Six

Tori absently munched on a slice of lukewarm pizza as she paged through yet another spreadsheet. She'd been at it for hours since she'd gotten home, and she realized when the screen started to go fuzzy on her that she was about ready for a break.

Coincidentally, a knock on the door gave her an excuse to do just that. She stood and hissed as her back protested its tenure in the same position, and she limped to the door, peeking through the peephole, and then pulling it open.

"Hey, Andre," she smiled at the black man on the other side. Andre Harris was the first neighbor she'd met after she moved into the complex, and he'd remained her close friend ever since.

"Hey Tori… whatcha up to?" Andre wrinkled his nose and looked around the messy room. "Whoa, hold on… don't tell me you are eating pizza… no no … must be a pod person, I'm calling the FBI."

Tori laughed a little sheepishly. "I had no choice, I'm doing this project and I didn't have time to cook. I was starving." She closed the door and walked back over to her desk. "You want some?"

Andre peered at the box. "Oh my god… And you actually ate half of it. I'm impressed." He teased his friend. "It's not even a veggie pizza."

The Latina sat down, letting her arms rest on her thighs. "I'm not a vegetarian, Dre, you know that," she objected. "I just like to eat healthy… is that a crime?"

The dread-headed man took a slice and chewed it. "What is a crime is that you hardly eat enough to sustain a rabbit, much less a human being…" He plucked at Tori's shirt which hung on her. "Now that… Is not healthy."

Tori shrugged a little. "I'm fine… I just…." She hesitated. "I get a lot of grief at home if I put on weight… It's just easier not to, you know?" She tried for an offhand tone. And almost succeeded.

Grief was a mild way of putting it. The first year she'd been down here, things had been hectic. Work was very involving, and she really didn't have time to do much other than go to the office, come home, try to get the apartment settled, and study for her networking and coding certifications. It led to a lot of late nights and takeout food, and an extra twenty pounds that had gotten her nothing but nagging and complaints when she'd gone home for Christmas.

Which was a lousy time for that and caused her to spend most of the holiday avoiding people- her mother especially- and she'd vowed she'd never have to go through that again. So she stuck to carrots and lots of walking and bike riding, which got things pretty much under control. In fact, Andre was her walking and biking buddy since the man was constantly trying to maintain his muscles.

And it sucked, Tori sighed. She was an admitted chowhound. She loved to eat, and it was so hard to constantly say no to that. But she did because hearing her mother's censorious voice was even worse. And her dad never failed to ask about it on their weekly phone calls.

Then of course there was Daniel. Her erstwhile almost Fiancé. His daddy had done a big favor for her Mom, so when he asked to marry her… Mom had said yes for her. Tori didn't dislike Daniel. He was a tall, very good-looking young man with impeccable manners, intelligence, and a good work ethic, who was just about to graduate from law school. By all accounts, a great match, and to be fair, she liked him. They'd been friends for years, and she had a lot of fun doing things with him.

In fact, they seemed like a natural pair. He'd taken her to their senior prom, and one of her mother's favorite pictures was the two of them posing in front of their house, dressed in formal wear and very serious expressions for the occasion.

Natural. Hm… yeah. Tori exhaled, and then put a smile on. "So like I said, it's just easier… my folks give me such a hard time. You know how it is."

Andre rolled his eyes. "Do I ever." He put his hands on his hips. "I was a chubster in high school and I never heard the end of it. Now they can't tell me nothin'."

Tori laughed. "Not a damn thing." She parroted. Andre's family lived in LA. It was on the whim of his grandma, who had pretty bad Alzheimer's. Tori loved Andre though and was glad to have someone to just hang out with sometimes. Andre worked for West Trek, actually, and had been telling her that she should go over to their coding team. He was funny and very outgoing-the legacy of growing up in a large, boisterous family.

"So what's the project?" He asked, sitting next to her on the couch. "Damn Tor, you think you have enough windows open on that computer?"

The Latina leaned back in next to him and took another slice of pizza. "No… You know we got bought out."

