Chapter 23

Monday afternoon, Lana and Carol had gone upstairs to check into their respective rooms; Carol was a little surprised Lana had gotten a room alone. She had never done that before, making Carol concerned enough to check in on Lana as soon as she dropped off her own luggage.

"I swear to God, I am turning in my resignation and moving back in with Denise, effective immediately," Lana said angrily, tossing folders onto a desk in her room.

"What's wrong?" Carol wondered. "It's rare that I see you like this. I can expect it from Cricket or even Kim, but you?"

"My boss is a total fuckhead that embarrassed the shit out of me, Kim and Brian, that's what!"

"Okay…" Carol replied with a little hesitation, "would you care to elaborate?"

"For starters, it went from plane ride to train ride before the plane even had a chance to get in the air. Four hundred dollars shot to hell, Carol, because asshole couldn't keep his temper in check."

"What?"

"He's such a damned child! He badmouthed the poor flight attendant, and then repeatedly kicked the seat in front of him so hard until it broke and all four of us were evicted from the plane, to say the least. All the woman asked him was if he wanted a drink! His exact words were 'I'm fine, thank you, and buy a longer skirt; you're a stewardess, not a hooker.' Why not just make all of us look like ungrateful jackasses in the process?"

"Good lord."

"It gets worse, Carol. Then after Brian whacked him upside the head for the comment he made to the flight attendant, Paul started kicking the seat, which had someone in it, and the person asked him to stop. Paul glared and kept kicking it until he kicked it so hard the hinges towards the bottom of the backrest broke off and we got escorted off the plane. As I said, being a child!"

"Oh dear God. Something tells me damage control is in the works."

"Well, it isn't going to be from me. I'm tired of covering his ass. He doesn't pay me enough for it anyway."

Carol chuckled a little. "You must be furious. I never heard you complain about your salary before."

"Yeah, why I put up with this, I will never know. I swear, Carol, I need a meeting in the worst way now, or I am going to be screaming for Valium. And no man is worth me being driven back to my addiction, plus he owes me four hundred dollars on the plane ticket I wasted because of his temper tantrum."

"Well, if the need is that urgent, you may go to one whenever you like. I think there is one down a few blocks, in fact."

"After the five hour train ride from hell, that looks mighty appealing right now. By the way, Brian took the liberty of arranging with the bellboy downstairs that my ass of a boss is not allowed to leave, giving them his number so in the event Paul does try to leave without him, me, or Kim, there is going to be a serious situation. The last thing we need is him screwing up and getting arrested for something. The sites would grab onto that in a millisecond."

Carol nodded in agreement. "Not to mention both those boys could lose their jobs. He's already hanging by a string as it is."

"Exactly. It's mine and Kim's jobs to keep their asses intact. And he has the balls to talk about Brian acting like an idiot? I never thought I would say this, but to be honest, I think Kim's working for the more rational one."

"Sounds like someone could use anger management."

"You're telling me!" Lana cried.

"Look, go to your meeting; there's plenty of time before you all have to be at the arena. Maybe by then you will have some further insight into all of this."

"Thanks again, Carol. Let me unpack a few things and change, and I can get out of here for a bit."

"Anytime, hon. Denise will be around later if you need anything else."

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Lana had just put some things in drawers and was thumbing through her NA guide for the meeting location Carol had told her about when she heard a thud on the other side of the wall.

"Go ahead, throw some more shit, you asshole!" she yelled. "And I amnot paying for it, either!"

Inaudible yelling came from the other side.

"Kiss my white ass!" Lana bellowed back. "And if you think you're getting sex tonight, I have news for you!"

"Brrr," a voice said. "I think I'll just head back to the room. I've heard of redheaded tempers, but I never thought I'd see one in action."

"Oh, Kim, I'm sorry," she said, spying her co-worker and friend.

"Don't be," Kim shook her head and smiled. "He's put the three of us through all kinds of hell today."

"How's Brian doing?" Lana wondered.

"You mean besides ready to rip his buddy's balls off and sell them on eBay? Perfectly fine, I guess. I'm telling you, Lana, I don't know how they fit such a big heart into that little body of his."

"He must have the patience of a saint; I'll grant you that. Hey, wait a minute, you actually said something nice about your boss for once?" Lana couldn't help but smile.

"You know, the midget isn't really that bad of a guy. Sure, he's a pain in the ass that works my last nerve in the process sometimes, but deep down, there's a super person in there."

"I take it you finally got your raise."

"It isn't very much, but yeah. That's got nothing to do with it, though. To be honest, someone needs to give him danger pay for dealing with Paul's bullshit all of the time."

"I hear you there," Lana nodded. "God, what poor Bri's put up with for years. I feel sorry for him."

"Nah, don't feel too sorry for him. I think he likes being a protective hen sometimes. Besides, when he's having a bitchfest with PL, he's leaving me the hell alone."

Lana began to laugh a little. "You are priceless, Kim. Listen, I need to go to a meeting, but do you want to grab some dinner in about an hour before we head over to the arena? Hopefully by the time the show is underway, Bitch Boy will be able to get out his frustrations in the ring, because I am not putting up with this shit over the break."

"Dinner sounds good. And yeah, maybe we'll actually be able to fly home once Mr. PMS gets whatever is bugging him out of his system. See you in an hour."