*hi all!*
*to the questions: karma realized in the last chapter that amy didn't even know who she was. in this world karma is a famous lawyer so it's kind of like, wtf for amy to not know anything about her, especially given the job she's being given. i just kinda wanted to introduce karma as this sort of unhappy person. there will definitely be more of that though! and it will come up again, that realization of karma's. as for liam's role? you'll have to wait and see!*
Chapter 3
Money on the Mind
Without doing a thing for Harvey, Amy received an enormous surprise check in her bank account the day after the pool meeting.
"What the hell is this Lauren?! I feel like I've sold my soul to the devil. I can't accept this!" Amy was just minding her own business and getting a twenty out to buy donuts at the cash-only place when her statement spewed out of the machine and slapped her in the face.
"None of this is my problem," Lauren said. Amy had burst through the door like she was Evel Knieval or somethin'.
Lauren tried to be calm. She was eating carrots and trying to exorcise while reading and, as usual, Amy was spoiling it all and making her me-time impossible.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with 100,000 dollars?!"
"You know, most people would be happy Amy. It's called a sign-on bonus. It's an incentive. Most people would say, 'Thank you Lauren, you've changed my life! I don't know how I'll ever repay you!' And then there's you..." Lauren said, looking her sister up and down with disgust and then blinking to push the point forward.
"No one would say that," Amy dead-panned.
Lauren hopped off of her elliptical and got closer to Amy.
"They want you, okay? They heard about that thing you did on that stupid ChickenDance harassment case you won and they wanted you to be theirs. It's simple. You're the goods in demand. There's nothing to be scared of."
"I dunno," Amy said.
"Amy, if this is about Ruiz, I swear," Lauren warned. "You've been scouted dumbass. It's not confusing!" Lauren couldn't take it.
"Hey!" Amy said. Lauren had run out of the room without finishing that potentially dicey convo. "Get back here!" Amy said, chasing her.
"Just because you were drunk on Christmas, that doesn't mean it was a good idea to have sex with her," Lauren cut. "And there are better places to work you know. I don't want to be taking care of you when you're 80. This is bullshit!"
"We weren't drunk," Amy said. "Plus, it had been building, it wasn't just some accident."
"Amy, if that were true, you'd be dating right now. Are you dating?" Amy kept flying back to the Reagan stuff and ignoring everything else.
"No," Amy said, feeling the burn of it since those thoughts were already in her head.
"So what does that say?" Lauren asked. They had one fling and she was sacrificing her success for that now.
"I dunno," Amy whined.
"She used you Amy. And there are other fish in the sea!" Lauren cheered. "I'm sure there are plenty of other girls- OR GUYS," Lauren pushed carefully. "Who'd be more than interested in dating you…" Nice wasn't her favorite thing to be to her sister but sometimes Amy was just so pitiful that even Lauren had to change for her.
"Yeah, like who?" Amy huffed. What Reagan did hadn't been a bad thing but it did fuck Amy up inside and change the way she felt about her life and their relationship.
"You're not going to find happiness by hiding in your room and watching Netflix," Lauren said, bracing Amy by her shoulders.
"Is that what this whole thing is about?" Amy asked worriedly.
"No," Lauren said, turning from her. "I got a bonus too," she confessed, knowing it would stop the convo and stop Amy's mind from churning.
"What?!" Amy was pissed. "I knew it!" She yelled.
"You didn't actually think I was just being nice, did you? I just wanted Shane to leave me alone." She lied. Lauren knew how against some of the cases Amy would be if she even knew about them. How long she would actually last was debatable. But with the money and the opportunity? Lauren just knew it would be good for Amy to work for Harvey, Ashcroft, and Booker and get a taste of both worlds at least for a little while.
Just like Lauren knew that Ruiz and Ward would probably take Amy back if she really left. Amy was working for next to nothing for them and she was really helping them to win too. For pro bono cases it was no big deal but Ruiz and Ward took more than 3 big money cases a year, middle-grade cases that yielded substantial return after success, and they only took cases they knew they could win so there was never any risk. They weren't out there gambling like Harvey, Ashcroft and Booker. They weren't rolling the dice and winning millions at the drop of each roll only to lose a few here and there cause of snake eyes. With those odds they could never really lose.
For Ruiz and Ward, paying Amy a little more would be fair, but they just didn't because Amy honestly never asked. In Lauren's mind Amy wasn't thinking about her future! And that was frustrating.
Sometimes Amy was blind to it all. From articles Lauren had read, Amy's random tidbits were usually game-changers for her firm. Ruiz and Ward were undervaluing her because they knew, or thought, that Amy didn't care about money. Farrah's station paid for Amy's college loans and Amy didn't even have debt. And despite everything else Amy really did love her mom and she could never see being far from her so living together with Lauren and Bruce just made a lot of sense. Money wasn't a thing for her. It never had been.
So why all of a sudden with this money talk and this crazy job? Amy wondered… Even her mom was telling her she should try working where Lauren works. It was like everyone was having discussions about her behind her back.
"Lauren…" Amy didn't like the idea of being someone's paid-for play-thing. Amy had choices. But she felt like people kept trying to take them from her.
"HE'S ANNOYING!" Lauren ran with her lie. She did get a bonus but that's definitely not why she caved.
"I don't like thinking they own me, Lauren."
"They don't," Lauren said. "You haven't signed anything. You're a free agent. This was all part of the plan."
"WHAT PLAN?!"
"Don't worry about it," Lauren said. "Anyway, I'm going for a run," Lauren said, cheating her way outside of the house. "Don't worry Amy, you can leave whenever you want."
"Yeah, but what about the money?" Amy yelled after her.
"It's yours," Lauren yelled back at her. "They're loaded," she ran backwards. "So am I!" she smiled to herself, turning around and running away.
Amy sat down on the steps leading into her house. She felt like a teenager again. Nothing ever seemed right somehow.
