Fight to the Top

by S. L. Gape

  “Exactly. Better still, I was speaking to Amber, and she said that Georgia’s asked her for her help on something quite pressing for Mike. She needs the office report and plans this afternoon. I’ve told her what’s been said too, so Amber’s not going to do it. Or likely lose it, basically one way or another she’s going to screw her over the way she has Erika,” Jane said vindictively.

  “Excellent. She’ll be so proud of us. I think we should call her and tell her,” Tim said, plotting.

  “No, no. Let’s leave it as a surprise for her,” she responded. “With everything going on at home, she’ll be super stoked to return to work and her arch nemesis has left the building,” she said destructively.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Georgia walked back into the office at the end of her dinner hour. She literally couldn’t remember the last time she had taken an hour for lunch other than when she was entertaining clients. She was very pleased with herself for the gift she had found for Anne too. Anne had mentioned that she enjoyed knitting, and that one of her children was having a child. She was trying to make some booties and some cardigans for it. Georgia had found a lovely knitting and crocheting book, with loads of ideas and a beautiful silver picture frame. She got some wrapping paper and a card, and would give it to her that night on the way home. Maybe she would forewarn her of the situation too, she had been so lovely to Georgia, and she didn’t want her to be told by someone else.

  Georgia had walked past a number of desks, noticing the whispers and dirty looks. God, she couldn’t wait to get the hell out of this place. She stopped off at Tim’s desk and asked him if he would be able to do a few bits for her. She hadn’t really been given an assistant, and Mike had just said to her whilst they were getting everything sorted, to utilise Tim. The problem being, he hated her, and had absolutely no qualms with making that completely obvious.

  Tim’s response was no surprise. Basically saying to her that he was too busy, doing things for Erika, who was his actual boss. She was all but ready to go down the HR route with him, but seriously, she couldn’t be bothered with this little demon anymore. “Fine, Tim. Don’t worry, I’ll do it myself. And I’ll remember to give that feedback to Mike, so he can consider that when it comes to pay reviews,” she stomped off.

  Georgia’s next stop was Amber. “Hi, how long will it be? Mike needs it this afternoon. He needs to run it past the investors,” she said stroppy.

  “I don’t know, as I told you before I’m incredibly busy, and this is not my priority at the moment. My boss is Erika, and she has given me a large project to complete before the end of the month, and at the moment that needs to take precedence,” she said, not even looking up from her computer screen.

  “So, middle of the month and a project which doesn’t need to be completed until the end is more pressing than, plans, development designs and business reports for the CEO which is required by the end of the day because he needs it to take to the investors? How exactly is that more important?” she stormed.

  “Look, Georgia, I appreciate your request, but you aren’t my boss, and I report into Erika. So, when she asks me to do something, that is my priority.”

  “Unbelievable,” Georgia said, dumbfounded.

  “Stupid bitch,” Amber muttered under her breath, but loud enough for Georgia to question if she had just actually heard correctly.

  “Goddamit,” she made a fist with her hand, walking into the kitchen. She couldn’t do this, it was seriously going from bad to worse. She grabbed a mug and put some coffee in the mug as she waited for the kettle to boil. She was furious, her breathing was sharp and deep, and she needed to calm down. Turning around hearing footsteps behind her, she saw Jane. God, all she needed. Another office arsehole she thought and turned back around.

  “Excuse me,” Jane said to Georgia, reaching over for a glass.

  Full of manners, are the people in this place, she thought.

  Jane poured herself a pint of milk, before smirking at Georgia and walking out.

  Georgia was pissed off. These people were unbelievable. Georgia poured the water into the cup and went to the fridge for the milk. She looked all over the fridge, “un-fucking-believable,” she muttered to herself.

  “Wow, big words, are you ok?” Georgia turned around to see Anne before her.

  “No, she’s just watched me waiting to make a coffee and poured a pint of milk purposely, so there was none left for me,” Georgia said, visibly upset.

