The writer's room was filled with the smell of rancid coffee and cheap deodorant. There was a low murmur as everyone was killing their time waiting for Castor to come out of his office for the usual drab. His muffled voice came from behind his office door as his silhouette paced up and down his crowded office.

"I heard a rumor that this movie project will be cancelled" a strawberry blonde said to the people in her close vicinity.

"Just the project or the producer?" said the raven haired woman with a vicious smirk.

"What do you mean" asked plain Colin from Utah with his eyes glued to his laptop screen as rapidly typed into it.

"Don't behave as if you haven't seen the head of the studio, Colin" the blonde retaliated, "the guy is a walking sexual-harassment lawsuit waiting to happen".

"That is not something too remarkable" a guy in a sweater said as he pulled his chair besides raven-hair and leaned back looking at blonde with a smug expression, "find me one studio in this place that doesn't have a guy like that and I'll…" he trailed off as he searched for a way to complete his challenge.

"You'll suck his dick?" raven-hair said as everyone around burst in a laughter that lasted for a few seconds and then dissipated into a cheerful murmur.

"All I'm saying is" the sweater guy started in a slightly louder voice that got the attention of all the people on the table, "that is how it works in this town. There was a time when I used to think that things can be different, if I try hard enough I can do something about it. Maybe I was naïve, immature. I'm sorry ladies" he said while looking at me, "that's the way the cookie crumbles". The blonde and the raven exchanged looks of exasperation with each other as the men rather cordially agreed.

"Says the guy who never ate the cookie himself" I said while pretending to write something on my notepad. I saw the raven silently chuckle from the corner of my eyes.

"Excuse me?" the sweater said with forced friendliness.

"What?" I acted surprised.

"You said something" he said with visible flames of anger in his icy blue eyes. Ice overcoming the blood of his face.

"I was just wondering if you were ever assaulted by a cocaine-caviar mogul to be so convinced about the might of the executive sword" I asked maintaining a smile of formality.

He broke into a sharp smile that bared his gums. He looked at the table for a few seconds and nodded.

"You're right, Bennet" he said, "I don't know anything. I have been in this business only for, what, 10 years? But you know who's been here for longer? Castor right here" he gestured towards his office which was now the source of the raised voice of Castor. "You think it would have been easy for a gay guy from Nebraska to become even a fucking grip on the sets of a porno, let alone an Emmy-winning writer? Do you think he whines so much about every asshole he met in his life? No. He worked around it. Made it in this place on his own."

"Whining?" I said sarcastically, "Gee, I wonder why he never talks about these kinds of things".

Raven-hair started laughing nervously, "Hey, does anyone want any more…uh…coffee?"

"You think you're the only woman who has said these things, Bennet?" sweater guy, ignoring raven-hair, has by now shed off all civility and was on his way to burning hostility, "But I mean, it has been like what, 40 days since you're here. I'd give you 15 more days to get rid of your idealism, little girl. Run free till then".

"Come on now, Steve" I said mockingly, "you have been like this for 10 whole years, the least you can do is give me more than just 15 days".

I admit I was starting to get afraid by the looks of him. He drew a long breath with a firm wooden mouth to what I felt could only be a voluptuous spout of hell-fire. But then a harsh noise erupted from Castor's office.

"Shove your severance up your filthy ass and fuck yourself!" the muffled voice coming from his office was still loud enough to echo in the silence that followed immediately after he probably crashed a beer bottle.

Everyone sat there petrified. After a beat of few moments, as if suddenly gripped by the terror of a boss in a very visibly bad mood, everyone started to shuffle through their work, some looking through their notepads and pages, some frantically typed gibberish on their computers. Soon Castor emerged from his office.

"Good morning Cas!" everyone chimed in.

"Very funny guys it's 2PM" Castor murmured as he texted. He seemed calm but none of us were sure.

After a minute or so, he sat down at his regular place at the head of the table and leaned in. in compliance, or to alleviate any possibility of his wrath, everyone mimicked him.

"We won't be able to have a table read today. I'm sorry I should have told you before" he said. "We will meet next week. I'll tell you when. You can go now". With this he got up and quickly entered his office shutting its fragile door with a loud thud.

