by S. J. Smith
“I understand.” I really didn’t know what to say. Numbness was settling in to buffer the blow of being let go. I really didn’t see it coming. “Am I the first?” I asked him abruptly and he paused as he was about to say something else.
“Ah, yes, you are. By the end of today I’m going to have to let everyone go from the morning rotation…” he said and I sighed. I would have to start looking for another job, I would have to start really budgeting until I got one, and I would have to find one fast so I wouldn’t fall behind on any bills …now? Now what?
“I’m really sorry to have to do this to you Emily, but the guys up top have their books you know?” Charles said and I nodded.
“No, yeah, I get it…ah…I’ll just fire up my resume and stuff. I’ll be fine,” I said and wondered if that was really true.
“Of course you will, you know where to come for recommendations. We still love you here,” Charles said and I snorted.
“Sure, I just can’t work for you guys anymore,” I said, the comment slipped out, but thankfully Charles let it roll off his shoulders.
“Seriously, anywhere you send a resume out to, let me know and I’ll put in a call for you,” he said. I nodded and tried to smile.
“Okay…thank you. Um, I guess I’ll get going? It’s the end of my shift anyway,” I said and Charles nodded. He stood up and rounded his desk to give me the world’s most awkward hug.
“Keep in touch,” he said and I nodded and gave him a half smile before I left his office. I went over to my desk and started packing things up as if on autopilot. I had never been let go before. I had never been fired. I had never even been transferred elsewhere. Anything remotely relating to my career has always been successful. I really didn’t know how to handle such disappointment. I had to make a couple of trips to my car to get all of the stuff out of my desk. Once I was behind the wheel, I sighed deeply, patted the dashboard of my trusty Civic and started it up. At least I had my Honda, she’s been with me since college and never so much as popped a tire on me.
First thing’s first, I would go have a drink at two o’clock in the afternoon, then go home and fire up the old resume. It’s weird how quickly it feels like my life is empty when I no longer have to go to work the next day. As I was on the way to the bar down the street from my house, of course my mom called me.
“Emily, are you off from work yet? I was wondering if you’d like to come and have your nails done with me and your sister,” she said, as soon as I answered the phone. I stifled a sigh and pulled into the parking lot of the bar. I suddenly felt a little depressed as well as lost. I couldn’t become an alcoholic on top of not having a job, what was I doing?
“Actually Mom, I have some things to do at home, can I give you a raincheck?” I asked, as I pulled out of the parking lot and headed home.
“Alright…is everything okay? You sound strange,” she asked and I almost cried.
“I’m fine Mom, I’ll call you later, okay?” I said, and then hung up. The last thing I needed was her lecturing me about my being let go from the job. I definitely needed to find another one before she found out and before I potentially spiraled into depression.
*****
Adonis
“Blue thirty-two, blue thirty-two! Hut!” my eyes were on the ball being tossed back to me as the grunts and exhales of the players around me snapping into motion. I took two light steps back as the pocket formed around me and scanned to see which of my receivers were open. Just to my left, Rhodes was wide open and I shot him the ball just as one of the defenders broke through to sack me. I saw Rhodes catch the ball just as I was tackled to the ground. A flag was thrown and the whistle blew, stopping the play.
“What was that Emory! What was that! Goodman didn’t even have the ball in his hand, use your eyes!” The coach yelled at Emory and all the big defensive end could do was nod and say, ‘yes coach, okay coach.’
“Hey Adonis, that was a good pass, I would’ve been all the way in the end zone,” Rhodes said, as he jogged up to me. We were at a full team practice, playing a game of scrimmage before our next game come Sunday.
“It’s that fake that you do, you almost broke James’s ankles over there,” I laughed and James shook his head at us.
“Whatever, I’ll learn that move Rhodes, everybody has a little somethin’,” he said, and did a silly dance with his legs.
“Yeah, it looks like you have noodle legs,” I joked, and both Rhodes and James laughed.
