TO BE HONEST...

By: little-wolf246


Disclaimer: I do not own The Internship (2013) that's all 20th Century Fox's. This is nonprofit story for fan purposes only. I do not own any plot line or characters from the movie but I do however own all original characters.

Warnings: Stuart/OC - eventual smut (because I can and will) - drinking - stripclubs - or really anything you saw in the movie. Capiche?


CHAPTER SEVEN

Things were different now. Joelle wasn't exactly with Stuart but their relationship was anything but a friendship now. It defies everything Chetty said at the first seminar and defies everything she wanted when looking for a real job. But something about him just gave her a fire in her belly. Made her smile a little more and it was all because he wasn't Mason.

Stuart was everything she wanted Mason to be, she finally got it...hopefully.

Now wasn't the time because now they were back at Google, in a room with all interns only now with computers. The team was all around, Neha and Lyle flanking her, Yo-Yo giving her a good luck fist bump over Lyle's head. There was small talk here and there, Joelle pointedly ignoring Graham as his stared at her. God, that fucker made her want to vomit.

Everything went silent when Mr. Chetty walked in, head high and eyes narrowed, "Welcome to the Google Helpline, you will man the phones for exactly one hour. Before you begin make sure you press the blue button on your screen so it saves your logs. That way we can access your accounts and review your work later...the Helpline is open now."

Joelle couldn't help but smile, giddy to help people as she put on her headset and started to log.

"Google Helpline my name is Joelle, how can I help you?" Joelle asked, leg bouncing up and down under the table. The person on the other line who addressed himself as Wade said he couldn't update his Drive to the newest version. "Okay Wade, since you have the tab open why don't you go ahead and refresh- okay good. Now I want you to click the gear icon on the right side of your drive screen. Click on settings...you see it now? Alright Wade have a nice day, call back if you have any more issues."

Call after call with basic issues came up. Some people had more difficult issues with device sharing and whatnot but in the end Joelle helped them. It felt really good, being able to help people even though they might be across the country. This dragged on until Chetty stopped the calls, the room going silent. Neha glanced over at her mouthing a 'we so got this', which yeah, they did and the day Graham was out of her life would be the best one.

Following orders Joelle clicked the blue button, submitting the log along with everyone else.

"-is anyone else's grey?" Billy asked.

Joelle whipped around, eyes wide hearing that from her teammate. Her stomach plummeted, without Billy's log Graham's team just got two steps closer to winning. The other team members had the same look on their faces. Chetty walked over, face stern as usual.

"Did you not hear my opening remarks?" Chetty asked daunting closer, Billy rambling and sputtering out random excuses until he was cut off, "I made it very clear for you to log into your account so I could review your work later."

"The good news is you reviewed my work now, you don't need the instant replay because you saw the touchdown. Live. In person." Billy said.

Lyle's face fell, Joelle put a hand on his shoulder, a comforting gesture they both needed as Chetty still rode Billy's ass. "I don't really get that analogy but I know that attention to detail is at the top of importance here and my instructions were explicit. If there's no recording...it's as if you didn't even show up today."

Joelle felt walls crashing around her. This was her shot to give a better life for both herself and Scott, if she couldn't do that Scott was already Mason's again. To the right Stuart was flicking his glasses, fuming with anger, and he looked back at her giving her a sad look.

"Accept I did show up. I'm sitting right here Chetty." Billy pleaded.

The man leaned in, "Well according to your log, you're not. And since every intern must complete the challenge for your team to be scored your team will unfortunately receive a score of zero." Chetty congratulated Billy before walking away. Joelle went numb, she bet everything she had on this job, quit her shitty job at the local mini mart and gas station for this. Now she's going to lose everything.

Her eyes stung with tears and her throat burned but Joelle didn't let herself go yet. Not in front of people who would've been her new co-workers. It's unprofessional and even though she lost this race she'd go out with a bang. That was until Graham stood up with a smirk on his face and his stupid fucking fake accent.

"Oh Billy, Billy, Billy what have you done?" Graham asked, "It's you I feel bad for. It's really hard to get here, some of you probably pretty intelligent and deserve better. I'm sorry." Graham walked away with his team after that, but he looked at her the whole time he said that. God, he was so gross, Joelle felt like she needed to take a damn shower.

Grabbing her bag she slung it over her shoulder, the first of her team to get up. She had ten seconds from breaking down, Nick was the second one calling for her to come over but she bolted right into the girl's bathroom telling him she'd meet them at the office space. Joelle checked every stall, every corner before leaning over the counter letting tears fall to the marble.


She composed herself, letting her emotional episode live in the bathroom as she scaled the stairs up into the intern office area. Joelle was just at the glass doors before a hand grabbed her, pulling her back. A yelp escaped her lips followed by a whimper as she was slammed up against the wall.

