The morning show - how much longer

Two sides

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" I snapped at Cory.
"I know what happened between the two of you, the press would love this story." Cory replied.
He got closer and whispered something in my ear. "Watching a beloved woman's breakdown is timeless American entertainment."
I was getting upset with him and acted on my impulse. I hit him right in the face. Cory touched his face with his hand. I saw a look in his eyes I've never seen before. Cory was already mad at me, but now he was furious.
"I wanted to do that for a really long time, and you know what. It felt good!" I snapped at him.
Cory wanted to say something, but he didn't. Instead he made a fist and hit me right on the side of my forehead. I felt his ring cut my skin open. I felt a little drop of blood run down the side of my face.
"Doesn't feel so good does it?!" Cory replied.
I took a deep breath, I could feel my head pounding.
"I hope this proofs to you that I'm not bluffing. If you don't go public yourself, then I will. The story will be out on Monday. So good luck with that Alex!" Cory snapped and with that I left the office.
Damn it! I never should've come up here. I slammed the door shut and made my way out.
"Uh Alex! Can I talk to you for a second?" A man said.
I turned around to see Daniël, he must have been waiting for me. "Yeah sure." I replied.
I walked over to him.
"What happened to your face?" He asked confused.
"It's nothing." I said.
Daniël cleared his throat. "I was there to talk about being the new co-anker, you know I won't let this opportunity go by again. This is all I ever wanted, I'm just so sorry it had to be you."
I took a deep breath, I already knew what was going on. I really want things to work out for Daniël. He's a good journalist, and a good human! I just don't want to be the one that's getting replaced.
"Good for you, really." I replied with a smile before leaving, and I actually ment it.
I wanted to go over to Jason's apartment, so I called him to see if he was home. When I grabbed my phone I saw Mitch had been trying to call me multiple times. I was not interested in talking to him, so I ignored it.
"Hey. Jason are you at home?" I asked.
"I am, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to come over." Jason replied.
"Because?" I asked.
"Because Lizzy is here, and she is still really upset with you. I tried to reason with her, you know telling her that the divorce was of and that we would give it another shot. She just got mad at me, for not divorcing you. Telling me that we would be your cheerleaders for ever." Jason explained.
I took a deep breath. "I get it, it's fine. Just take care of her okay."
"I will, I love you bye." Jason added.
"Love you." I said before hanging up.
A part of me was wondering if things would get better between me and Lizzy. Our relation had been tense for quite some time now. I probably have to fix everything else first before I can fix our relation.

When I got home I went into the bathroom to get something against my headache. I looked at myself, I didn't like the person I saw. I haven't for yours. I put my hair up and cleaned the cut. It was quite noticeable, so I pulled out some hair on the front to cover it up. After that I grabbed my laptop and a notebook. I had until Sunday night to write and publish my story, cause no fucking way I was going to let Cory publish it! I was working on the story for the rest of the evening, until I fell asleep.

I woke up with a start in the middle of the night. I had a horrible dream, I published my truth and.. everybody hated me, more than they already did, they blamed me! I got really upset, and didn't want to publish the story anymore. It made me anxious. I laid back down, staring at the sealing. I tried my best to fall asleep again, but my mind drove me insane. After a while I decided to give up and got out of bed.
I grabbed my phone, Mitch had been trying to call me multiple times. What does he want?! I was tired and couldn't thinks straight, so I called him back, in the middle of the night.
"Alex?" Mitch said with a sleepy voice.
"Uh.. yes, why have you been calling me over and over again?" I asked.
"You sound upset, what's going on?" Mitch replied.
After working together for 15 years, he knew me better than I knew myself.
"I'm fine, why have you been calling me." I said.
"I really want to talk with you, Jason came to my house the other day and he got really angry with me. I'm so so sorry for what I did to you." Mitch explained.
"Wait what? Jason came to your house?" I asked.
"Yes, and he just started yelling at me. Anyway I was hoping we could talk." Mitch added.
"Uh.. I don't think that's a good idea." I said a little hesitant.
"I'm coming over." Mitch replied. "Mitch it's the middle of the night." I added.
"You're awake, I'm awake. We both have fucked up sleeping schedules, so why the hell not. I just really need to talk to you." Mitch explained.
I told Mitch he could come over. While I was waiting for him to get here I put on some clothes and grabbed something to eat.
The doorbell rang and I let Mitch inside.
"It's been a while since I've been here." Mitch said.
I nodded and went back to the kitchen. Mitch sat down on on a barstool. I remained standing on the other side of the counter.
"I know I can't make up for what I did to you, I just want you to know that I feel horrible for what I did to you. I was really drunk that night." Mitch explained.
I really didn't know what to tell him. I really wanted to make things right between us, however I don't think that can happen like this. Mitch thinks everything will go back to normal, and that he is innocent. I'm not even sure if he realized what he did to me that night.
"Listen, If you are here for my forgiveness then," I replied. "It's not happening."
Mitch looked a little surprised. "I just wanted to talk with you."
"So, what happened to your face?" Mitch asked.
I tried to cover it up a little with my hair.
"It's nothing." I said quickly.
Mitch leaned over the counter and moved the hair out of my face. "It's a pretty deep cut."
"I got into a fight with Cory." I said.
"You won right." Mitch said with a smile.
"It's not funny. Cory is going to publish my story on Monday, if I don't do it myself. I don't want it to come out, I don't know what to do." I explained.
"I can't believe he did this to you!" Mitch said.
Why does Mitch sound like he had something to do with this?
"Did you tell him?" I asked.
"I did not! Chip did." Mitch replied. "Why the hell would he do that?" I snapped.
"Well, Chip and I needed a place for our documentary to air. What better please than our own network." Mitch said.
"My network." I interrupted.
"What I was saying, we went to Cory for airtime. He wanted to know exactly what this documentary was about. All of the sudden Chip told this story too Cory. When I asked him what this was all about later he said he hoped Cory would help him convince me or something." Mitch added.
"Why the hell didn't you stop Chip?" I said.
"I didn't know what he was going to say, by the time I realized he was talking about us it was already too late." Mitch answered.
I started to get angry with him. I stated to walk around a little to calm myself down.
"I know why you didn't stop Chip, you thought he was making the story up." I snapped.
Mitch shook his head.
"Listen Mitch, I'm tired of you pretending to be a victim. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If you can't realize that, then leave me the fuck alone!" I added.
"I know I made a few mistakes," Mitch said.
"A few? For the last few years you have only been making mistakes. You can't go walking around to ask for people's forgiveness. It doesn't work that way. If you want to make things right, you have to take responsibility for what you have done." I said.
"What the hell do you want me to do Alex? You want me to treat you like a victim? Do you want me to feel sorry for you?" Mitch snapped.
I just shook my head at him.
"Mitch it's complicated. When I look at you I see two sides. One is my best friend, a part of my family. The other part I want to forget, but I can't. It wasn't my fault things ended between you and Mia. Why the hell did you have to take it out on me" I said with a shaking voice. "I want things to go back to normal, but they won't. I wish we could be friends again, but I don't think we can."