by Anita Claire
“Megan was telling us that there was this guy, Thor, who liked this woman, Samantha, but Terri liked Thor so Terri started this insidious whisper campaign against Samantha.”
Juliette face gets surprised “What? Wait…you think the negative comments about me are coming from Terri? I’ve never even spoken to the woman. I’ve never worked with her. I think I’ve been in a room with her a few times and each time maybe I said ten words to someone else. Why would she do something like that to me?”
Crossing my arms and feeling angry, I explain, “Because in Terri’s world you stand between her and Flint.”
“I’m seeing Nate, I have no interest in Flint.”
“This isn’t about you. This is about Terri.”
“What?” she says, still perplexed.
“Terri likes Flint, Flint likes you. So of course Terri hates you.”
“Really, we’re back in high school?” She rolls her eyes, “Elizabeth Wilder, here we go again.”
Now it’s my turn, “Who’s Elizabeth Wilder?”
“Never mind, she’s my high school mean girl.”
“Well, Terri’s your work mean girl.”
“What do I do? The only way I got away from Elizabeth Wilder was when I graduated.”
I shake my head as I try to contemplate, finally saying, “It can’t be up front. If we go to HR or anyone else, they can’t do anything. They’ll think we’re the nasty ones. We either have to catch her in the process of spreading rumors, or we need to do something to counter it.”
“Like what?” Juliette asks.
“If it was game pieces on a board with rules I would be great at this. Damn, I wish I had an answer.”
“I’ve never been good at the mean girl thing. My only recourse has been to disengage.”
“Yeah, I know what you’re saying. Who is good at that?”
We both ponder for awhile. Juliette shakes her head. “Are you sure it’s her?”
“No, of course not, but she’s done this before. I know it’s none of the guys in our group. You’ve never worked with anyone outside of our group. Also, the comments are behind the back nasty. When guys don’t like someone they call them a dick, this is definitely from a woman. Terri is the only one with the MO and the history. Hey, it sort of worked for her the first time. She did get rid of Samantha.”
We both stand there staring at the small lawn.
“Let’s go in. We’re not going to come up with a plan today. Now that I know the enemy I can be better prepared for the battle.”
On the way in I say, “Maybe your mom would know what to do. She’s fought a lot of work battles.”
Juliette gives me a grim look and shakes her head, “I’m not brining my mom into this.”
As we reach our desks she gets a big smile on her face, “But Kelly….”
“What?” I question.
“Not my mom, Kelly is the best person to talk to. Nate’s coming over tonight so I don’t have time. What are you doing after work tomorrow?”
Chapter 37 - Revenge
After work I head over to Juliette’s. She greets me at the door, and as I walk in I see Kelly’s made herself comfortable on the couch. I sit down at the other end.
Kelly says, “What’s the big political thing you need my help with?”
I shoot Juliette a look still wondering why, out of all the people in the world, she thinks Kelly can help us. She’s the only princess who’s never held a real job.
Juliette looks at me. “Hita, you’re the one who put together the pieces. You should tell Kelly.”
Taking a deep breath, I gather my thoughts as I tell Kelly the basics. “Our office mean girl has been spreading rumors about Juliette. I think she has a thing for one of our executives and Nate thinks the executive has a thing for Juliette. Also, the office mean girl has done this before. That is, spread nasty rumors about a woman she thinks is her competition.”
Kelly looks at Juliette appraisingly. “Snow, it hasn’t taken you long to develop enemies.”
“Me? I’m an innocent bystander. I don’t want Flint, and I have never even spoken to Terri.” I can see Juliette’s frustration rising. “You’re a biology major, what drugs can we use to kill her without leaving a trace?”
Kelly chortles before answering, “Yeah, murder is a great way to deal with mean girls.”
“Yeah, but what do you do? It’s like politics; one side throws out something that undermines the other side, it’s a win-win for them. Either the accusation sticks, or the target responds giving the accuser the perfect sound bite.” She grimly shakes her head. “Anything I say only makes it worse or makes me look paranoid, vindictive, or bitchy.”
Kelly leans back on the couch. She has an air of control that I’ve never seen before. “So murder and talking straight won’t work.”
“Maybe we should start insidious rumors about her. You know, she slept with Chris and now she’s sleeping with Sid,” I add.
Kelly shakes her head and gives us a look like we’re both idiots. “You two, really?”
“What?” Juliette says looking concerned.
“Effectively spreading rumors takes skill. You two idiots will get caught and look like…idiots.”
“You’re not leaving us with many choices. What’s left?” Juliette asks.
Kelly takes both of us in. “What do you really want to have happen? Snow?”
“If she continues with the rumors I’m eventually going to leave. I’d rather have her leave. Preferably to someplace I will never want to go.”
“What does this Terri chick do?” Kelly questions.
“She manages schedules, you know, like what Isabelle does.”
