“I’m here.”
“Sorry about that. I went to ask AJ about the cameras and he started…”
“Damnit! You asked AJ?! Why did you ask him of all people?” I didn’t mean to blow up on her. It really wasn’t her fault considering she didn’t know any details of the situation. But the whole point of me having her find out was to avoid coming up on J&J’s radar.
“Who else would have that kind of information Ariel? Anyway, he said to tell whoever is asking there are no cameras.”
Of course he did.
Which could only mean the answer to my question was actually yes. Now I just had to act fast, as if everything was normal, so that I could get my hands on the footage.
“Okay thanks. I’ll be in soon.”
- & -
As I got closer and closer to the building, chills ran down my spine that had nothing to do with the changing temperatures in preparation for a NYC winter. I was afraid. Afraid that he may have moved a few steps faster than me. Afraid that he may be setting up for another attempt. Afraid that they would already have all the stuff from my office in a box waiting for me to pick up. I took a deep breath before I gave the double doors a tug, something that I had done just about every day since I started working here, but today it just felt so different for obvious reasons.
Once inside, I found Valerie at her normal spot at the front desk.
“Ariel, you finally made it. I was able to reschedule those couple of morning meetings you would’ve missed out on, but the ones for this afternoon, including the one in about ten minutes, are still a go. Are you sure you’re feeling okay? You look a little...not like you.”
“I’m good Val. But about that meeting in ten minutes…”
She was already firing off on her keyboard as she said, “Already on it. I could tell by the look on your face that you wouldn’t be up for it. No worries.”
“You’re a lifesaver.” I gave her a half-hearted smile and was turning to head to my office as I heard her say my name very faintly, making me turn my attention back to where she was sitting. “Yes Val?”
“You can help a lot of people with what you’re trying to do. Even me.” My face turned inquisitive as she continued on, “Don’t ask how I know. That’s not important. What’s important is that you do what a lot of us… never had the courage to do.” I wanted to question her, get more details of her situation, figure out why the hell she was still here. But instead I simply replied, “I’ll do my very best.”
She gave me a smile intended to make me feel better, but my nerves were already frazzled from simply being in the building. I was a few steps away from my office when a familiar voice called out to me from a few doors down.
“Ariel. Ariel, can you come here a minute?” My insides panicked. I knew if things were normal, there wouldn’t be a problem with me answering to AJ’s call so I tried to relax as I turned his way, taking carefully measured steps to his office. At least this time I was more prepared with my pepper spray locked and loaded, ready for use.
“You can shut the door behind you.”
“I’d rather not.”
“I suggest you do. This is kind of...private.” Usually when AJ said things like that, they took a tasteless tone. Today, his tone was a lot more serious which had me concerned but I closed the door anyway. Once it was confirmed as shut, AJ found his spot at the desk and I remained nailed to the floor by the door just in case I needed to make a quick escape.
“I understand your uneasiness but I promise you, you’re safe here.” I could hear the sincerity but I wasn’t falling for that shit. Nothing about being in his office made me feel safe, or comfortable, so there was no way I was letting my guard down.
“What do you want AJ?”
His usual confident demeanor seemed muted as he replied, “I umm...I pulled the tapes and I’m...I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
Wait what?
I knew he knew someone was curious about the tapes thanks to Valerie’s blabber mouth but for him to have pulled them and actually be apologizing? I didn’t know what to do, or say, so I did nothing.
“Johnson’s never been one to...I mean, usually I’m the one getting in trouble when it comes to the female kind and he takes the scolding role. But now that it’s him...I guess what I’m trying to say is, I wanna help you Ariel. Anyway I can, I want to help. All these years that bastard has gotten on my case about getting involved with our female employees like he was Mr. Perfect but now...it’s clear he’s not.” He pulled open a drawer and removed what I recognized as an old school video tape. “I don’t even know if he knew about the cameras in his office so he won’t be suspecting anyone to have this type of evidence.”
I walked over to the desk, slowly as I was still cautious about AJ’s motives. As he handed the tape over to me I couldn’t help but asking, “What’s the catch?”
“No catch Ariel. That shit is simply unacceptable and even though I know he probably won’t get the punishment he deserves, I suggest you milk that mothafucka for every penny he has. I mean, don’t leave him broke, we still have a company to run and quite frankly that’d be a hell of a lot of money that he would probably try to kill you over before agreeing to, but you take however much you need from him. You at least deserve that much.” Even though I knew I was gonna work towards getting Johnson at least a little jail time, I would definitely keep AJ’s suggestion in mind.
“Thank you AJ. I...really appreciate it.”
“No problem. And I’m sure you won’t wanna stick around after this whole fiasco but I’ll make sure you receive your normal salary until his check clears. Cause I can guarantee he will be writing a check. Oh, and if you need a letter of recommendation to find another job, I’ll be more than happy to write one for you.” My emotions were in shreds. I couldn’t believe that AJ was actually offering his support rather than his dick amongst other things that I had gotten use to.
“Why are you doing this AJ?”
“I guess I’m just trying to make up for all that slick shit I threw your way. You’re a smart girl Ariel. A talented girl. You’ll do well in this industry.”