“Alright guys, let’s run one more trick play, and then we can all go home,” coach said and the guys got back into gear. The ball was snapped and I fell into my zone and threw a perfect pass down the field which was caught for a touchdown.
“Perfect! That’s what I want to see on Sunday! Now rest up, keep your muscles loose, eat right and see you all on the weekend!” the coach called practice and we all headed towards the locker room.
“Hey guys, announcement; try not to get injured, because we are short on PT staff for the time being,” One of the team’s doctors stuck his head into the changing area to let us know and the news was taken with little enthusiasm. I was just about to walk over to the showers when my phone rang; it was my agent calling.
“Yo Adonis, where are you? You were supposed to be at a shoot like ten minutes ago,” Jerry’s voice was slightly stressed as it always was.
“Aw shit, I thought I told you I had practice that would clash with the time of the shoot,” I said.
“Just get here as fast as you can, the Ralph Lauren guys are willing to wait for you,” he said. I really didn’t feel like going to a photo shoot right after a hard practice.
“Alright, I’ll be there,” I said, after all I was under contract, so it wasn’t like I could just skip the shoot. I hung up the phone and went to take the world’s quickest shower. Sometimes I wondered why Jerry said I should take up modeling. I was a football player, not an actor or whatever. Why couldn’t he have me do pizza commercials or something?
“What are you trying to win an award for the world’s quickest shower and change?” Rhodes teased as he saw me pulling on my clothes and still dripping from the shower.
“Nah, I have to go and be at this photo shoot thing, Jerry is breathing down my ass,” I said and Rhodes chuckled.
“You’re such a pretty boy that’s why he’s capitalizing on your looks,” Rhodes said, and I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah well, I think I’ll have a talk with Jerry about that soon. I think my success with the team is enough to capitalize on,” I said, and Rhodes nodded.
“Yeah man, no one can throw the ball like you do. You’re the best quarterback in the league. Sometimes these managers are too much about the money you know?” he said, and I nodded.
“Too true. Well I’ll catch you this weekend then Rhodes,” I said, then told a few of the guy’s goodbye as I hurried from the locker room. Getting to the garage seemed to take forever as I was stopped by a few coaches and team officials to talk or go over some things about the upcoming game. I was really late by the time I got to my car and I wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Jerry in a bad mood. The guy was worse than an angry football player about to lose a game.
My phone rang just as I started up the car and I answered it. “Sorry Jerry I was held up at the stadium, I’m on my way now,” I said. I was getting annoyed at being rushed, Jerry knew I hated it.
“It’s alright, no pressure. I was just calling to make sure you were on your way at least,” he said.
“Yeah, I’m leaving the parking garage right now,” I said and pulled out of the parking space. I sped my way out of the garage, the loud engine of the Ferrari echoed against the concrete ceiling and floor.
“All right. I wanted to talk about another shoot with you. We have a potential deal with a designer label that starts with an A and ends with an I…” Jerry said, and I rolled my eyes. I was just pulling out of the garage, when this little blue Honda Civic appeared out of nowhere in front of me. It was turning right and
I barely had time to press on the brakes before I rammed right into the side of the car. My entire body seemed to jolt forward and the airbag hit me in the chest harder than a defensive end. All the air left my lungs and I struggled to breathe for a few agonizing seconds. My eyes lifted to the shattered windshield and the distinctive scent of gas filled my nostrils. The blue civic was smashed against a solid concrete post of the parking garage and I could tell that the woman inside was dazed and trapped. I saw sparks fly underneath her car and adrenaline surged through me as I unbuckled my seatbelt and forced my way out of the car.
I needed to get that woman out of there.
*****
Emily
My vision blurred, the world around me kept tilting around and no matter how I moved my head I couldn’t get anything to stay upright. I smelled metal and gas…and there was a lot of noise in the background, I was pretty sure there was yelling and…banging? Suddenly I heard the crash of my window being broken and then the click of the door opening. A pair of huge tanned arms came around me, the seatbelt snapped from around my body, and I was pulled from the car. It felt like I was being bounced around as whoever carried me ran away from the car.