  “Hey, come on. You can have some of mine. I buy my own as I have lactose free. You can have some if you like? Come on, don’t let them win. They will soon get bored,” she said, rubbing Georgia’s arm.

  Georgia poured the milk in and thanked Anne before leaving the kitchen and returning back to her office.

  ***

  Mike came in late in the day, “Hi Georgia, I’m really sorry to have to nag, but have you got the report done? I really need to pull it together with my information and go through it all before I go there next week,” he said.

  “Hi, erm, yes. I’m sorry. I am not really great with marketing, so I’m just trying to pull it together now. I don’t think I will get it done before we finish today, but I can work on it at home this evening, and send it over tonight,” she said.

  “Georgia, why are you doing it yourself? We have a marketing team. They should be doing this not you. You should really be making a start on the development.”

  “Yes, I get that. But unfortunately, marketing is too busy doing the projects that Erika has set and she couldn’t assist, so I’m doing it myself,” she sighed.

  “What?” he barked, grabbing the landline and heavily poking the phone buttons.

  “Amber, can you come to Georgia’s office. Now!” he said, slamming down the phone.

  Moments later Amber walked into the office, “Hi, sir. How can I help?”

  “Amber, what are you working on at the moment?” he asked sternly.

  “Erm, the state project that Erika asked me to do?”

  “The state project for the end of the month?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “So, why is that more important than the plans for the new office?”

  “Erm, I’m sorry, sir? What do you mean the plans for the new office?”

  “The project that I am in dire need of. The one to review and go through pre-meeting with the investors next week up in Fort Worth,” he said, clearly agitated.

  “Well, nothing would be more important than that, sir. However, I have not been asked for it.”

  “What?” Georgia bellowed, shocked by her response.

  “Ummm, I’m sorry, Georgia. If you asked me to do this, I could have spent the afternoon on it. But if you don’t tell me, I can’t get the team to help,” she said seriously.

  Fucking hell, this woman was the best liar she’d ever met. Holy hell. Georgia started talking and then just gave up. Seriously, she is not doing this anymore. This was insane.

  Mike turned to face Georgia, “Geor…” he stopped talking. Georgia could feel her face burning, and she was livid. “That’s all Amber,” he said, shutting the door behind her.

  He paused looking at Georgia, paying attention to the clear agitation of her demeanour. “So, you asked her huh?” he said sincerely.

  “I can’t do it, Mike. I don’t give up on things easily. But this is obscene, this wasn’t my doing and I’ve had the shittiest week of my life. Yeah, I asked her. Of course, I did,” she said, feeling the tears drop.

  “Please? Come on, Georgia, don’t get upset,” he said, handing her his handkerchief. Mike picked up the phone, “Hi, how busy are you? Great, can it wait until Monday? Ok, pack up please, Georgia needs to leave.”

  “Go home, forget about the report, have some time off, I’ll get Amber to do it,” he said walking off.

  “Actually, I’m almost done now, I may as well finish it at home and submit it, then you can get her to change it to your style and amend where n
ecessary. It’s far too late in the day now, she’ll never get it completed starting from scratch. So, I’ll just finish it, I’m almost done.”

  Mike turned around at the last moment. “Georgia,” he said, looking genuinely sad and concerned.

  “Yeah?” she looked up from her bag that she was packing up, pissed off that she’d spent so much of the week crying.

  “I’m sorry, Georgia. I’m genuinely sorry. We never anticipated a situation such as this,” and just like that he was gone.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Georgia got out of the pool. She’d had a great weekend, but it was over far too quickly. She had spoken to Derek and, well understandably, he was seriously pissed off with her. Unfortunately, that was the downside to getting on well with your manager. They were never phased by making you see, hear and feel the disappointment in their voices. Her parents weren’t much better. Her dad was passionate, driven and very competitive, so being bullied was not really a viable excuse for him. Which pissed her off immensely. Seriously, being told to toughen up from her parents really hurt. She was forty years old and her parents had no concept of being stranded on the other side of the world where everything you worked your arse off was being taken from you. She genuinely didn’t know what else she could have done.