Everyone sat there for a few minutes confused as to what to do. When it became apparent that we were really dismissed, people started to slowly scuttle off from the table, collecting their stuff in the process. As I put my notebook and phone in my purse, I heard Castor's stern voice from the open door of his office, "Elizabeth, can I have a word with you?" and he shut his door again.

The strawberry blonde looked at me with genuine sympathy while the raven-hair faked hers, and sweater-Steve smirked with ruthless mirth as he headed out of the writer's room with his hands stuffed down his trousers pockets. I tried to recall the last pages I sent in; did he found out that I didn't proofread? Was he shouting because of me? That's stupid. I didn't do anything. Am I fired?

I gingerly opened the door and gently knocked on it. Castor looked up from a file, "Yes, do come in. Sit down" he said with his eyes glued on the file.

I sat down on the rickety chair as my heart was beating in my throat. I can't remember since when I started caring about this job so much, I knew in the back of my head that I'll have to leave it one day. What I never expected was that it would happen this way.

He silently sifted through the pages for what seemed like two excruciatingly long minutes. Should I start saying something about the pages?

"Listen, Cas, about the pages" I blurted out with desperation, "I know I should have proofread them. I'm sorry. It will never ha…"

"Fuck the pages. The movie is shelved" he said monotonously while still looking down.

"What?" I asked.

He closed the file slowly and looked up to me. I was surprised to see that he was not angry.

"I am going to ask you to be one hundred percent honest here Elizabeth" he said in a low voice. "Have you applied to other places for jobs?"

I was tongue-tied. I didn't know what to say. What do I tell him, do I tell him the truth? Is this some kind of bizarre trial or something?

"I don't know what you are referring to." I said as I arched my back straight and tried my poker face.

He chuckled. "This is not a trick question, Elizabeth" he said with a deep sigh. "What I am going to tell you is kind of secret but I don't care if you tell someone or not. You're new anyways so I have nothing to lose here."

"What do you mean?" I asked, paining with confusion.

"This whole thing, the project, the studio, the production company, everything is wrapping up. It is all going to be up for sale" he said as he shoved the file in a narrow-mouthed dustbin quite brutally.

"Oh my god, what? Are you kidding Castor?" I asked.

He got up and produced a large crate from under his desk. "No, I'm dead serious" he said as he turned around to remove his diplomas from the wall, "and I think you can call me Cas now that we're 'unofficially' not coworkers. I do hope you have applied to other places."

"Yeah actually I have" I said.

"Just say the word and I'll write an excellent recommendation for you. Don't worry you'll get a much better job than this piece of shit place."

I was still in a state of disbelief. He sensed my prolonged silence, "Hey, you alright?"

"What about you? What will you do?" I asked as we walked up to a messy dresser by the window.

"Well, here is the other surprise which I do want you to keep your mouth shut about" he said producing a small bottle of water, "I got chosen for the McArthur grant" he said as he offered me the water.

"OH MY GOD!" I cried out in a shrill laughter. He immediately shushed me after getting startled by my scream and dropping the bottle.

"Secret Elizabeth!" he said shushing me.

"I'm sorry, but Congrats cas!" I said excitedly, "McArthur is a huge deal! Gosh I'm so happy for you!" I stood up and gave him a hug.

"Thank you, Elizabeth" he said gently, "You are the only one here who is actually happy for me. Anyone else I told about this just wanted to shoot me in the face" he said sulking.

It was bizarre how happy I felt despite the fact that I just lost my job.

"But, why did you tell me about the company selling?" I asked after a few seconds.

He pondered over it for some moments and said, "When you spend so many years as an outsider, you develop this instinct about the people worth your trust" he said as he placed his wedding photo frame on the top of the books he piled on in his crate. "Besides, I've seen plenty writers like those up-their-ass trust fund kids thinking they're the next bestseller or something"

I sat there pondering if I should tell him about the trust fund checks I receive every month, but I decided to read the room and dropped the thought.

"So who's buying this place then?" I asked as I got up.