“She’s only some kind of administrator? And she has all these engineers and managers leaving the company? Really? Damn, talk about the tail wagging the dog. You got to hand it to her. There’s nothing quite like running the company from the bottom of the org chart.”
“Kind of scary when you put it like that,” Juliette says.
Kelly focuses us back on track with, “Yeah, but our goal is to get her to leave without getting any negative blow back on either of you.” Kelly contemplates for awhile, “Where does this chick live?”
“She rides the bus down from San Francisco,” I tell Kelly.
Kelly responds with a big smile on her face, “This is going to be too easy.”
“What, you’re sabotaging the bus?” Juliette asks.
Kelly gives her a pathetic look. “No. You two are going to find her a job in San Francisco.”
“What?” we both say at the same time.
Kelly starts directing us, “Hita, get on Linked In and connect to her. Make sure to connect to at least twenty other employees at the same time, preferably people she knows or works with. Use her profile to create a résumé. Then use all your smarts and her new résumé to apply to every possible job in San Francisco. One of those companies up there will need someone with her skills and experience. You two aren’t looking for jobs up there, so you won’t have to run into her again. It’s a win-win for everyone. She shortens her commute and you got rid of her.”
“But what if someone catches us?” Juliette says.
“What, some recruiter is going to call the FBI to find out who gave them a candidates résumé?”
“Well, no,” I answer.
“What’s the worst that happens, she gets a few calls from some recruiters and wonders who’s passing around her résumé? You don’t use any work computers and never discuss this with anyone at your company. Not even the other princesses.”
“This might take a while.”
“What, and a whisper campaign won’t take a long time? It sure beats going to jail for trying to poison her.”
Juliette and I look at each other. I finally say, “You know this idea might work.”
Kelly says with a big, satisfied smile, “Even better, you know how unhappy Isabelle is where she works? When Terri leaves, you two now have the perfect new candidate.”
Kelly smiles real big, “Hita, you have no idea.”
Chapter 38 – The Trap is Set
Listening to Kelly’s advice, I connect to Terri on Linked In along with all the other admin types, product managers in her old group, Sid, and a bunch of other people who work for him. A couple days later, Terri approves my connection.
The one blowback I didn’t expect is that Sid calls me into his office. He’s never done this before. I wonder how he figured out our plan.
After he asks me to sit down he asks. “Hita, are you happy working here?”
“Yes,” I say as I wonder when the next shoe is going to drop.
“No problems? You’re not looking for another job?”
“No,” I answer. Then I bravely ask, “Why are you asking me this?”
He clears his throat. “I saw your invitation for Linked In, most people only build their Linked In résumé when they’re looking for a new job.”
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding as I respond, “No, I’m happy, I wanted to update my information from college.”
Sid nods before saying, “We’re happy with you, and we’re glad you brought Juliette here.”
***
Juliette and I use Terri’s profile to build a résumé. We’re so proud of our work, we joke about setting up a side business building résumés.
Of course we do this on a non-work computer, one of Juliette’s dad’s old computers where we reformatted the disk. Juliette and I then meet up at a coffee house in Menlo Park, far enough from where we live and work that no one would connect us with the IP address. After that, we link through a network of servers to cloak our location.
After all this we contact a number of head hunters and look through all the popular job sites, including Craig’s List, Monster, and Glassdoor looking for jobs like hers where we can send her résumé. We even check the VC sites to see if they have any companies in San Francisco they’re funding, who are looking for people like Terri. We take turns filling out the forms and uploading her résumé. We figure we’ll need to do this at least once a week until we hear she’s leaving the company.
***
As January moves to February, David and I get into a routine, or should I say a rut. He comes over almost every night, sometimes we play games, not really together, but afterwards we fall asleep in the same bed. After the first couple of months of screwing each other a couple of times a day, all the sexual energy is gone. I’m starting to wonder what’s going on with us. As in, if anything is going on with us.
After meeting up and sending out a few more résumés for Terri, Juliette and I have our heads bent together as we look at the screen. Wanting to talk to a friend about David, I take a deep breath and then try to broach what’s been troubling me.
“How’s everything with you and Nate?”
She gives me a quizzical look. “Fine…is there a reason you’re asking?”
“Yeah, you started dating Nate the same time I started dating David. Are you still…you know….”
She shakes her head slightly. “Hita, no, I have no idea what you’re asking me.”
“Are you still…having sex, wanting to be together, finding each other…interesting?”
She looks a little put back. “Well, yeah.” She gets a sly smile, moves a little closer before confiding, “Sex with Nate is….” She smiles real big and lifts her eyebrows and nods.
“Good?” I question. “You’re still having wild monkey sex?”
“Things are going well. He’s fun to be around. We enjoy being with each other. I think he really gets me and I think I get him.”
“Yeah, but what about the sex?”
“Oh, the sex is still there. It’s getting even better. He’s…experienced. I’ve learned some things I never knew there was to learn. You know, the more we’re together, the more the barriers break down and the easier it is to…you know…experiment.”