Opening her eyes there was none other than Graham holding her down with a vice-like grip. His eyes were hard and unlike his usual creepy flirty ones.

"Scott." Graham said and Joelle froze, not trying to escape the hold he had on her, "Oh don't look so surprised, you should really private your Instagram and Facebook. But love I am truly sorry that old buffoon couldn't two and two together. You deserve so much more...but I can't give that to you."

Joelle rolled her eyes, "I never wanted it from you-"

"But I was willing to give you anything. That was until I found out you had a son and were screwing around with the nerdy guy. I bet my life he doesn't know...actually I bet all of them have no idea you have a son. Oh wait, he's your Nephew right?" Graham played.

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up. You have no right to do this, I could report your ass to Chetty telling him you're blackmailing and getting handsy with me." Joelle said, more livid than the one time Scott got into the paints and painted her old couch red and green.

Graham made a face, "But with what evidence? Besides it's already over for you sweetheart, now Billy isn't coming back. He just left the internship, but I'm sure Nick will drag him back just to watch your team lose. So why don't you go on home and salvage what's left of your broken family? No point in staying here when you could be finding a cardboard box to live in with little Scotty right?"

Joelle opened her mouth, but ended up saying nothing as Graham hushed her getting all up close and personal.

"Before you go...I must know why Stuart is bent over backwards for you." Graham whispered before smashing his lips against her's. Joelle's eyes widened, Graham tasting like cigars and gross mouthwash, she lifted her knee up right to his dick making him recoil.

"Fuck. You." Joelle said, wiping tears away as she ran down the hall, further and further away until she was out of the building. Her legs didn't stop, leaving campus until she eventually made it to her apartment complex. Her heart was in her ears, pounding until she felt like she was going to explode. That asshole was right, she is broken and only pulling Scott down with her.


Shakily Joelle opened her door, expecting to see Libby putting Scott down for a nap.

Nope.

Her brother, Shawn sat on her couch, Libby talking with him as Scott was babbling random words to his Uncle. The three froze, looking over Libby taking Scott into his room with a knowing look. Joelle closed the door before going over to her brother who met her halfway in a bear hug. Her sobs shook her to the bone, face buried in Shawn's chest.

"Aren't you supposed to be at Google? Joelle what happened?" Shawn said after a minute, sitting her down on the couch.

She looked up, blinking away the blurry picture into a clear one. Her brother had blonde hair like her, a little lighter but their eyes were different. Hers brown and his blue, but other than that they looked related. His face was twisted into nervousness and modification.

"It's over...we lost and we can't catch up. The asshole guy I was talking about-"

"The asshole with glasses or the asshole with the blazer?" Shawn interrupted and Joelle rolled her eyes answering blazer instantly. That earned a sigh from her brother, she made it point to explicitly talk about the pompous ass to him the first day she got home. Joelle should have reported it right away, Shawn was right, but now? Now she was screwed out of a job and apartment and her son because of Graham.

"Anyways," Joelle continued, "today our older teammate Billy messed up on a challenge and the job is as good as Graham's. Now Billy's gone and he...he knows about Scott which I kept away from this and he just said things that were true and I guess there's nothing we can do now."

By the end she was a shaking, sitting crisscross on the couch, feeling like such a fuck up.

"So now what?" Shawn asked.

Joelle whipped her head up, raised eyebrow, "What? No big brother motivational speech?"

"Not this time. Jo-Jo this is your life, and now you're fighting for a big part of it. For Scott, for a job, for a life. For your life. If you're choosing to give up fine. I'm not going to interfere with this one. Take control."

Joelle glared at Shawn, really needing him to be a cliché big brother but at the same time he had a really good point. Sighing, Joelle swallowed hard taking off her back and setting it on the coffee table along with Scott's toys.

"Well right now Mason's fighting me for custody, my life is revolved around my son and not a pointless internship. I guess I'm packing up and going back to Arizona to mom and dad." Joelle said, dead serious and her brother nodded saying he'd stay and help her pack up. Thanking him a door clicked open, Scott running out.

His little legs were steady as he switched from wood to carpet floors, only struggling to get on the couch. Scott's face red, eyes glossy and Libby sat in the near by arm-chair. Leaning down she picked up her son, letting him cling close.

"Mama sad?" Scott asked, sniffling.

Joelle pressed a kiss to his head not wanting to lie this time, "Yeah buddy Mama's sad, but listen we get to go see grandma and grandpa."

Usually his would have screamed for joy, this time her son simply held on tighter, Joelle looked from Libby to Shawn frowning.

Maybe it was losing everything she's built up.

Maybe it was the fact she had to pack up her apartment.

Both.