Chapter 9

“Has anyone called yet?” Zac asked, worried.

“No, let me try again.” I said, grabbing my cell phone from my purse.

--

“Hello?”

“Liz? Oh my god, where are you?” I said, trying to catch my breath.

“Me and Marissa went to get groceries, why what’s wrong?”

“Why didn’t you answer when I called earlier?”

“I didn’t hear the phone, sorry.”

“Are you coming home right now?”

“Yeah, we’re in the car.”

“Okay, we have to talk when you get here.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, just come home.”

--

I hung up the phone, gave Zac another hug.

“They’re okay…”

“Cat…whose Michael?”

I shuttered when I heard his name.

“He’s my ex boyfriend.”

“Why is he calling you?”

“He won’t leave me alone; he’s trying to get back with me.”

“Just don’t answer the phone…”

“It’s a little more complicated than that…”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll explain everything when the girls get here.”

Zac nodded his head, and continued to hold me. I wasn’t sure, but he seems to like me a lot.

When Marissa and Liz got home, I explained everything. Zac seemed rather surprised when I told him I worked with Michael. I felt bad for not mentioning it before, but it ever came up in conversation. We never really talked about our past. The decision everyone came up with was for me to quit. I wish there was some other way, but I guess they’re right. I really like my job.

(The Next Day)

It was almost 9am, and I was on my way to work. Too bad this would be my last day. I walked into the building, and headed towards Trent’s mail box.

“Hello Catherine.” The secretary said as I walked by.

“Hi Trish,” I said glancing back. She was the nice secretary.

I walked down the hall where Michael and his friends were gathered. There was no way around them. I am sure he planned that.

“Hey Cat” he said, as I tried to walk through the crowd.

“Get out of my way.” I said, pushing my way through.

“What’s your hurry?” I heard one of them say.

I managed to get through and walked off as fast as I could. I turned the corner, where Nicole would usually greet me, but no one was there. That wasn’t a good sign. I scurried to Trent’s office, and right as I was about to open the door, it flew open and Trent and I crashed into each other.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, bending down to pick up his mail.

“It’s okay Cat,” he said smiling. You okay? You seem rather flushed.” He said, taking the mail out of my hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine, but I do need to talk to you; when you’re not busy of course.”

“Sure, just let me run to the copy room. I’ll be right back.”

I went into the office, and I stood there in shock. The room was a mess, papers scattered everywhere. Wow, I wonder what happened in here.

(In The Hall)

Trent headed towards the front desk to give Trish some information about someone who might be calling. On his way there, he saw Michael and other employees in the break room.

--

“Don’t get me wrong, Catherine’s hot. She’s just not the brightest bulb in the box, if you know what I’m saying.” Michael announced, as he sipped on some coffee. Then he continued with…

“I’m sure Trent only hired her to get in her pants.”

Right then, Trent walked into the break room. The room went silent.

“Michael, my office, five minutes. I expect everyone to be cleared out of here, and back to work.”

Everyone scattered as fast as they could. After talking to Trish, he headed back to his office. When he walked in, everything was stacked neatly in place.

“I hope you don’t mind, it was kind of messy in here.” I said, seeing the anger in his face.

He quickly calmed himself, and said “Thanks Cat, sometimes I get a little messy.”

I smiled, “No problem.”

“Would you mind stepping into your office, I need to have a serious talk with someone.” He said, heading towards his chair.

“On no problem,” I said, closing my office door as I walked in.

I wonder what happened, I thought to myself.

--

(Hanson House)

Zac was in the living room watching TV.

 “Where’s Taylor at?” Isaac asked, while heading to the kitchen.

“He’s in his room.”

“In his room? What’s he doing home on a Saturday?”

“I don’t know…that is weird.”

“You hanging out with Catherine tonight?”

“I don’t know yet, she’s going to call me after work.”

“What happened with her yesterday?”

“Oh it was nothing,” Zac said, turning off the TV.

“You went over there pretty fast for it to be nothing.”

“Just that guy that won’t leave her alone”

“The guy who’s been calling you”

“yeah”

“What is she going to do about it?”

“I’m pretty sure she’s quitting her job.”

“What’s that going to do; does he work there or something?”

“Yeah, it’s her ex boyfriend”

“…”

(McKee’s Industries)

I was on my computer when I heard someone come into Trent’s office. I listened to see if I recognized the voice. It sounded like Michael.

--

“Do u even know why you’re in here?”

“Me and the guys were just joking around dude, calm down.”

“Does this look like a joke to you? Is your job a joke to you?”

“What are you really upset about; me insulting Cat, or calling you out? I think you have the hots for her, and that’s why you’re mad.”

“Are you really that naive to think I would hire Catherine for her body?”

“Yes I do, though I can’t blame you for liking her.”

“First of all you asked me to hire her. You’ve slacked off ever since you got here. You don’t care about anything, I’m sorry Michael but I’ve had enough.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I expect you to have your stuff cleared out by the end of the day.”

“Dude what the hell, you can’t just fire me.”

“I just did. Leave, or I’ll have someone escort you out.”

“Man, fuck you and this job.” Michael said, as he slammed the office door.

--

I could not believe that just happened. I didn’t know what to say. I just sat in my office waiting for Trent to call me in. He knows I had to of heard their conversation. I waited for ten minutes, and still nothing. I could not stand it any longer. I opened the door slowly, and stuck my head out.

 “Can I come in?”

“Yeah” Trent said, as he continued flipping though documents.