“Are you alright?” the male voice asked me and I looked up into the beautiful blue eyes of Adonis Goodman. If I wasn’t in shock before, I definitely was in that moment. He really was that gorgeous…I’ve seen pictures, but…I wasn’t prepared to be held in the arms of Adonis Goodman. “Hey, can you please say something?” he asked and my eyebrows furrowed as I felt a drop of something touch the bridge of my nose. “Shit, you hit your head,” he said and then I started to hear the faint sound of sirens.
Everything was coming to me slowly and it felt like I was on a tilt-a-whirl. I looked over at my car and saw the back of it…on fire.
“My car is on fire…” I said faintly and Adonis nodded his head. I stared at his face, he was classically handsome, but with an edge. He had a diamond-shaped face with angular features, a cut jaw and perfect, slightly cleft, chin. His hair was cut short in the back, but fell into his face in the front. His aqua blue eyes were framed by thick lashes and he had perfectly plump pink lips.
“You really are…pretty…” I said and he looked down at me with concern.
“What’s your name?” he asked me and I glanced back at my car.
“It’s Emily…that’s the only car I had…” I said faintly and the sound of sirens only got louder.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you. I’m so sorry,” he said and then backed away from the burning car even further, as the heat of it had reached us nearly across the street. “I swear I’ll take care of everything Emily, I’m so, so sorry,” he said and I glanced at him once more as the fire truck and ambulances and police cars got to the scene. One would think there was a five car pileup with the cavalry that came. I giggled then, the New England Cavalry, that’s the team Adonis played for. I had been at the stadium interviewing for one of the open Physical Therapy positions.
“This was all I needed,” I sighed and Adonis’s expression only got worse, he was really beating himself up.
“I promise I’ll buy a replacement car for you, you don’t even have to worry about EMT bills. I’ll take care of everything,” he said as the paramedics unloaded from the trucks and came over to us.
“Sir we’ve got it from here. You can set her down now,” one of the paramedics said. Adonis glanced up at him and then down at me.
“Thanks for pulling me out of the car,” I said and Adonis nodded. He gently sat me down on one of the gurneys and a paramedic started shining a lights in my eyes and asking me questions. He poked and prodded. My head was pounding. What a way to add to the world’s most horrible week.
“I will take care of everything Emily, I promise,” Adonis called over from the other gurney, the paramedics were checking him for a concussion as well.
“Ma’am, can you tell me what happened?” my attention was redirected to the police officer standing in front of me. One of the paramedics was doing something on my scalp, near my forehead and I winced, as it burned and throbbed.
“Um…I was…I was leaving the parking garage when Adonis just came out of nowhere and hit me,” I said, because that’s all I knew. One second no one was behind me and then the next, my car was spinning and hit the corner of the parking garage. “He pulled me out of the car just before it caught fire,” I said and glanced over at my car getting drenched in water from the fire truck.
“If it’s revealed that Goodman was driving recklessly would you like to press charges ma’am?” the officer asked and I glanced over at Adonis who was talking to an officer. He glanced over at me with his bright blue eyes and I still saw remorse and regret there.
“It’s…It’s alright,” I said and the officer leveled a serious gaze on me.
“You don’t have to refrain from pressing charges just because he’s famous. It’s your car he totaled and your life that’s being disrupted ma’am,” the officer said and I sighed softly.
“I know…can I think about it?” I asked and the officer nodded with a small sigh.
“You can, but I advise you not to wait too long ma’am, I’ll give you my card in case you change your mind,” he said and then Adonis came into view.
“I’m sorry, but we have to take her in to the hospital. It’s very likely that she has a concussion,” one of the paramedics working on me said.
“Which hospital are you taking her to?” Adonis asked.