I smiled at the compliment even if it was coming from greasy ass Aaron Jones.
“Thank you AJ.” There was a lingering silence before it was clear our little impromptu meeting was done. “I’m...gonna go get my things.”
“Fair enough. Good luck with everything Ariel. If I can help you in anyway, please don’t hesitate to call.”
“Thank you… again.” I was in better spirits as I headed back to my office, prepared to pack up and say goodbye to everything Jones & Johnson.
Now if I could only get those spirits to carry over to dealing with Jamison.
jamison.
My eyes had to be playing tricks on me.
I read the headline a few times over, making sure I wasn’t creating the content in my own head.
“CEO of Jones & Johnson accused of attempted sexual assault by employee.”
I hadn’t spoken to Ariel since I left her the note of our break-up but I was just sure she would have a mouthful to share about the news of her CEO actually getting caught up for something everyone in the industry already knew. I thought about calling her to ask about it but figured they were on lockdown as far as speaking to outsiders were concerned. And besides, she had no interest in talking to me for the last month, maybe more, so why would she wanna talk to me now?
Still, it was like no matter what I did, my thoughts continued to revert back to her. When Zalayah’s single shot to number one on the Billboard charts, she was the first person I wanted to call just so I could playfully rub it in her face. When I took a celebratory blowjob from Erin, I thought about how much better of a job Ariel would’ve done. And every Wednesday night, that I now spent alone, I thought about how if she would’ve been honest from the jump that I probably would’ve forgiven her by now. But since she wasn’t interested in fixing things, I couldn’t continue to wait for her.
I exited out
of the article and closed my laptop, preparing to head home for the day when there was a soft knock at the door.
“Jamison. Jamison, it’s me.”
Ariel?
I must’ve thought her up. My heart seemed to start a race of its own as I rose from the desk and headed to the door. When I opened it, I was pretty sure it was her. Okay, I was definitely sure it was her. But she just looked...different.
“Ariel. What are you doing here?”
“Can we...talk?” I was taken aback by the fact that she wouldn’t look me in the eye no matter how much I stared at her or how long I made her wait for an answer.
“Oh so now you wanna talk? You haven’t talked to me in how long and now you wanna talk?”
“I’m so sorry Jamison. I didn’t mean to… I just didn’t know how to…” And just like that, the water works were turned on. For as long as I had known Ariel, she was as tough as nails. But now she was actually crying which left me in an awkward place. Of course I got the urge to comfort her, hold her until her crying simmered down. Instead, I simply guided her into my office so that we could at least have full privacy once I shut the door.
As I was making my way back to the seat at my desk, the only place I knew I wouldn’t act on the urge to touch her, Ariel wiped her face with the back of her hand, smearing the few touches of makeup she was wearing.
“Do you umm...want a bottle of water or something?”
“A box of kleenex would be nice,” She pushed out with a little embarrassed laugh. I grabbed the one that usually just collected dust on the shelf behind my desk and handed it to her. While she cleaned herself up, I got to take a good look at her. For it to be a work day, she was very dressed down. Her hair wasn’t in any particular style. And even the makeup she was wearing did little to cover up the bags under her eyes.
So unlike her.
I could tell she was stalling for time, so I decided to get the conversation she apparently came to have started for her.
“So what brings you by? Tryna cop another idea or what?” My words must’ve finally struck the nerve I was going for as she peeked up with visible anger in her eyes before she looked back down at her lap.
“I came to apologize Jamison. I was wrong…so wrong to do that shit but I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I just...I made the wrong decision and I need you to know that I’m sorry for doing...what I did to you.” I didn’t wanna get all emotional but I felt it building up and boiling over before I could contain it.
“Ariel that shit was foul. Like I get doing what you gotta do for the work place but I...I guess I just thought I meant more to you.”
“You did. You...you do. But I know recovering from that is probably far off the radar now.”
“Now? Yeah, you’re right. Then? Not really. But you didn’t even try Ariel. That’s what hurts the most. Not the fact that you did what you did but the fact that you just left it at that and moved on with your life like this shit didn’t matter to you.”
“It mattered to me Jamison!” She took a heavy breath to calm herself down before she continued on, “It still…matters to me.” Her emotional reaction had my emotions in knots. Of course I wanted to take the easy way out and make good with her so we could get back to normal but I would’ve been crazy to volunteer myself for the role of Fool.
“Why now Ariel?” She thought long and hard on her answer making me question if I should believe her reasoning when it finally did come out.
“Because I really need a friend right now Jamison. I have a lot going on and I...I miss you. As a lover of course, but even more so as a friend.”
“So you try to fuck up my career and then you come in here asking for my friendship back? How does any of this make sense Ariel?”
“It doesn’t Jamison. None of it makes sense. But somehow it still brought me here.” I could respect her effort but it simply came a little too late.
“Look, I appreciate you coming by here. Apology accepted if that makes you feel better. But I don’t...think I need a friend like you.”
ariel.
“I’m so happy you’re here.”
