Then he gradually got the hope in the car that things would slowly, really snail's speed, move forward into a non-oppressive mood with his temporary boss. Even if today it was only because of her good mood that the day should go better, then he would be grateful for that too. But the thought of a third and very undesirable person stepping in and messing things up didn't even cross his mind. If you hope that one day you will see someone again by chance because you simply miss this person and over time you realize that a lot has remained unsaid, then of course exactly the opposite happened to him. In this country where he lived there really were a lot of people. It really couldn't be possible to be lucky, or in his case unlucky, to meet someone like this woman twice. If his memory was right, she was supposed to be hanging out somewhere in the great city of New York at lavish parties with wealthy celebrities. What you do when you are unknown and untalented yourself, but still want a piece of the cake. Irritatingly, though, she showed up out here in the middle of nowhere, sure to annoy normal people. He still remembers the detail from the last encounter.
"Oh how small the world can be, isn't it? That we'll see each other again. You look good." She said, with a fake smile and he did the same because he didn't know what else to do.
"What are you doing here?" Kyle tried to be polite though, because he might be wrong. Perhaps the lady had turned her life around and changed into a better self. Yes, maybe not, because as soon as she introduced her, she came up with two lies. Ok, actually only one, because everyone was allowed to change their name as often as they wanted, as long as they had the financial means and patience with the responsible office or municipality. In addition, it took a while for everyone to notice and accept the name change. That must be really tiring. As his thoughts flowed, he looked out through the store's window glass at Erica. She only added a letter to her first name, but it must not have been that easy for her either.
"Oh, you already know that, silly. I'm going to model for her and give my career a little boost. Not that I really need it." The redhead then wondered why she even volunteered to go here in the nowhere if she didn't think it was necessary. He controlled himself and tried not to roll his eyes.
"It had gotten a little boring and quiet lately. The same job offers over and over again, it just gets boring quickly. Oh, what am I talking about here? Surely you know that too." As he listened to his talkative interlocutor, it occurred to him that he couldn't just get up to chat with Erica about his new knowledge. He first had to figure out how to get rid of this woman, because the thing with the changed name can be overlooked. Even if he thought that Fhylight wasn't exactly a highlight, but that wasn't the point here. What you couldn't ignore was that she wasn't trans. At least he thought his boss wouldn't accept it if she found out about it. Eventually she mentioned that that's exactly what the whole campaign was about. It was just stupid that he couldn't prove it at all. Just his mere words, Erica is unlikely to trust after being forced to work with him. Maybe he should just get up and leave so he could save himself all the stress. But his boss took this project very seriously because it was very important to her personally. No, he couldn't just leave her alone here. At least not with this alleged influencer. He didn't want to imagine how Cartman would look if there was a scandal about this woman after the store opened.
"Then why do you take a job like that? It's still something unknown. Isn't that too daring for you?" Kyle tried to play it down so she wouldn't want to do it.
"What are you talking about? Everything 'she' touches turns platinum and that's why you're here too, isn't it? I'm sure you'll get some money and fame as an assistant." This lady was acting even stranger than he remembered, waving her fingers in quotation marks when she was talking about his boss. If she was trying to imply something, he definitely didn't get it. He also didn't have to.
"She doesn't pay me. I'm doing this .. on a voluntary basis." At first he wanted to explain that he was helping out as a friend, but somehow that wasn't true. On the other hand, he didn't have to explain where he knew Erica from and why he was doing this exactly. It wasn't her business, after all.
"Of course you do. Yes, I shouldn't care either. As long as everything works out and then she'll probably do another podcast with me. Since 'she' is so committed to these disaffected poor people, I thought I'd start something like a reality show. I'd call it me & trans." And all he heard was blah blah an he was sure some of it came across as very offensive. He wondered if she had the faintest idea of the words she was throwing around. Let alone trans people. She'll ridicule all of this and ruin everything for Erica before she can make a name for herself through her fashion. People aren't going to want to shop from someone, let alone work with her, when she's hanging out with a celebrity wannabe like that. He didn't know everything about the subject either, but at least he had decency. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of a way to get out of this situation without getting Fhylight to stage a scene in this cafe.
After her lecture seemed to be over, she took the menu card from the table and he took the opportunity to send his boss a message under the tabletop with his phone. He even wondered why she was standing out there for so long. It might only have been five minutes, but it felt like an agonizing hour for the redhead.
"You really should go to the bathroom." When Erica came back in, the first thing she asked him to do was go to the restroom. He didn't really get that. Maybe she didn't even read his message.
