Half Hearted

Chapter Twenty Seven

| Teresa |

As much as I tried calling Peter for the next few days, he wasn't answering his phone. After a few more tries, I gave up when the weekend struck again.

I just didn't understand it. Had I done something wrong? Was I not doing my job properly? Were they too busy to pick up their phones?

Sighing, I stared at his name on my contacts until I backed out. Suddenly I considered calling Ash instead. No, you're still on awkward terms with him.

Even though the zipper thing happened a week ago, I still felt my knees going weak whenever I thought about it.

"Still not picking up?" Oria asked, taking a seat beside me. I nodded, pressing my lips into a tight line. "Don't beat yourself up about it. Maybe they're all on vacation and they wanted you to have a break too."

"No," I shook my head, remembering what Maudie said just before Ash told me to go home. "He was booked for the week with interviews. I just don't see why they're not giving me a reason as to why there are no publicity stunts for the week. I mean, it is my job, right? Don't I have a right to know?"

Giggling, she threw a pillow at my face. "You overthink everything."

"You underthink everything."

"Touché."

"Anyways, what's up with you and Steven?" I questioned, noticing that he wasn't around our apartment after the lectures.

"His dad signed him up for this everyday business thing," she rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I hate that his dad's so rich. It feels like I'll never have enough money in the world to buy his time."

"At least you'll be secured for your future," I shrugged, switching the channel as it transitioned to an advertisement.

"Whoa, slow down there Usain, neither of us are thinking that far ahead yet."

"Are you sure? I think Steven's already got your children's names planned."

We laughed it off as we continued to watch Gossip Girl. I didn't bother telling Oria about Ash.

A part of me still didn't feel comfortable talking to her about him - even though she did have a boyfriend.

While we watched Chuck and Blair deal with their conflicts, I got a phone call while things started getting heated. I sighed as I took the phone from the ottoman, but lightened up when I saw that it was a call from Peter.

Getting up from the couch, I headed to my room and shut the door to hear him better. "Peter, hi!"

"Hi Teresa," his voice sounded mellow. Was he sick? Did a family member pass away? "I'm afraid I've got some bad news."

"Well, I'm sure it's not too bad," I stated. "What is it?"

"We have to let you go from our crew," he hushed.

My heart sank to the ground.

I hadn't even been working for him for a month, and now I was fired? "What did I do?"

Peter sighed weakly, "no, you did nothing. It's just... We're low on budget right now and we had to let go of some of our employees."

I thought back to Ash's multiple interviews. "Allow me to defend myself, Peter, but Ash is doing perfectly fine in social status right now. He's at normal, if not better, business."

There was a pause before he spoke again. "Alright. Ash wanted me to get rid of you. Don't ask me why, that boy wouldn't tell me anything. Anyways, before I give you the chance to hate me, I've set you up on a job for someone else. It's in the same field - sorry about that, I only know people in the entertainment business - but you'll be doing the exact same thing you did with Ash, minus the publicity stunts. Look, I'm sorry it had to come down this way. If I knew it was going to end like this, I wouldn't have asked you to quit your job in the first place."

"It's fine. I'm fine," I sucked in a breath. "Thank you, though."

"You don't need to worry about Ash anymore, he's got himself on a tight leash. Anyways, I'll email you the details regarding your new boss. Again, I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong."

After he hung up, I went back to the living room and sulked.

Oria asked, and I told her about what Peter told me. She volunteered to kick Ash's ass for me.

Giggling, we finished the last pint of vanilla we had left in our freezer.

When it was already night time, I prepared myself to go to bed, and then checked my phone. There was one new email.

I guessed that it was Peter, and guessed right. He had emailed me the details of my new job.

In the first paragraph there was yet another apology, and some details on my last pay check. The next paragraph gave me my new boss' name, phone number, and address. It wasn't anyone I knew, so I tried searching their name up.

"Robert Stein," I whispered as I typed down the name in the search bar.

The result left me in a paralyzed state.

I couldn't help the squeal, not bothering to care about our neighbours. Oria came bursting through my door. "What happened?"

I looked at her, though tired, a huge smile on my face. "I'll be working for Grant Gustin!"