Broken Things

Chapter 27

SPOV:

The days were long and the nights seemed longer. Every day grew heavy on my shoulders. I found myself resisting the urge to call Harry, even after I had received tickets in the mail that he had sent me. I had forgotten about the show and now it was only weeks away. He included a note that simply read 'Please come'. I have tossed the possibility around in my head but then stopped. I still felt hurt and the pressures of work weren't helping.

The Dylan piece had came and went. Gemma was super impressed with my work but I wasn't as excited as I should have been. Nothing felt right and not even the presence of a music great could change that.

I sat in front of Gemma's desk as she flipped through the prints.

"These are rad, Stevie. I can't believe-," but she stopped when she looked up at me. She put the prints down and crossed her arms on top of her desk.

"Alright, what's been going on? You've been walking around like a damn zombie for way too long. Who pissed in your coffee?"

I looked down at my hands and bit my lip as I thought about what I was going to say. I was surprised she didn't know yet but since the meeting, Will had been doing a good job of keeping Lex in check. I cleared my throat.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Did Harry call you?" I looked up. Her face gave no reaction to my question.

"I'm sorry, Gemma, but I need to know. Is he the reason why I got this job? Because if that's the case, then I don't want this position anymore and I-".

"Whoa," she said, holding up her hand and I shut my mouth.

"Yes, he did call but why does it matter? Do you honestly think I base my employment off of what people tell me?"

I lowered my eyes, "But Lex said-".

"So Lex told you this?" she laughed, "Lex is a bitch. She has already come in here complaining about getting the shaft on assignments but honestly, her work is shit compared to yours and if she can't compete, she's going to continue to get the shit jobs." 

She leaned back in her chair and smiled. I tried to return the smile but I was still unsure. When she saw that I wasn't convinced, she continued.

"Listen, doll, you and I both know that you kick ass around here and you are more than worthy for this position."

I nodded, "I just didn't want him to be the deciding factor. If that was the case, I wouldn't be able to work here knowing that I got played the sympathy card."

She laughed again, "Oh Stevie, this is Rolling Stone Magazine. People don't get to work here on sympathy. They work here because they're the best. They run on pure talent and don't let anyone tell you differently."

I smiled a little brighter, "Thanks, Gemma. You're the best."

"Of course I am. You don't have to tell me," she winked, "so you can stop looking like someone ran over your cat because it's really killing my vibe."

"I'm really sorry. I tried really hard not to bring it into work," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, um, it's nothing. It's just that Harry and I had a fight about all of this and I told him to leave. I had hoped that it wouldn't case me any problems at work but apparently...", I trailed off as I began to stand up from the chair.

"Well now I have to know. I'm all ears. Let it go, honey." I looked up at her and gave a small laugh. I sat back down and gave her the cliff notes on what had happened between Harry and I.