman said with a smirk.
“Yet you act like a god.”
“I’m still a god, don’t let this one instance make you think otherwise. Anyway, you’re free to go. Thank you for getting this for me. Thank you for coming by on such short notice.”
“It’s my job,” Kit shrugged. He pulled his phone out and looked at the message he’d begun to type back at the dry cleaners. “It was a distraction from real life stuff anyways.”
“What’s going on?
“Do you really want to know or do you just want me to leave?”
“Kit.”
“Alright, fine. My ex is on Twitter whining about me again. It’s annoying as hell. And the best part is, he isn’t even out of the closet, so most people think he’s talking about some chick. Half the time, I just want to tag myself in the tweets for him. Either that, or beat his ass.”
Roman chuckled and pulled a hand mirror down from his shelf. He looked over himself, checking his pearly white teeth and reworking his already-perfected hair. “Violence isn’t the solution. Why don’t you just talk to him?”
“Would you want to talk to someone who A, didn’t acknowledge your presence when you both were in public, and B, cheated on you? He’s lucky I haven’t put him on blast about everything he did to me. He knows I see this stuff that he posts. He knows.”
“Sounds to me like you’re not over him.”
“That’s disgusting,” Kit said, shaking his head. No, he was absolutely over everything he and Jaylen had. Most of the time.
“I don’t mean romantically, I mean in general. If you didn’t care, if you were really over him, his social media wouldn’t bother you. No amount of tweets, statuses, or snaps would really make a difference. Indifference is the true sign that you’ve moved on. And it doesn’t sound like you’re indifferent.”
“I’m not indifferent. I’m still mad about what he did,” Kit said without thinking. “I’m mad because he’s a total jackass and I liked him in the first place. Sorry about cursing.”
Roman waved his hand, “It’s fine. I won’t bludgeon you with any more advice because frankly I have very little interest in your love life, but I will say that sometimes people need to see things are over before they understand. If you show him that you’re no longer interested, maybe he’ll get the hint. Don’t be nice about it. Be mean. Being mean sometimes gets things done, you know.”
Kit sighed. He’d tried that. All it did was make Jaylen want him back more. “I shouldn’t be bothering you with this stuff anyways. I’ll be in early tomorrow.” Kit stood and walked to the door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Thank you, again,” Roman said.
“Thank you, too.”
“For?”
Kit smiled softly. He wanted to thank Roman for the compliments. For explaining how things worked at Yellow Fall. For trying to help him out with Jaylen. Instead, he said, “Just thank you. Later.” He closed the door and walked to the elevator, still longing for one more glimpse of Roman’s bare chest.
6
Fucking Kevin
“Party at Katrina’s house on Saturday. Wanna go?” Kit read over Chad’s text message twice before he answered.
“Not sure. Wanna get food on Monday for sure, tho?”
“Hell yeah!”
In front of Kit, three men painted the wall with large rollers, slathering on a warm beige color. Alma hadn’t been kidding when she told him these guys worked fast. In just two hours, they’d already painted almost the entire floor. He’d have to tip them extra for their hard work.
Kit felt someone step beside him and he looked to his right to see Yolanda. She stared at the painters as well, the look in her eye much more critical.
“You went with this color?” She sniffed once, obviously unimpressed.
“Not a fan?”
“I personally wouldn’t have gone with that shade, but…” She smiled at him but Kit knew she wasn’t being any bit of kind.
Kit shrugged, “Well, when you’re faced with a task this important, I hope you do a better job than me.”
Yolanda surprised him by laughing. “A job like this is beneath my paygrade, sweetie. You have fun, though.”
She sauntered off towards her desk. Kit stared her down, silently stewing over her insults. He reminded himself that he needed this job. He needed it for Bria. And in a way, he felt like he needed to keep his job for Roman. His compliments were two weeks old by now, but he still found himself thinking back. Roman said he did good work and that he was determined to succeed. Kit didn’t want to let him down.
After a minute of brewing, he let the anger pass and focused on how nice the office was starting to look. The old furniture looked completely out of place among the new style, but that was a slow process as well. He’d already ordered a really nice sectional for the sitting area, and a meeting table was being delivered in two days. He still had plenty of work to do, but the office was coming together quite amazingly. If everything went well, the office would be done before the deadline he’d been given.
“Oh my gosh,” an excited voice behind him exclaimed. Kit turned around to see Barbie stepping out of the elevator with wonder in her eyes. “Kit, did you design all of this?”
He laughed with embarrassment. “I did, yeah.”
“It looks so good!”
Kit realized that Barbie hadn’t been at work to see how bad things had looked before the workers had cleaned it all up, so she was now seeing the near-final product. He smiled again, “Thank you. I’m honestly kind of shocked that it came together like this. I expected it to look like a hot mess.”
“Come sit down with me, honey. We’ll talk,” she said, ushering him over to the kitchen. He took a seat at the table and watched her open the fridge and pull out a cup of yogurt. “I always knew you’d do a good job of the office,” she informed him.
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“Why do you say that?”
“We all saw how you stormed out of Roman’s office after your interview. When he came back, he asked us who’d reorganized everything. He didn’t sound angry, either—which is an amazement in itself,” she laughed. “Everybody knew it’d been you. It doesn’t surprise me that you’d also be good organizing this whole project.”
Kit blushed and looked away. This was almost too much praise for one day. It was a welcome change compared to Yolanda’s criticism, though.
When he glanced over at Yolanda, her brows were knitted together, and she was mumbling to herself, flipping through papers. He was reminded of what Roman had said about himself. He didn’t work here because he was nice. He didn’t make the money he made because he had a great personality. He succeeded because he was talented.
“Yolanda doesn’t like the office,” Kit whispered, playfully rolling his eyes. Barbie’s smile faded for a moment.
“Yoyo doesn’t really like anything. She reminds me a lot of my husband.”
“Oh?” Kit leaned forward and placed his chin in his hands. “Tell me all about your husband.”
For the next thirty minutes, Barbie brought him up to date on all the drama she was having with her husband. Not only was he skipping out on taking the kids to their recitals and practices, but he rarely did household chores, leaving her to pick up his slack. And just the other night, he’d called her a bitch—something he’d never done before.
Kit listened and nodded at all the appropriate times. He couldn’t believe someone as gorgeous as Barbie was putting up with BS from fucking Kevin. Kevin didn’t deserve her.
She was just about to tell him about Kevin’s mother when Roman stepped out of his office. Barbie sat up straighter and jerked her head towards him. Kit turned to see Roman staring at him and smiled. “Do you need me, sir?”
Roman gave him a pointed look then returned to his office.
“Guess that’s a yes,” Kit said to Barbie.