A Charitable Scandal

The New Rumor

Eventually we split off. Emily did have a date to get ready for and I felt awful for dampening her mood before her special night. I made some attempts at an apology, but she shooed them away and looked giddy with nervous excitement once she got off at her stop on the subway. As for me, I spent the weekend mulling over what to do and how to do it. This often gave way to creative breaks that spanned several hours and involved me starting my next guilty pleasure, Complacent Househusbands, since I had finally finished watching Beige's Taxonomy. In the end, the only things I accomplished that weekend was making an ass out of myself and buying a dress.

On Monday morning I arrived to find a very strange atmosphere at work. Everyone looked ready to spring and run at the first sign of trouble, but no one seemed capable of finding work to busy their hands. Employees bounced from one cubicle or office to the next — poking around, asking what needed to be done, what they should be working on — but only shrugs and head shakes awaited them. Some tentatively pulled up windows on their computer for projects they were working on before the big announcement, their hand quick to close them should a senior staffer happen to stroll by.

The only ones not looking lost and haggard was my own crew. We still had one last big assignment before the gala and everyone was manning their stations. I still wasn't sure how ready I was to take on a role in this charade, but I started by heading towards my office. That much I could do. At least, I could have done it had Theo and Ryan not intercepted me on the way there.

"You're alive!" cried Theo. "All I remember from Friday night was the Tequila shots. The rest I've had to rely on the others to fill me in and Cynthia said that for all she knew you'd been left out to die in a gutter Friday night."

"I told you she was fine," said Ryan with a roll of his eyes. "Cynthia is just a far better story teller than I am. No one has listened to me at all."

"Well, now that you mention it, I do recall you saying something about handing her drunk self to Mr. Radcliffe," said Theo, who I'm sure heard I was safe and sound from Emily during their date and was just taking the time to mess with me and potentially drag out more information that Emily would have been far less willing to share. "Perhaps I just didn't want to believe that you'd leave a damsel in distress with another man. My imagination can be terrible and I just couldn't think..."

"I'm not a damsel in distress, let's make that clear first," I said, wagging my finger at Theo, who wore a mischievous smirk on his youthful face. "Second, Alec didn't lay a hand on me, other than to maybe hold my hair back while I puked my guts out."

"What am I being accused of?"

Theo went rigid as he pretended to be interested in a spot in the ceiling tile. Then, Alec stepped out from behind Theo with a mug of tea in his hand.

"Theo feared you had ravished me this weekend," I replied, enjoying the sweat beading along the youthful social media specialist's hairline.

"Ow, tossed so easily beneath the bus," Theo groaned. "I thought there might have been some hesitation."

"Awfully brash words for someone who has his first review coming up." I could see the playful smirk hiding behind the mug as Alec took a sip, but Theo failed to notice and his skin turned a new shade of red.

"I was...just concerned about Lex because Cynthia has been talking and you know she's a real gossip."

"That she is," said Alec with a slow smugness.

"And I just..."

"Wanted to get a better scoop than she had. Well, I can promise you that I was a gentleman the whole time. However, I would appreciate it if you could resist the urge to joke otherwise and especially not to spread rumors. I don't need my supervisors thinking I'm harassing my subordinates or even letting them stay at my apartment for that matter."

"Right," said Theo, perking up and seeing an opportunity to please his boss. "I'll just reiterate that Lex passed out in a dumpster and only escaped with her life when she nearly got poured into a trash truck."

"There, let's go with that," said Alec with a raise of his mug.

"Hey," I snapped, but everyone, including Ryan, laughed at this harrowing tale that Theo was slowly elaborating on. Even I started to add to the story of heroism and a smile crept to my face. I'd never seen Alec so openly jovial before and it warmed my heart to see his natural self in front of others. I thought maybe I'd be jealous to share the relaxed, playful Alec with them, but instead I just felt happy for him. Happy that maybe his talk with me about his past, his family, and his aspirations, allowed him to let others see just a little bit of himself.

"Well, I should get going," he said, looking up at the clock on the wall. "Don't hold Lex up for too long. She has a big day today."

He left without further word and I decided it was best I did the same. We parted ways and I headed to the office to find Emily busy with work. She apparently had better luck than the rest of her team at finding tasks to work on for the gala. So I decided to forgo the traditional salutations and chose to just sit down at my desk instead of disrupting her.

"Well, good morning to you too," she said, spinning around in her chair as I leaned back in my own.

"Sorry, I just..."

"I appreciate it, but I need a break. I've been at this since five in the morning. I think I might be going cross-eyed."

I turned to actually face her and I could see the dark purple that pillowed her eyes.

"I'm sure there's plenty of people on your team that could help you, why not..."

"I need to do this on my own. It would be too difficult to have other hands in the pot. I've got all this steam built up anyway, it would just be inefficient to hand it over at this point."

"Is this still about trying to prove to Alec that you deserved a leadership position?"

"I don't know," said Emily with a shrug. "Maybe. I'm just trying to focus right now. If I stop, then I start thinking and if I start thinking, I remember what all this really is. I just want to pretend the truth doesn't exist. I just want our team to shine on Friday, when everyone enjoys the fruits of our labor and has a magical night. I don't want to care about the rest."

I too had found my brain conveniently trying to block the nagging voice of my conscience with a load of work and responsibility. However, I hadn't let my morals be silenced, even if I was finding it in my heart to forgive Alec as just another casualty to the darkness that was Quinto.

"What are you going to do?" Emily asked with a seriousness to her voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Today's the big dinner. Your last contribution to this mess. Now that you know the truth, are you going to do something about it? You didn't exactly sound certain of what you wanted on Saturday."

"I'm still...working it out."

"Just tread carefully. Men like Quinto have far better ways of hurting you than just unemployment."

I didn't answer. I just gave her the best smile I could manage and then a nod. The fact was I didn't much care what Quinto, Tamara, or anyone on the top floor may have had up their sleeves. I'd rather be a martyr than a complacent. I still wasn't certain how I'd go about my righteous battle, but I did know that I wasn't going to bold-face lie to someone. If anyone asked a question about the charity, then I'd be honest with what I knew. No half-truths either.

I knew that would take some preparing. I'd need to know how to properly navigate around Tamara in order to be honest and unhindered. So I turned back to my desk and buried myself in my work. However, I felt Emily's eyes staring into my back. They didn't linger there long though. Eventually she rose up from her seat and took a walk so that I was left alone with my schemes.

***

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