Chapter ten
Zak and Nick rushed for the elevator for the ninth floor. Zak had yet to tell Nick what he was planning on doing, but he knew Zak was going to make the right decision and didn't bother asking him. Zak instead, brought up the subject himself, but didn't go into big detail about it. "I'm going to take her into my office and talk with her privately. When Kate come back, don't let her come in. I know what I need to do so don't worry." Nick nodded and gave Zak a pat on the shoulder to show support. When the doors opened, they instantly could hear Ashley yelling at Aaron from where they where standing. They hurried in through the wooden doors and through the glass doors, and found Ashley yelling at Aaron about something bizarre. "I told you to go and get that for me!" Aaron was backing away slowly trying to get away from her swinging hands that had long two inch nails on them. "Ashley, I'm not a maid, I was just getting some water!" He replied in as calm a voice as he could. "Your supposed to treat me like a lady!" She replied. Watching this made Zak feel even more guilty for allowing her to treat Kate like that. If Ashley had enough in her to scare a big guy like Aaron who was as tall as she was, than what kind of fear could she produce in Kate who was half her size? Zak sighed and went over to Ashley holding her hands to stop her from scratching Aaron's eyes out. "Zak! Punish him, and your little picture girl!" She cried to the top of her lunges. "Ashley," he replied quietly, yet firmly. "Come with me into my office, we need to talk." She looked at him wondering what it was he wanted, she didn't expect to hear what he was about to say. "Fine," she replied, giving both Nick and Aaron a nasty diva look before disappearing behind Zak's door.
"Are you okay man?" Asked Nick. "Yeah, I'm going on that break now man," he replied walking briskly out the door. Nick stood outside Zak's door trying to listen to what he was saying to Ashley. All he could hear was Ashley's voice that sounded very irritated and a bit angry. He couldn't hear Zak's all that well and that made him wonder if she killed him. "What's he saying?" He wondered.
Standing at the long line at Wendy's, Kate was on the phone with Lance telling him about her day. She had to tell someone else other than Nick about how she was being treated. "That's horrible!" Lance cried in total shock. "I know, I don't know if I can handle this anymore buddy," she replied in a stressed out tone. "Have you tried to talk to him?" "No, I can't even tell him about my dean's message, or about my dogs separation anxiety." She replied as she walked slowly down the line. Lance coughed lightly and replied, "Kate, someone from the store you stole the dog food from came by so I gave them the money and explained to them what happened." This didn't surprise her. Jail in her mind sounded like a Jamaican vacation compared to spending another second with Ashley. "That doesn't surprise me, are they going to charge me for potential stealing?" "No, I got your back. They dropped the charges." "Good, I don't need to have a police record next, though I might have one soon for murder." She approached the counter, awaiting for the next worker to come and help her. "Are you going to quit?" Asked Lance. "No, I need this job, I have had bad bosses before so I can handle this. I'll call you back later," She hung her phone up and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm gonna die," she said to herself. A teenager of about sixteen came out with a big goofy smile on his face. "Can I help you miss?" He asked in a flirtatious voice. She didn't even notice his flirting she was so eager to get Ashley that lard filled salad. (Didn't think she would do it did ya?) She took a careful look at the menu hanging above, and replied with a devious smile on her face, "what's your policy on special orders?" He raised an eyebrow and replied, "there is none, my boss won't let me." She knew how to get her way on this one, and she was willing to do it even though she was gonna hate it. She wasn't leaving without that revenge. She looked at him with her eyes looking at him sweetly with her eyelashes batting, and stiffened her lips to make a pout and replied in a flirtatious tone, "not even for little old me?" the boys face turned red and his heart began to beat out of his chest. He struggled to keep himself from falling into her temptation of flirting. "Miss, I can't," She pulled on his neck tie he had on and leaned his face closer to her's replying, "I'll give you my number," with that, he pulled away from her and took out a pen and a piece of paper to take her order down. "What's your order?" He asked in a happy tone. "Lettuce, croutons, and if you can, stir it in with nice fattening mixture of some kind, almost completely invisible please." She replied. "All of our salads are healthy, we don't add in things like that normally. I can melt in some butter and shortening if you want me to though," "Whatever flows your boat," she replied. He ran to the back screaming at the chef to hurry with the special order. Like a flash, he ran back out and gave Kate her order. She smiled and gave him five dollars for the order. "Thanks," she said as she headed out the door. "Your welcome, I'll call you on my break!" When she was making her way to her car, she smiled and said to herself with a laugh, "that was so gross and unladylike, good thing I gave him a fake number to call me at!"
Kate's P.O.V
I actually would have rather given that gross kid my number and gone out with him, than stay with Ashley for another second! This woman has the attitude of nine spoiled girls plus three diva's, and the voice of a thousand screaming banshee's! As I drove down the road, I rolled the window down to take in the evening air. I took it all in and tried to let go of the anger I had towards her. "This woman is going to be the death of me," I thought. I made it back to the studio to deliver my little surprise and to get the last of my job done. I rolled my eyes when I passed by her pink car that looked like a giant dead flamingo on wheels. I stood in the elevator after making my way past the still busy studio, and prepared for more rudeness and nastiness from miss "I'm all that". "Only a few more hours to go," I kept telling myself as I walked down the hallway. With the lard mountain salad in hand, I pushed the doors open and headed into the reception area, to find no one there. I could, however, hear some loud voices coming from Zak's office. The only thing that came to mind was that she was making something up to get me fired. "Great! All this effort for nothing!" I thought as I balled my fist. Nick must have heard me come in and ran out his office to see me. "Hey," he said quietly. I looked up at him with a great amount of concern on my face and asked, "Nick, what's going on in there?" He smiled and said happily, "I had a talk with Zak, and he's talking to Ashley now." I couldn't believe my ears. "Really?" I said with surprise in my tone. "Yeah, I told you I'd help." he replied winking at me. I placed the bag and my purse on a nearby chair, and hugged Nick tightly. I couldn't help myself I was so happy something about her was being done. "You don't know how much this means to me!" I said happily. "Your welcome," he replied hugging me back. "Why don't you get some work done in peace now," he suggested. "Alright, thanks a lot!" I replied heading over to my desk. He disappeared behind his door while I went back to work in peace.
I felt really happy and defended since Nick had stepped in to help me, I really felt we where going to be awesome friends, if I don't quit over Zak's attitude. Ashley had still been inside Zak's office for sometime now, and the yelling was still heard outside where I was. After about thirty minutes, the yelling stopped and the door came flying open. Ashley came out and shut the door tightly closed behind her. I looked up at her and said in my usual polite voice, "Ashley, I got your salad for you," she looked at the bag, and completely walked by it. Instead she went for her big pink purse that sat on desk beside it. She picked it up and looked at me with an unusual look in her eyes. It was almost... nicer than it usually was, but an attempted nice like the kind you really have to force out yourself when your angry. She took in a deep breath and began to say in a calmer yet still irritated voice, "Kate, I'm leaving now, I'm sorry for the way I treated you and for breaking your mp3 player." I was stunned, "what did he say?" I wondered. I knew he had forced that apology out of her and it wasn't from the heart, but I was raised to be forgiving. So I nodded my head and said politely, "Apology accepted," she didn't acknowledge my response, she quickly left in a hurry to get away from me as quickly as possible. I smiled and felt justice for me had been served. Question now is, what did Zak say to her?