This chapter is the most serious one you will come by in this story. I needed some quick information from Adam and so I had to make him slightly… less Adam.

Sorry…

Pride and Prejudice: Abbreviated and Un-fabricated

I don't even know what to call it. How about… a kind-of-sort-of-maybe?

Adam was very distracted. He'd been like this ever since the day my article had hit and Danny had since spent all his time in his office on the phone with investors, only visible for the few moments before he managed to get into his office in the mornings, when he'd just pretend I wasn't there. (I wonder what Danny did when he had to pee…) Since Danny was so busy, Adam was forced to do actual work and assume all of Danny's responsibilities. This was a foreign concept for Adam and he was very distracted by it.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking about how it's even possible that I haven't been fired yet. Don't worry; I was thinking it too. In fact it was the reason I was trying so hard to speak with such a distracted Adam. I'd tried asking him if he planned on firing me but all he'd said was, "I'll put it on my list, Danny." He didn't even realize who he was talking to. So finally I decided to schedule a meeting with him so he had time to fire me, otherwise I felt he might be so busy he'd forget.

So, I was on my way to the scheduled meeting. As I entered the office, Danny exited carrying a suitcase. It was the longest I'd seen him in days. He was slightly pale and his eyes were all dry and red. He knitted his eyebrows together and quickly passed me with his head bowed and I entered the office, not wanting to be late for my own firing.

"Hello Carly," Adam said slowly. His eyes also seemed quite red, although I knew his to be from raspberry Jell-O withdrawal. "What can I do for you?" he said. This was an ominous sign. Adam never said "What can I do for you?" it was always "What can I do you for?" or "Why are we talking when we could be making out?" although he usually only said that last one to Sarah Golden.

"Well," I cleared my throat. I was a bit nervous. I didn't want to get fired. "I just didn't want you to forget that you were supposed to fire me."

"Oh? I was?" It was possible that Adam suffered from a serious head trauma… although that's been possible since the beginning.

I nodded slowly. "Weren't you?"

Adam shrugged. "I never heard anything about it. Danny usually does the firing, but he can't face you since he made you cry and I'm much too soft for him to ever expect me to do it… so unless you want to fire yourself…"

I shook my head. "I'd prefer to not be fired at all."

"That's good because with Danny gone I'll need all the help I can get around here." Adam began clicking furiously on his computer like it was some urgent matter. Little did he know that I cold see the computer screen reflected in the window behind him and he was merely playing Solitaire.

"Danny fired himself then?" I asked casually.

"No he went to France." Adam glared at the screen. "Stupid Jack of spades," he growled under his breath. Adam without his Jell-O is a bit scary. I'd never seen him growl or glare before. He even managed to foam at the mouth when he did it. It was almost as if he was kind of Danny-ish. Was Danny only moody because of his job? This was a revelation I chose to ignore.

"Why?"

"Some sort of reference about grapes or wine or something. Danny's determined to make sure his reference is in top notch ever since the incident."

"Reference?" I hated being reduced to one word questions. It made Adam seem like the most intelligent person in the room… a real rarity.

"Yeah, that's what we do. We do reference information for websites. Wikipedia mostly, but other stuff as well. People want to know some random crap and we're more than happy to supply it."

"So that's what we do? We reference information?" I was a bit shocked. That wasn't shady at all. It had absolutely nothing to do with Rubber Ducks or Lithuania like my notes had suggested. Heavens to Betsy! That Betsy cow was supplying false information all along!

I was a so mad I was on my way out of my office to rip off Betsy's name tag when Adam stopped me. "And Stephen lied to you, Carly," he said calmly although he was still mouse-clicking like mad. "It was Danny's article. Stephen stole it and that's how he became a famous journalist. He stole Danny's career and just when Danny was becoming successful again, he decided to send you in to take that away as well."

I was quite shocked. Who knew Adam was capable of a real conversation… what he said, however, I chose to ignore.