Jasmine sat on the edge of my bed since I refused to come from under the covers other than to let her in. Dealing with the incident at my now former workplace was one thing; dealing with Jamison denying me his friendship was a whole different level of emotional onslaught.
“You knew I’d be on the first thing smoking once I heard the news. I may not be a lawyer quite yet but I know enough about this shit to know you have a strong case. I mean, there’s video evidence. Not even money can dispute that. Did you make a copy?”
“Umm...no. This isn’t exactly the type of footage I would want multiples of.”
Jaz rolled her eyes at my clear lack of knowledge on matters like this before she said, “Not like that girl. You need to have copies just in case J&J sends some people over here to ransack your shit looking for the tape.”
“Ransack?” My body instantly tensed up at the idea. I mean if they would come into my apartment looking for a tape, what would they do if I was actually here?
“These people can get crazy like that. And if you lose the tape, your chance of a payday goes down tremendously.”
“I don’t even want the money, ya know. I just want him to pay somehow for what he...tried to do.” It was still hard to think about, let alone talk about. But Valerie’s words about courage, a little before I quit my job at J&J, still rang in my head.
“How else do you pay if not with money Ariel?”
“I don’t know Jaz. I guess I just don’t want him to be able to do this to anyone else. I know for a fact I wasn’t the first, but it would be nice to know I was the last.”
“Unfortunately, when people are as powerful as he is, it’s extremely tough to completely pull off but I linked you up with one of the best in the city, expense-free thanks to my charm and good looks.” I knew exactly what she meant no matter how she tried to sugarcoat it.
“You mean your charm, good looks, and strong head game?”
“Okay, maybe that too. That part of it was way before he was a lawyer though and we were actually in a relationship at the time.” Jaz definitely wasn’t the relationship type. Relations? Absolutely. But some committed, boyfriend and girlfriend type stuff was nowhere near her speed.
“If you consider unlimited booty calls for a year a relationship then I suppose you’re right.”
“Anyway, since we’re on the topic of booty calls. Where is that fine ass Jamison? I’m surprised he hasn’t gone up in J&J knocking heads off.” I wished solving my problems was that easy but I was pretty sure that I would catch a lot more of Jamison’s wrath than J&J would. If not his wrath, then surely a fat ass I told you so.
“We umm...we broke up.”
“Broke up? Already? What the hell happened? That little fucker cheated on you didn’t he? I knew he was too smooth to be true.” Maybe if he had cheated on me, I would feel a little better about the whole thing. But knowing him, that was surely far from the case.
“No. He umm… he broke up with me.”
Jasmine’s face instantly turned to one of confusion when she said, “Well I know you didn’t cheat on him so now you really have to tell me what happened.”
I took a sigh, pulling the cover further up my body, “It’s complicated Jaz.”
“And you think I flew clear across the country for my best friend because anything was simple in this bitch? Spill the beans girl.” I had never been one to judge Jaz for her life choices and she had never really been in a position to judge mine. But with this, I definitely felt the pressure of the jury.
“Fine. Jamison broke up with me because I ...told my bosses about some stuff his record label was doing.”
“O...kay? What’s so wrong about that? It was bound to happen considering ya’ll work for competing labels.” Clearly, she hadn’t caught my drift.
“Well...I was assigned to find out information ahead of time so that J&J could capitalize on it befo
re Intergalactic made their move. Eventually, Jamison put two and two together and caught me in the act.”
I could tell when the light bulb clicked on for her and her evident disappointment made me feel even worse than I already did. “Ohhh, so he broke up with you because you fucked him over? That’s so unlike you though Ariel.”
“I know! But they were threatening to fire me if I didn’t do it so I didn’t really have a choice.”
“No, you did have a choice. Refuse to do it and if they don’t like that and fire you, well you find somewhere else to work. But you don’t let a good man with a good head on his shoulders, a good job and a good dick just get away like that.” Even though some of those factors were a lot more important than others, I knew exactly what Jaz meant. Like why had it been so easy for me to do the shit that was definitely against every ounce of morality I had? Work was surely not that damn important.
“I know girl. I was trippin’. But it’s too late now. I went to apologize and he gave me the politest fuck you. At least that’s how I interpreted it.”
“Oh Ariel. I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”
“I’ve cried more this past month than I have my whole life. It was that bad.” I couldn’t believe there was actually a fresh batch of tears cooking up as I spoke. Jasmine came closer to where I was on the bed to lay a comforting hand on my shoulder.
“You’ve been through a lot boo. It’s gonna be okay though. We’ll work through this case, work through your man drama, work to find you a new job and get you right back on track. Starting with this nappy ass hair of yours.”
jamison.
It was like déjà vu.
Dawson and I were at an event celebrating the release of Zalayah’s debut album and in the distance I could see Ariel and her friend Jasmine. They weren’t dancing on tables like the time before, but their beauty, Ariel’s in particular, definitely stood out from the crowd. It was good to see Ariel wearing a smile unlike the last time I saw her when she was leaving my office fighting back tears. I hated to see her that way, but it felt like the right thing to do at the time even though I still missed her like crazy to this day.
Getting The Edge Page 9