  Georgia picked up her phone and re-read the email from Derek. Flights booked for Wednesday, and that’s all he wrote. He’d sent it yesterday and she was well aware by the tone that he was so annoyed at her. She was still unclear if there was a job waiting for her back home. She wasn’t even sure she wanted there to be, so she’d spent all day yesterday sharpening her CV and sent it over for a few jobs already. At least she had some idea as to what was out there.

  Looking at the phone vibrating to alert her of a message, Georgia saw the text from Mike on her phone and opened it. She was nervous, and she hadn’t spoken to him since Friday afternoon when she left. She breathed in deeply, wiping the pool water dripping from her head. She looked at the message and read the words.

  Please do not come to work today, meet me at my restaurant at one pm, Mike.

  Ouch, Georgia thought. “Sod it,” she said to herself, she was going anyways. Realistically, what could he say or do? She dumped her towel and got back into the pool. She may as well make the most of it before she left. A while later, Georgia left the pool and made her way back inside to start packing.

  ***

  Georgia pulled up at the restaurant. She’d not driven since that first morning, and luckily the roads were quiet, as she followed her sat nav the short distance to Mike’s restaurant. She was nervous as hell at what was waiting ahead of her. The conversations with her parents’ and Derek were bad enough, but all she wanted in the world was to get shouted at. Seriously, she could easily deal with him having a go at her, but she could not deal with him having that same sense of disappointment in her that everyone else had. Jesus, she was even getting it from Emily and John. Bloody hell, even Torrance had jumped on the band wagon at one point, and she was young enough to be Georgia’s kid. She took a deep breath and walked into the restaurant.

  “Hi, can I help you?”

  “Hi, I’m here to meet Mike… he is…”

  “Sure thing, ma’am, follow me,” the waitress said, smiling to her.

  Georgia followed her around to a separate cordoned off area of the restaurant. God it was like walking the plank. She entered the room and saw Erika and Mike sat down, and she stopped unknowingly. Mike stood instantly, “Georgia, please?” he said, pointing to the chair.

  Genuinely, Georgia didn’t think she could have felt any worse about today, and actually she now realised that she did. Making her way to the table she took a seat next to Erika and Mike. “Hi,” she said quietly. She hadn’t seen Erika since she’d fucked her over with the lies to Mike, and now suddenly she realised the reason for the meeting.

  “Hi Georgia, thanks for coming. What can I get you to drink?”

  “I’ll just have a water thanks.”

  “Georgia, this isn’t going to be a quick meeting. Doubtful it’ll be pleasant either, as I’ve just advised Erika. You may want something stronger. She is having a wine, and I’m having a scotch. Whilst I’m not trying to influence you into drinking, I’m merely wanting to point out, it may assist with matters. Still want a water?”

  “I’ll have a large red please,” she said nervously.

  They heard the door go and looked around, “Oh dear God,” Georgia found herself saying, as she felt like her knees were about to buckle. She tried her hardest to control the emotions as Derek walked towards them. He leant over and kissed Georgia on the cheek. “Hey, lady,” he said to her warmly. She could see and hear Jill in him, and she could just imagine her raging at him for putting her in this situation, and making him jump on the first flight to deal with it. However, he looked happy and relaxed, kissing Erika on the cheek, offering pleasantries about being happy to meet her. “Nice place you got here” he said, shaking Mike’s hand.

  There was a complete awkwardness as Mike and Derek exchanged discussions of the restaurant and location whilst they were waiting for the drinks, as Erika and Georgia sat there fiddling with phones, glasses and cutlery.

  As they thanked the waitress for the drinks and waited for her to leave, Derek began. “Okay, let’s get down to business. So, as I said nice to meet you, Erika. I’m sorry it has to be in these circumstances. Clearly it hasn’t worked since we’re in this situation,” he said, holding out his hands to the surroundings, and sighing heavily. “We are disappointed that...”