Not wanting to even remotely know about what she’s possibly alluding to, I ask, “The old worry about him being controlling, is that still an issue?”
She shakes her head. “He’s backed off on all the take charge controlling shit. I actually had a chat with his sister, she told me a lot of things about his last girlfriend. She was…high maintenance. She had him jumping through hoops. Jamie, his sister, said that a lot of his behaviors were how he had to respond to his last relationship. The longer we go out, the easier things get between the two of us.”
“And…?” I ask.
“And what?” she says with a tight jaw.
“I know you too well. What aren’t you saying?”
Juliette gets that look on her face. The one she has when her mind is grinding on something. “He was engaged to her. She broke up with him.”
“Yeah, but he’s all into you.”
“But what if she shows up again? Is she the one that got away?”
“Yeah, but if things were going well, she wouldn’t have left.”
Juliette gives me a halfhearted shrug as I see her mentally move on. She then gives me a questioning look. “Why the sudden interest in Nate and me?”
“Things with David are…” I shake my head again. “He’s nice, he’s sweet to me, and we both have the gaming thing in common. It’s just….”
She looks at me quizzically. “But what isn’t working?”
“Outside of gaming he’s not very social. We hardly ever have sex anymore, we hardly ever talk, we hardly ever do anything but play games at the same time. He’s turning into…a co-worker. I thought relationships got like that when you’ve been married twenty years. How did this happen after only three or four months?”
“So all the heat is out of the relationship?”
“Yeah, it’s definitely cool. I never had that with Brandon. But then again we so rarely were in the same state. Heat was never our issue. I was kind of wondering when things naturally cooled down in a relationship. You and I’ve been going out with our boyfriends for the same amount of time. If you’re still all hot and heavy, then….”
“Have you had this conversation with David?”
“Sort of.”
“Maybe you should have more of this conversation with him. Maybe he’s thinking the same thing.”
“Maybe, or maybe he’s a nice guy, but he’s not the right guy.”
Chapter 39 – Breaking Up is Hard To Do
Thinking about my conversation with Juliette, I try to approach David on what’s going on with our relationship.
As we go into my room to get ready for bed, I start off with, “David, I’m concerned, we’ve been together for four months, but we’re like an old married couple. We never really do anything together, we just parallel play. We play the same games at the same time and sleep in the same bed.”
He knits his brow, then responds, “Well it’s not like I want to be over at your place every night. I’ve turned into a homeless person living out of my car.”
Surprised by this comment, I respond, “I’ve never asked you to stay every night. Once we started going out you came over here every night and stayed.”
He frowns, then continues, “That’s because you never want to go to my place.”
“That’s because your place is a complete pig sty. When was the last time you washed your sheets? When was the last time you guys cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed, or washed any dishes? I already told you, I’m not the maid and I’m not staying in that dirty place,” I respond realizing that I lost my thread.
His jaw is now clenched and his hands are by his side in tight fists as I can feel either anger or frustration rolling off of him. Finally he spits out, “I thought you were happy when I showed up.”
“Yeah, I like you, I am happy when you show up. We’ve fallen into this really bad place, we’re parallel dating.”
He looks confused. “Parallel dating?”
“David, when we first started out we were playing games and
having sex all the time. Now we play the same games at the same time. We never do anything else, get together with anyone else, or talk about anything other than games. You spend the night, but we hardly ever have sex. We sleep in the same bed.”
“Did you think I could keep that schedule up?”
“You’re twenty-six years old.”
“I also work a fifty hour work week.”
“And stay up to all hours gaming.”
“I thought you liked the gaming.”
“I do like gaming. I also like sex, friendship, and communication. After four months we should be interacting more, not less. It’s like you found a girlfriend and had sex for awhile, and now you show up, but you’re really not here.
David glares at me, turns, and storms out of my room, then out of my apartment. I’m not sure if this is for good or for the night. I’m not even sure if I still want to go out with him, or if I want to break up. I only know that I want more than what we currently have. I sit down on my bed perplexed. This conversation certainly did not go well. I run it through my head as I contemplate how I could have handled it better.
He’s gone for about five minutes and I’m still staring at my bedroom door when Kristi stands in the doorway and says, “Hita, do you want to talk?”
I feel numb as I say, “Talk about what?”
She folds her arms over her chest and in a soft voice says, “Talk about what I overheard?”
“I don’t know what to say. Could I have handled the situation better? Did I say something wrong? Did we break up, or does he need some space?”
“Which do you want?” she questions.
I shake my head as I contemplate that question. “Either to break up, or for him to have some space to get in touch with his emotions and come back more engaged.”
Kristi snorts. “Guys don’t take off to get in touch with their emotions. Guys take off to get away from a woman who’s making them feel emotions. He’s headed home to play some shoot it up game. The last thing he’ll do is have a conversation with his roommate or call his mom and ask her to explain what happened.”
I now snort. “Yeah, you’re right, I can’t see David talking about emotions with anyone.”