The Ways in Which I Die (COMPLETED)

CHAPTER 4: "DID THEY WIN?"

SUMMER

“You look annoyed,” Hope comments as Summer slips into the apartment and sets her keys on the counter. 

“Little bit,” she replies trying not to sound too annoyed.

“Customers?”

“Just the one,” she says and falls onto the couch, letting out a heavy sigh.

“Uh-oh, what happened?” Hope asks sounding concerned.

“I’m not even sure,” Summer says and sits up in frustration. “Anthony came back and we were talking and suddenly he just- just left .”

“Oh,” Hope says seating herself down in the closest chair. “And you don’t know why?”

“I mean we were talking about work and stuff and he brought up how much some  of the women at his get treated like crap, harassment type stuff.” 

Hope’s face darkens as Summer says this. “What did he say about it?”

“Just that they pay off a lot of people so they won’t press charges or sue.”

“What else? Why’d he duck and run.”

“I asked him how he can work at a place like that with a clear conscience,” Summer says slowly. “Then he said something cryptic about how he’s paying for it, and then he left. Barely even said goodbye.”

Hope’s face deeps into a dark scowl. “Sounds like he didn’t have an answer to your question so he dodged it.”

“Yeah,” she says with a melancholy sigh. “I don’t even know why I’m so disappointed, you know? I barely know him and it’s not like he’s done some horrible thing. Just like slightly unfavorable, and it’s not like he’s the one harassing people.”

“He’s still sitting back and not doing anything,” Hope says coldly.

“Plus, he probably doesn’t want to go against his dad-”

“It’s his dad’s firm?” Hope says with an even more angry edge to his voice. “That puts him in a clear position of power where he could do something.”

Summer nods slowly.

“Forget everything I said about hooking him,” she says bitterly and stands up. “He’s no good.”

Summer leans back against the couch and watches Hope leave for her room. She knows how touchy her roommate gets about workplace harassment cases as she had been a victim of that kind of situation. Hope has a special kind of hate for those who sit back and do nothing in those kinds of situations. Summer knows she’s probably right about the odd customer, but part of her doesn’t want to let go of the image of the nice man helping her pick broken pots. She doesn’t want to let go of that tiny moment where they had looked into each other's eyes, but he’s sitting back while the company he works for pays people to keep their pain silent. He brings money into the company. He’s a brick in the wall of an evil corporation, supporting it. It’d be different if he didn't know what was happening regularly, but he knows and does nothing, or at least not that he’s said. Maybe she’s being too quick to judge him.

 ~~~~

ANTHONY

“What the hell were you thinking quitting?” Sunset fumes as soon as she’s through the door of the apartment. “Are you crazy?”

Anthony looks up from his book on astrophysics. “Oh, so you heard about that?”

“Yes, I heard about it! That’s all I heard about!” she shouts waving her arms in the air. “You need to call your dad right now and fix this.”