I wasn’t sure if I should talk to him about it, or leave it alone. It turns out I was too curious to leave it alone.

“Trent, why did you do that?”

He stopped what he was doing, and looked up at me.

“Did you fire Michael because of me?”

“No. Michael doesn’t deserve this job.”

“but why the sudden realization?”

“He crossed the line. Words are words, but when you put my job in jeopardy, then it’s time to go.”

“What did he say?”

“He told my employees that the only reason I hired you was so I could…”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t believe you dated him.”

“That makes two of us.”

“Catherine…” I heard him say, as he let out a long sigh. “I’m so angry.”

“Trent, I dated the bastard for a year. He was probably fooling around the whole time we were dating, and you think you’re angry?”

“He’s been mooching off me since I was fifteen.”

“oh…you win.”

 “I didn’t even realize it until now; I didn’t care until I met you.”

“You saw it the whole time; it just didn’t bother you until it affected someone you cared about.”

“You’re a good girl; I can’t stand people trying to bring others down to their level. It drives me crazy.”

I chuckled at his use of words.
 

“Well you’re a good guy for caring so much.” I said, giving him a pat on the back.

“Well now that that’s over, how about you type me these papers?” Trent said, handing me all the documents. I laughed at took them into my office.

(4:00pm - Back At the House)

“He actually got fired?” Marissa said, a wide grin spreading across her face.

“Yeah, can you believe it? He tries to get me fired, and he gets fired in the process.”

“That is badass!” Liz said, laughing.

“Yeah, I just hope he doesn’t try anything stupid. If he comes over here, I am gonna….”

“Shit, let him come. I got this.” Marissa said, climbing to her feet.

“I don’t know…I have a weird feeling about this.”

“What do you mean?” Liz asked, concerned.

“Well, I feel like something bad is going to happen.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to you, we got your back. Not to mention, you got Zac watching over you.”

“That’s true…oh well; I guess we’ll just see how it goes.”

(Hanson House)

Zac headed towards the upstairs closet to grab a clean towel for the shower. As he passed Taylor’s room, he couldn’t help but listen.

“Baby, you know I wanna see you. No…it not….baby…it not like that. I have to work. We talked about this when we first started seeing each other, and you said you understood, you weren’t lying now were you? Yeah. Yeah, I’ll see you soon, uh huh bye.”

Zac grabbed a towel and shook his head as he walked down the stairs.

(Phone rings)

Zac picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Is Taylor there?”

“Yeah, hold on.”

“Taylor, phone!” Zac said loudly, waiting for him to pick up.”

“I got it!” he said, waiting for Zac to hang up.

Zac put the phone down, and headed back upstairs to hear some more.

“Is this supposed to make me upset? I don’t need you. Good. Go ahead.”

“What the hell is going on?” Zac wondered, still listening.

“Oh right, like you didn’t enjoy it. yeah okay sure sure.”

(Hangs up)

“Stupid bitch” Taylor muttered to himself.

 “That couldn’t have been the same girl.” Zac said, heading down the stairs again.

“He’s got some serious issues.”

--

“Hey Cat”

“Hey”

“What are you doing?”

“Oh nothing, just talking to the girls”

“How was work?”

“I have some good news, but how about I tell you over dinner?”

“Sounds good, want me to come now?”

“Yeah”

“Okay, let me clean up.”

“Okay, miss you.”

“Miss you too.”

Zac went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He took off his black shirt and jeans and threw them in the hamper behind him. He pulled down his boxer shorts and moved the shower curtain to turn on the water. When the water was nice and warm, he quickly stepped into the shower, closing the curtain behind him. Zac's thoughts were running wildly in his mind. For the first time in months he thought about his ex, Alexia. He remembered how she made him feel. He realized that when he was with her, he was never truly happy. Being around Catherine, he now understands how it feels to be happy...

……

(Catherine’s POV)

“Catherine, exactly how far have you and Zac gone?” Marissa asked anxiously awaiting a response.

“Why! You never want to know about that stuff.”

"Well I'm just curious."

"We haven't done anything."

"You slept over his house the other day, and you’re telling me nothing happened?"

"He he took me out and then we went back to his place. We stuck in a movie and fell asleep together."

"That's sweet."

"What happened with Taylor the other night?"

"He's a douche."

"What happened?"

"I went to the club to meet him there, and he was all up on these four other girls."

"Sometimes I wonder what that guy is thinking."

"but...there was this other guy there...he was kind of cute..." Marissa said, smiling.

"Did you talk to him?"

"Yeah..."

"Did you get his number?"

"Not exactly..."

"Does he have yours?"

"No..."

"...well what happened??"

"He says he always goes to this coffee shop in the mornings and said I should come by sometime.”

"Oh, that’s romantic”

“I thought so” Marissa said smiling.

*Phone Rings*

"Hold on..."

I got up from the couch and headed towards the phone in the kitchen.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it’s Taylor. Is Marissa there?"

"Uh yeah...hold on."

---

"Marissa, phone.”

"Who is it?"

"Taylor"

Marissa picked up the phone and sat on the stool in the kitchen.

---

"Hello?"

"Marissa, its Taylor."

"Oh, what do you want?"

"Just wanted to apologize for the other day..."

"We both said it was fine"

"Well I like you, and I was hoping we could try again."

"I don't think so."

"Oh well okay, if you change your mind..."

"Yeah, okay, bye."

---

"I can’t believe he just did that." Marissa said, aggravated.

"What he say?"

"He asked me out again."

"Wow..."

--