"Go now! I'll order something to take with me and then we'll leave again. And we won't stop again just because you have a weak bladder." At first he wanted to ask what the shit was about, but her look just said, immediately and he got up to do what was asked. Since he was already on his way, he used the restroom and thought for a moment about buying time. But he probably shouldn't leave Erica alone with this crazy woman for too long. After all, he already knew this woman and should therefore help. In addition, he couldn't even climb out of the window here because, strangely enough, there were bars in front of both specimens. Beautifully decorated metal, but still, it blocked everyone's way out. How many guys had already fled their dates that they took this measure, he asked himself jokingly, because that was probably not the reason. It was probably just meant to keep you from fleeing without paying the bill.
After washing and drying his hands thoroughly and not at all exaggeratedly, he went out again. So far he hasn't heard any screaming, that had to be a good sign. At least that's what he thought, until Miss Fhylight Gonstante angrily stamped in the direction of the exit. She mumbled something to herself with smeared mascara that he didn't understand and really didn't have to. Noticing him, she glared at him and showed her two middle fingers in the air in his direction as if they were weapons.
"Fucking asshole! You'll regret that.." The rest somehow went down in a fit of crying. She marched out and covered her face with her hands, certainly so no one would look at her. The rest of the people in the cafe here were all too self-absorbed to wonder about this performance. Not even the waiter nearby cared about this. Kyle decided not to worry about that either and sat down next to his boss. At first she didn't notice him, but looked at the menu card as if nothing had happened. After a moment he got tired of the silence.
"What did you say to her?"
"That her services are no longer needed." Put it simply, as if it had been so easy all along.
"Nothing more?" He asked, irritated, because he couldn't imagine that that was all.
"Nothing more." She answered rather curtly and then glanced at him across the map.
"Yes, just so. Imagine, people get a rejection more often in life." She explained further and devoted herself to the card again.
"Happens, yes. But why didn't you want to know more about it from me before you made her cry?" He shouldn't sound so reproachful, because eventually his boss managed to get rid of the chick almost drama free. At least for today, because he seemed sure that they will hear from her again.
"It's not my problem if at that age you can't deal with someone saying no once in a while. Besides, I didn't care."
"What?"
"Your info was helpful but not really necessary. She forgot that verbal agreements don't really count."
"Do you do this with everyone you work with?"
"No, sensible people insist on an employment contract. Bitches like her, I'm happy to let them chat until they say something I don't like and it's bye bye." Kyle heard that, and it occurred to him that Cartman had never just put up with something like that from anyone. That probably hasn't changed over the years.
"And I was beginning to think that she would spoil all your work. I was already sweating on the toilet." He said relieved and now also grabbed a menu card from the card holder in the middle of the table.
"Dude, I want to eat something here. Stop talking about how sweat ran into some cracks." Erica teased him again in this sympathetic way, but before he could reply, another person came before him.
"Real romantic." The waitress added as she brought them both drinks and his boss apparently ordered something for him as well.
"From three to two, huh? She didn't suit you anyway. Seemed a little too cocky." The woman next to the table with the old-fashioned clipboard babbled on.
"Excuse me?" Just fell out of his mouth because he didn't quite understand the sentences. But Erica ignored the whole thing and ordered something to eat. Now that he was able to get a proper look at the card, it didn't seem like she was taking anything small just to go, as previously announced. If they both stayed here longer, he could treat himself to more.
"That was strange." Said the redhead and found that the waitress was really a little too curious.
"Yes, then just stare at her bum a little longer, that makes it more normal." His superior commented, a little irritated, and typed something into her mobile phone.
"What? I didn't.. Oh forget it! Show me what Kandia or Miss Fhylight or whatever she's going to call herself should wear." But she probably wasn't really listening to the sentence and looked at her phone display while waiting.
"I'm starting to see why Butters can't really be my long-term assistant because he last met her alone and just said to me she's quite nice. He's naive and got sucked into her." That explains why the lady imagined that Erica would work with her so much. Good Butters must have answered with yes and maybe to every question and the madwoman took that as yes and more.
"It can happen to anyone." He was sure that Erica didn't find the blond's quality that disturbing when it was only about her. But Kenny and Stan were right that you can't create a normal working atmosphere like that. However, he didn't push that to her as well now.
"But it shouldn't."
"I'm glad you're rid of her, at least. So not that I'm happy to have fewer people for your project, but..."
"It's all right. Well, I will definitely hear from her again. But I have a good lawyer who likes to jump into such stories."
"And what's next? There are at least two people less."
"Mrs. Violetta has already written to me how she is doing at the moment and if we are lucky, she will at least be able to do the photoshooting. It's ok if she can't be there when the store opens. But how do I find a replacement for this in a hurry?" Wait a minute, she mentioned earlier that his info on Fhylight wasn't necessary. So she could have thought about a replacement beforehand. Unless his information was important, but she probably didn't want to make such a big deal out of it. He probably shouldn't either.