"I am not sure yet" he said, "and neither do I care".

"Fair enough" I said, "I should go now".

"I'll email you the letter of recommendation as soon as I can" he said.

"Thank you that is very kind of you Cas" I said.

"See you around, Elizabeth" he said kindly as I stepped out of his office.

The beach was drained in a deep orange color as the sun set behind droopy pacific waves. I held the phone by my left year as my heart beat in sync with the ring of the call. The adrenaline was pumping my blood up and I frantically rehearsed my words mentally before he would pick up the call. But then the tone abruptly broke.

"Is that my little Lizzie?" Dad said.

"Dad" the rehearsals fell flat as I broke down crying with a trembling voice.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"I'm so sorry dad, for not calling all this time. It's a miracle that you don't hate me already."

"How can I ever hate my precious Lizzie?" he said, I heard his voice breaking a bit. "How are you?"

"I'm fine Dad" I said trying to breathe through the sobs, "I lost my job today"

"Why? What happened?"

"It is nothing dad, don't worry about it. I'll get another. How are you dad?"

"Oh Lizzie, I am doing okay" he said exasperated, "as okay a guy in my shoes can be."

"I'm so sorry about mom"

"Don't be sweetie. Just know that both of us still love you and Jane the most in the world."

"I know dad" I sniffed.

"Besides, it hurts but I also feel free. I can see that I can be happy now"

"That's great, Dad. I'm happy for you"

"Thanks sweetie, I will always love you"

I didn't realize how less I listen to that phrase until I cried another stream of hot tears illuminated by the red sun. The wind kept drying them but my eyes refused to give up. I cannot remember at what time I went to bed that day, I only remember that I woke up feeling truly rested and fresh as a flower.

"I thought your major was English Lit" Aidan said as he propped himself up from the bed.

"I have a minor in Economics too" I said.

"Will that be enough" he said lifting the large coffee mug from the night stand, "I mean, I don't want to demoralize you or anything, I hope you do get the job its good. But it is a very different position from your last."

"I know, I'm not so sure about it either to be honest" I said as I quit the mascara endeavor and sat in front of the dressing table with drooped shoulders, "but I am not going to pass up any job I can get my hands on" I looked at him through the mirror.

He got up holding the mug and stood behind me and squeezed my shoulders with his large soft hands.

"You're going to nail it, Lizzie. Trust me, you're smarter than you think you are" he said slowly in that way that melts my face into a smile.

I got up and turned around and lifted myself up on my toes to kiss him. He caressed my hair as I moved my hands across his bare chest. I slowly moved my right hand downwards towards his belly and then a little further down to his…

"WHOA WHOA LIZZIE!" he shouted while laughing shyly at the same time and hold my downwards hand that almost reached his boxers.

"What?" I said coyly, "it's for good luck!" I whispered.

"You clearly don't need any of this for luck" he laughed nervously, "You're good on your own"

"Come on it'll be quickie" I said as I leaned in for another smooch.

He leaned back and used his hands to hold me in my position rigidly. "Seriously Lizzie, I'm not in the mood right now, I'm sorry"

"Fine" I rolled my eyes, "if I don't get this job I'll know who to blame"

"Yeah but you will get it" he said as he sat by the bed and picked up his phone.

"Will you take me for dinner regardless?" I asked as I opened a shelf for my heels.

"Absolutely" he said smiling sleepily after taking a yawn, "I just need to nap a bit more"

"That is what you did the entire time last night" I said grumpily as I sat beside him to strap my sandals.

"I landed here at 1 in the morning Lizzie, I'm not some superhero who can do everything" he said while sipping his coffee.

I turned to look at him and he returned the smile with a kiss on my cheek. I searched for something in his eyes but I couldn't find it. He was sitting on the bed replying to some emails. Flew all the way from New York after all these days and this is all he wants to do. No sex, just sweet Aidan sleeping quietly besides me, cuddling, sure, but sleeping.

In a moment filled with equal parts dread and equal parts excitement Frank's face flashed before me, as it was when I was on top of his large naked body, my hands on his large broad chest.

"I'll see you later then" I said getting out of the room.