“West Presbyterian,” he said and Adonis nodded.
“I’ll be there and we can talk about this, okay Emily? It’s like I said, I’ll take care of everything,” Adonis said and the officer rolled his eyes and handed me his card. I took it and the paramedics strapped me in and loaded the gurney into the ambulance. The good news was that the world stopped spinning.
*****
Adonis
The paramedics were patient but after a few minutes of ready to go they told the police to follow to the hospital. They couldn’t stay here. Just before leaving the police officer told me that it was up to her to press charges for damages. After that it was simply a matter of cleaning up the scene. I felt horrible for totaling Emily’s car and endangering her life. All because I was in a big rush and being careless while driving. I ignored the crowd of people that had formed to watch the events unfold. I didn’t reply to their shouted questions. I would make sure Emily had absolutely nothing to worry about even if she did press charges or not.
“Adonis!” Jerry appeared out of nowhere. “Hey you have to make a statement to the press. The local news will be here any minute,” he told me. I nearly lunged off the gurney at him. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, emphatically ignoring him. “Guys, can you get me out of here.”
“Alright fine, go make sure she doesn’t sue you. Honestly Adonis, you couldn’t have just hit her bumper? You had to make her car catch fire and give her a concussion?” he asked.
“Look if it wasn’t for you stressing me out and packing my schedule with fucking photo shoots, none of this would have happened Jerry. Get off my ass,” I told him.
I got to the hospital around ten minutes after Emily. I thanked the paramedics for taking such good care of me. I hopped off the gurney and walked away from the nurse. I asked for Emily but they told me no one apart from family was allowed to see her yet. The orderly seated at the desk in front of the emergency room was giving me a hard time.
“Please, I’m taking care of her bills and everything, I just need to make sure she’s okay. Can’t you just cut me a break?” I asked and the woman, who must have been in her late fifties, tilted her head at me, her expression unwavering.
“If a family member says it’s okay, then you can go back, otherwise I can’t let you see her,” she said and I huffed and then walked away from the desk. Just then a doctor and a nurse came through the emergency room doors and I quickly slipped back into the emergency room while the hard-ass nurse was busy typing away on her computer. I had to
peek behind every drawn curtain to find Emily, she was lying on the bed with her eyes closed. She was still just as beautiful as before with her light chocolate-colored skin, unblemished, and her soft features. Her long straight black hair was fanned across her pillow and her full lips were slightly parted. Was she asleep?
“Emily?” I said in a low voice and her eyelids fluttered open, she had naturally long lashes and her eyes were a caramel hazel color.
“…Adonis?” she whispered and I smiled sheepishly.
“How are you feeling?” I asked her and she sat up slowly, winced and touched her head, just past her hairline. I could see stitches there.
“How did you get back here?” she asked me in a whisper and I shrugged.
“I snuck past the orderly up front. She was a real hard ass,” I said and Emily smiled slightly. “How do you feel?” I asked her again and she shrugged delicately.
“My head is pounding and I’m battling nausea, but other than that…I guess I’m okay,” she said and I wanted to kick myself.
“Please let me make it up to you? I’ll take care of everything like I said. I’ll even buy you a replacement for your car, brand new,” I said and she waved her hand at me.
“It’s alright Adonis…let the insurance company handle it,” she said and I shook my head.
“No, they’ll only pay for half of anything, at best. I landed you in a hospital bed, at least let me cover your medical bills and set you up with a car service until we get your car situation figured out,” I said and she sighed.
“Okay, fine…sure. You can leave me your cell number and stuff, my phone was…in the car,” she said and I quickly jotted down my information for her.
“Can you maybe give me your number at least?” I asked her and she rattled off her cell phone and landline number.
“So my mother is on the way here, along with my sister…I don’t think you want to stick around to meet them right now,” she said softly and I wondered if she was speaking softly because of a headache, or if she wasn’t all that upset with me.