"What are you actually wearing?"
"Hm?" He finally got her to look into his face again. But she didn't seem to fully understand his question and the sunlight from outside flattered her and this lipstick far too much. He pretended to cough so he could look away before continuing.
"Well, what are you going to wear as a designer? Can't you step in yourself in an emergency?" At that she sighed annoyed.
"Please don't make stupid jokes!" She said first and looked around for the waiter. When their eyes met again, she seemed a bit shy again. If only fleetingly.
"Oh my God, you're serious!" Why did this fact irritate her so much, because after all she should want to wear her own creations.
"I wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise."
"Let's put it this way, what she should wear doesn't suit me very well." This sentence confused him even more, because as a designer, wasn't it bad if you can't wear your own clothes.
"You design fashion that you don't even like yourself?"
"Of course I like the outfit. Just not on me." The last sentence was spoken rather quietly. Kyle thought he had a good reason to finally see the designs, but before he could reply, the waitress came over to the table again. The lady really had good timing and with the food, the topic of conversation was just dropped. At least she only looked at him silently after the waitress disappeared again. But she didn't look at his face either and he wondered if she had problems with his clothes again. It took him a moment to realize that Erica was looking down at his plate.
"Would you like to taste it?" He asked her because his fruit cake looked delicious and she had a mixed salad in front of her. He didn't get it that way before, but now he was surprised that she really wanted to eat it.
"What? No, I… Not that I care or anything, but don't you have diabetes?" Perplexed by this, he looked up from the bowl of greens into her examining face.
"Oh. Well, I have such a scanner there. I usually check my values in the morning and can then adjust myself accordingly. Places like this one come in handy for me because the menu says what in each dish is and how much." Somehow he thought it was nice that she was thinking about it.
"And how does this scanner work?" Although she asked him this, he seemed sure that she only wanted to make polite small talk.
"It's such a small implant. Long story short, the thing is in constant contact with my blood so I can check it at any time."
"Can I see that or is it under the skin?" He was a little surprised about that, because she was completely serious and really interested in it.
"Well, that thing is under my stomach .." But Erica quickly interrupted him.
"Oh god, leave your pants on! It's a drama place here, but no one needs to see it. Sorry, I thought it was somewhere on the arm or something." She hurriedly poked lettuce onto her fork and he assumed that he should probably eat something now too. Nevertheless, her slightly rosy cheeks hadn't escaped his notice and unfortunately they also harmonize well with her now dark lips. Yes, he should definitely be staring at his plate too.
"Drama place?" After a few quiet moments between them, only hearing the people in the background, he felt compelled to chat with her again. This awkward silence is awful and he doesn't want Erica to believe that she put him in an awkward situation with the previous topic.
"You know, a coffee shop, restaurant, diner and whatever that allows for drama. You go there and break up with your fiancé before the wedding or finally fire that guy that costs your money for months." That explained the lack of response when Fhylight stormed out.
"That's why they're all here?" Kyle then looked around for the mentioned thing.
"Not everyone comes here for that, because they also make good food. But they also hire anyone who needs work as waitresses. I don't know why this cafe also became a drama place, but the first time I came here with Butters, this young girl was yelling at her father-in-law that she was going to keep the baby. We didn't know that when we came in, but the details came later. It's a bit like unplanned entertainment."
"You like that sort of thing, huh?" He had to grin a little, because of course he was right.
"Well, who likes something like that. But tell me, how do you actually know this Fhylight? An ex?" But she didn't respond to his question, instead wanting to hear something else from him. Actually, he thought he might steer the conversation back to her fashion designs sooner or later.
"Okay, maybe not every person I've dated was a hit, but I'm not stupid enough to pull this off. She dated someone on our team four or five years ago. And because you often met up in the evening, you take your girlfriend with you. The woman made a scene at a Greek restaurant that made everyone at the table embarrassed to be there. First she had ordered things that she didn't want or was allowed to eat because of a diet. Then the drinks were too warm, it didn't go fast enough and this stupid talk all the time. Please let's talk about something else, because I also believe that she will not come to terms with this defeat so easily and will bother us again."
"She has to accept that. Besides, you didn't really have to warn me either. So a thank you is in order." Is she really slowly warming up to him, the redhead wondered, because that's how he liked spending time with her.
"You don't need to say thank you because nobody should have to work with someone like that. She changes her mind and mood like the weather." And if he was honest, he found his boss rather harmless in comparison. But saying that out loud didn't exactly sound like a compliment. So he let it be.