Afterglow ❃ l.m.j

• chapter twenty four •

(December 12, 2021, 3:58 AM)

Hey, I seemed to have missed you. I hope you got home okay. I don't know what was wrong but I'm here. You know, if you feel comfortable talking to me about it. Um, I'm closing up shop here so I'll be home soon. Just wanted to give you a call since I never heard from you. I won't be here tomorrow because I have some family stuff to attend to but you can always shoot me a text. Be safe tomorrow, try not to be too in your head.

I pulled the phone away from my ears with a big goofy grin on my face. Was it foolish that I listened to the voicemail like three times since I woke up? I don't know. Her voice was so smooth, like water easing out of a well. I almost swooned again right there just thinking about it.

I shot her a text. Nothing crazy, just a simple 'hey'. I went to put my phone down when it buzzed. A response.

Call me.

I looked at my glass of orange juice with a small smile. After a moment of clearing my throat like a billion times and practicing what tone I wanted to answer the phone in, I pressed call.

Normani picked up on the first ring. I could hear her blinker in the background.

"I'm sorry, I'm driving. Can you hear me?"

I placed my glass down on the table.

"Yeah, I can hear you."

I could imagine her bobbing her head.

"Okay, good. I'm guessing you got home okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I turned my phone off as soon as I got home, I needed some space."

"That's okay..." She paused. "You don't need to apologize for taking space for yourself. Did you want to talk about what happened?"

I shrugged, pulling one of the pillows on the couch closer to me. "The same situation. The person who keyed my car tried to out me in front of everyone last night."

"I'm sorry? Tried to?"

"She didn't say it so loud. I think only a few people heard her. I didn't confirm or deny anything."

Normani became quiet. When she spoke again, there was conviction in her voice.

"There isn't an HR you can report her to?"

I snorted. "Yeah. Ally."

The brunette's disagreement was clear. "No. I love her, but you need someone higher than her, because this cannot keep happening. Does anyone not understand how dangerous this could be for you?"

Now it was my turn to get quiet.

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to lecture you. It's just that I can only imagine how frustrated you are. And I don't like that this keeps happening, it honestly should've never even hit this point! I'm sorry you have to go through this. You don't deserve any of it. And someone needs to fire her."

"No, I know... But whether she quits or doesn't quit, there will still be people like her. I can deal with clientele. But when it's someone who has changed with me, seen me bruised up from practicing on the pole, and seen me on low nights when I barely brought anything in, that's a different kind of vulnerability. And I just don't want to work somewhere where I have to have my guard up all the time."