"Yep," he stated. "Welcome to the dark side. Are you guys in trouble?"

"Yeah," Tori admitted. "They'd really like to just get rid of us all and keep the site. But I'm trying to pitch them a plan where at least some of us get to keep our jobs." Her shoulders slumped. "I don't think they're going to buy it though." She spared her computer a glance as her mail indicator lit. "There's the confirmation probably," she reached over and clicked on the envelope, bringing the new message to the foreground. "Yep," she confirmed seeing the name of the sender.

Jade West: Sent 10:45 PM

Ms. Vega,

You bring interesting points to the table. While I have the utmost confidence in the ability of our support teams to assume responsibility for your product line, your personnel do bring a certain level of knowledge that it might be costly for us to duplicate. Please continue with your proposal.

Oh… wow," Tori breathed as her eyes dropped below to the somewhat longer paragraph underneath.

I know that this is a very difficult process you are attempting, and I appreciate the effort you are putting into it. I think you are talented and intelligent, and I really don't want this to be such an adversarial situation. I realize our initial meeting got started off in the wrong direction, and that I should have ensured that our project team had briefed your upper management on what to expect before we began the process. For that, I apologize.

JW

Oddly, she felt lighter all of a sudden. A tiny smile edged her lips, and she sat back with a heartfelt sigh. "What do you know, she bought it. Sort of."

Andre had been unashamedly reading over her shoulder. "Hey," he poked Tori. "Is that THE Jade West?" He whistled under his breath. "There was a foul-up one day, and our managers were raising hell all over the place, blaming them to high heavens, then this West woman shows up and spends ten minutes in a coding state and finds the problem on our end." He rolled his eyes. "God, we didn't hear the end of that for weeks."

"Well," Tori shook her head. "I can't imagine there being more than one of her in the same company. I mean, she is the CEO." She paused, "Pale dark hair… really blue eyes?"

Andre gave her a rakish grin. "That'd be her. Rumor has it she's a real bitch on wheels." He peered at the email. "Looks like she likes you though." He nodded, impressed. "Wow… she thinks you're talented and intelligent… I guess she has a few brain cells after all."

Tori blushed. "Stop it." She reread the mail, and try as she might to remind herself just how angry she'd been at Jade West, the type of words made her feel pretty good anyway maybe because it was so unexpected.

"Yeah… that was it," she finally said offhandedly. "You know… Don't get the natives restless until you steal all their diamonds- that kind of thing."

"Probably," Andre agreed cheerfully. "Hey, take a break, and let's go for a walk down to the bakery."

Tori hesitated. "Um… okay, sure… I could use a break." She stood. "Listen, why don't you lock your bike, and I'll meet you out on the street?" She smiled as Andre quickly agreed. And she watched as the bronze man trotted out, closing the door behind him. Then she turned her attention to the screen and tapped her fingers on the keyboard, trying to decide what to reply.

Be nice… be snippy… be formal… What the hell? The worst Gothica could do is fire her.

Hello…

Thank you for saying what you did. You're right; this is a tough situation, and I wish I wasn't in it. But I am, and I have to make the best of it. So I'm going to keep trying.

I know we're just one small piece of a cog in your giant machine, and that you really don't care one way or the other about any of us, and I understand that I'm one more in a series of problems you have to deal with. I guess it must get monotonous for you after a while, but for me, this is a situation I never wanted or dreamed I'd be in. I don't like having my world and that of everyone around me, torn apart. But I guess you're used to that.

I know you're just doing your job, and I'm glad it's yours and not mine. We did get started off pretty badly, and I think that's partly my fault too because I took my frustrations at what was happening out on you. And maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to do that. I realized afterward you could have just fired me right there, so it probably wasn't the smartest thing I ever did.

She stared at the screen for a long moment before she continued, debating with herself. Finally, she completed the message. Then hit send.

"So much for that," she nodded briskly, then dusted her hands off and went to the closet, retrieving her dark purple mountain bike and checking the tires. She glanced at her helmet on the high shelf above and decided the short ride didn't need it.