  Erika coughed a little. “Look, how about I make this slightly easier on all of you. I’m resigning. It isn’t what I worked towards, and she can have it. Too much is going on in my life, so I’ve decided it makes more sense for me to move back home.”

  “I don’t want the job, I have already quit, that’s why we’re here. I fly home the day after tomorrow,” Georgia shot back to Erika.

  “What? You’re leaving? When did this happen?” she snapped at Mike.

  “Right, enough, already! Seriously, you two are acting worse than my teenage granddaughters. This was a fantastic opportunity for you both, and it’s been a week? A god damn week? I thought we may have had a little bit of…well, competitor activity between y’all, but I’m pretty darn sure that Derek’s feeling exactly the same as me. In the respect of you are not the women that we portrayed. Erika, I appreciate you have some personal issues going on, but I’ve never known you to be like this. Jesus, you are virtually the same people, I can’t believe we’re here. I am indeed staggered that this wondrous opportunity has turned into some of the most powerful women in the business, turning into,” he stopped, shaking and scratching his head in disbelief.

  “Into childish playground bullies,” Derek finished.

  “Yes, thank you, Derek. I’m not going to lie, I’m completely stunned and genuinely…well I’m hurt, and I feel let down,” Mike said disappointedly.

  Erika rubbed her head. Seriously? The guilt tripping? She uses this on Dulcie for Christ’s sake.

  “Sorry, can I just interrupt here?” Georgia said. “Firstly, I apologise to both of you, for well, for clearly disappointing you both. However, I’m not so happy to have my reputation tarnished and be called a bully. I’m forty years old, I’m likeable; well I was,” she scoffed. “I’ve left my family, my friends, my colleagues, my job, my career, my country, Jesus the person I was seeing…”

  “You met someone? Why didn’t you tell me?” Derek said immediately.

  “Well, I didn’t… oh I don’t know, that’s the least of it all. The point I’m trying to make is, I have at no point bullied anyone. I’ve tried to make an effort. I was insulted and left in a foreign country, with no clue on how to drive. Given I haven’t driven a car for the last three years made it somewhat harder, then was treated like shit by everyone in the office. People were rude, ignored me, refused to help me with work and then lied to my face in front of the
CEO about me ever asking for it. For Christ’s sake, they came and poured pints of milk for themselves in front of me so I couldn’t even make a brew. So seriously, when exactly was I a bully?” she said accusingly.

  “Ok. Well, I agree you’ve been put through the mill, and I apologise about that, more so for Friday with Amber. But I just don’t think you should leave. We can sort all of that, we can come down on the staff, hard!”

  “What happened with Amber?” Erika snapped.

  “Georgia?” Mike said, pointing to her. “While I’m sure my assumptions were correct, you’re probably best suited to explain the situation.”

  Georgia was really struggling with all of this. Seeing Derek was making her feel more homesick, and she was sure that whatever was discussed would be front page news tomorrow. But screw it, she was out of here the day after next anyhow, it’s not like she would see any of them again. “I received your report, thank you. It was fantastic,” she said, feeling the pain as she said so. “I asked Tim for some help and he said no, he was too busy doing stuff for you, which you’d told him was too important to leave. And as ‘you’ are his boss, which he felt the need to keep pointing out, he didn’t need to help me at all. His words, not mine. Then I asked Amber to amend some parts and, basically, do what we needed to have it ready for Mike to take. She said she had a project for you to do, so I went back and asked her later and she reiterated this fact. Then she told me it was for the end of the month, and I advised the importance of getting this done, not for me, but for Mike. I even explained it was your work thinking she may actually do it. Oh, and I then stated that it was the middle of the month, so clearly it wasn’t as pressing as the CEO needing something to take on his visit in a mere few days, and to the investors. Anyways, Mike came and saw me later in the afternoon, and asked where it was,” Georgia stopped, sighing lightly. She felt stupid, she couldn’t believe this is what her life had resorted to. “Anyways, I explained the situation to him, he called Amber and she came down to the office, and said that I’d not actually asked her, nobody had mentioned anything to her.”