Chapter 11: I Quit

Author's Note : I had a writers block, nasty bugger wouldn't leave me alone.

Lilith was pacing back and forth in front us, Vlad and I, while O stood in the doorway.

"Ok," Lilith breathed in, "let's start with: what the hell were you two thinking!" She screamed at us. "Jeanette, you were in steady relationship with K. Vlad, you're almost fifty!"

"Lilith, as your-"

"Vlad, shut it." She growled. "I just about had enough of you. Heck, I should've quit when you first stepped through that door. When a billionaire all of a sudden became mayor in a state they never been before, I should have seen this happening. But, Velia, you were too good to steep as low as him."

I felt a pang of disappointment go to my chest. Disappoint in myself, Lilith was right. I was ready to throw any type of admiration I had for Vlad out the window, but after one kiss I could've pulled away from, I leaned into. What was wrong with me?

"Lilith if you're so keen in leaving, why don't you go ahead?" Vlad sneered.

"You know what? I will, I quit" Lilith threw her arms up. "But don't you forget what I know." She warned. Walking out the door, she pushed O out of the way.

"Now what do you want?" Vlad glared at the Operative.

"I just want to know how long you two have been pinning for each other."

Vlad visibly flinched, as if he didn't want either of us knowing how long he's been going after me. "That is none of your concern."

"When it involves my best friend's girlfriend, it does concern me." O growled.

"Oh please, we're all adults here, if Velia wants to be with me, she can and will." Vlad grabbed my waist as if to prove the point, but I wasn't going to. I was better than going with an obsessed monster.

Pulling away from Vlad, I slapped him. "Don't touch me, what happened was a mistake. What makes you think I'll go with a guy who tried to choke me to death." I showed my neck. "Vlad, no one in their right mind would ever want to be with you!"

I turned around and walked up to O. "If you see K, tell him I'm sorry, for everything." I walked out of the building and headed for the apartment.

So much for keeping the job.

"I can't believe you did that." Taylor shouted from the kitchen.

I groaned into the cushion I had over my head. Rolling over on the couch, I curled myself into a ball. "Shouldn't you be at work?" I muttered.

"What?" She hollered.

I threw the cushion off my face. "Shouldn't you be at work!"

"You don't have to yell, you know." She came inside the living room with two bowls of chocolate ice-cream.

I sneered at disgust at the cold treat.

"I know, I know, you hate chocolate ice-cream, but chocolate is good for when you're down." Taylor handed me the bowl and a spoon. "And I got fired, apparently it's 'unprofessional' to kiss your underage boyfriend every time he shows up." She sat next to me as I sat up. "Besides, at least you still have your job, technically."

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion. "I'm pretty sure my boss quitting and slapping my boss's boss across the face counts as me being officially fired."

"Well, since Lilith quit, Vlad became your boss, so you slapped your boss across the face." She stuffed a spoonful in her mouth. "And you can't officially be fired until you get your pink slip."

"Damn," I ate a spoonful of ice-cream, before gagging. "So I gotta call him and say I quit."

Before Taylor could say anything, the door opened. Irene stepped in, pulling her mask off, covered in sweat. She completely ignored us and began to strip off her jumpsuit.

"Oh, yeah! Ice cream and a strip show, just what a girl needs!" Taylor hollered as she scarfed down her ice-cream.

Irene screeched and quickly covered herself with her disregard suit. "What are you two doing here?" She shouted.

"Being unemployed and proud!" Taylor grinned.

"Un...unemployed?" Irene dropped her suit in shock.

"Nice underwear." Taylor muffled with a full mouth.

"You guys are kidding right?" She gave us a moment to go and shout, 'Haha, we got you, surprise!' but since that didn't happen. "You guys got fired! We were so close to getting a new apartment and you get fired!" She pulled at her hair in frustration. "Taylor, ok, I get that, but you Jeanette? What did you do?"

"She made out with her boss, then slapped him." Taylor grabbed her head in pain. "Brain freeze!"

Irene had a confused look on her face. "But Lilith's a girl-You and Vlad?" She shouted.

"I didn't make the first move, if that make it any better!" I placed the melting ice-cream on the coffee table. "Besides, I had no idea what was happening. At first I was yelling at him and pushing him away, but then he kissed me."

"I-I don't even know if those are bruises, or hickies, on your neck anymore." Irene gripped her hair. "Just what were you thinking? Did Clockwork's mission involve you kissing Vlad, or what?"

"I don't even know what my fucking mission is!" I got up. "All the note said was to become Vlad's secretary assistant and that's it. What do you want me to say?" I raised my hands in frustration. "'Oh yeah, my letter had a totally complex plan all written out for me. I just had to follow these easy steps to fuck up our life in this stupid cartoon!'" Falling to my knees, I finally broke down. "I just want to go home."

"Oh, honey, we all do." Taylor wrapped her arms around me, and shushed me. Rocking me back and forth, she rested her head on top of mine.

I heard Irene sigh over my sobbing. "Yeah, my letter didn't exactly say what I had to do." She walked over to us and both me and Taylor. "I just thought working myself to exhaustion would take it all off my mind. But, if anything, I just thought of it more." She pressed her face against my shoulder. "Why are we here? Are we ever going to go back home? Are we ever going to see are family again?"

I felt a lump grow in my throat. All I ever thought was about myself, never have I once thought about how the girls felt. I reached my arms out and hugged them. "I'm sorry," I sobbed, "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about." Taylor kissed my forehead. "It's that asshole Clockwork's fault we're stuck here."

Irene laughed. "You know what, screw it."

Taylor and I looked at her as if she lost her mind.

"Don't you get it guys? The reason why we're still here is because, we've been following his orders. If we stopped, he'd have no reason to keep us here."

"Are you sure that'll work Irene?" Taylor asked.

"Let's switch places; Jeanette can take my place, I can Taylor's place, and Taylor can take your place Jeanette." She rubbed her hands together. "It's fool proof."

"I'm pretty sure it's not." Taylor shook her head. "Last time you worked at a fast food restaurant, Irene, you set the microwave on fire, Jeanette hates working with weapons, and I'm pretty sure you need a pretty impressive resumé to become Vlad's secretary."

Irene slumped and grabbed my unfinished ice-cream from the table. "If you need me, I'll be the sad sack in the tub." She slowly got up and headed to the bathroom with the bowl.

As we heard the water running, the phone rang.

Taylor got up and went to answer it. "Hello?" Her expression dropped and she started biting her nails. "Errrrr….." She covered the transmitter and looked at me. "Shit, it's Vlad. What do I do?"

I froze, if I don't talk to him now, he could easily come over to talk face to face. He knows where we live! I just have to man up and tell him...tell him what? Oh crap, I'm screwed.

Pulling at my hair and standing up, I signaled Taylor to give me the phone.

She went back to talking to the phone. "Y-yeah, she's here...um, sure."

As she finally passed it to me, I could hear my heart thumping through my ears. When I finally pressed my ear to the receiver, I could only manage to squeak a 'hello.'

I heard Vlad sigh, "Ms. Velia, I need you." Before I could say anything, he continued. "Without Rusebag, I'm left without a secretary. Look, being not only the mayor, but a multi business owner as well, Lilith always had me on schedule. It would highly difficult to find someone else-"

"You're kidding me right?" I scoffed. "You think I'll be coming back with that? You know what Vlad, you sound like a badly written script. If this morning's incident didn't make it clear enough, here it is in full force. I QUIT!" I slammed the phone down on the table for good measures before finally hanging up.

"Holy crap," Taylor breathed, "holy crap, I can't believe you did that! " A smile spread across her face. "I shouldn't be happy, but we're both officially unemployed!" She squealed and hugged me. "I don't get to go job hunting by myself!"

I sighed and hugged her back. I felt like I fixed and ruined everything at the same time.