Chapter Nine - When Will You Be Home?
"So, was no one else available to take care of all these?" Aidan questioned while pointing with a pen at the huge stack of folders on his desk.
One of the promises he had made to himself was to be more assertive. At least, that was one of the things the motivation audio books he was listening to on his way to work every day tried to teach him. 'Tried' being the operative word since Aidan had proven to be nothing but a mediocre student in that respect. No matter how much he wanted to impose himself, especially at work, he seemed to do an abysmal job.
The female colleague leaned against his desk with the same coffee cup that seemed glued to her, in one hand. "It is your job," she said matter-of-factly.
"I see," Aidan replied, pursing his lips.
He could not fathom why his colleague wasn't moving away, now that she had unloaded on his desk enough files to keep him busy until he was grey.
"So how is he?" the woman eventually asked, seeing how Aidan had grabbed one of the folders and was getting ready to get to work.
"Who?" Aidan asked, without looking at her.
The woman leaned over like she wanted to share some secret with Aidan. "Heathcliff Stone, who else? I wish I had your job," she said under her breath with a small grimace.
"By all means, I can share," Aidan put one hand over the stack of folders.
The woman almost took a step back as if she had been burned. "I meant looking after Heathcliff," she said and shook her head.
Aidan could say he was a tad annoyed by how his colleague was talking about Heathcliff. Like she was entitled to say his name like that.
"He's gay," he blurted out.
It wasn't like him to act like that.
"And?" the woman shrugged. "I bet it's amazing to work with someone like him," she said dreamily.
Aidan sighed. "He's actually ..." he began but stopped.
"Yes?" the woman's eyes lit up.
"He's an awesome person," Aidan said. "Quite nice."
And he was doing that in all honesty.
"Ah," the woman seemed disappointed. "Okay. If you say so, I mean. He has quite a reputation."
"Well, it's no one's business what he does in his spare time," Aidan retorted.
"Of course," the woman said in an exaggerated, empathic voice. "But it must be torture for him not to be able to go as wild as he likes, now that he's signed with us."
"What do you mean?" Aidan looked straight at her.
The woman balanced the coffee cup in her hand like it was some circus act. "You know, we don't just endorse anyone," she added like Aidan must have been hearing that for the first time in his life.
"He has two million followers," Aidan pointed out. "Of course we do not endorse just anyone," he said, emphasizing the 'we'.
"I was talking about, you know, his rather loose ..." The woman stopped, apparently trying to find her words.
"His followers don't care about that," Aidan said sharply. "He does a great job at giving fitness advice. He has a positive impact on people's lives."
Aidan was getting a little worked up. But it wasn't fair that people were judging Heathcliff based on what he did in his free time.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," he set his hands on the keyboard, looking determinedly ahead, at the screen, "I need to take care of all these unless I want to end up sleeping here."
The woman scoffed, but added nothing, and began walking away. "Put those extra hours in, Aidan," she called over her shoulder. "They will pay off, eventually."
Something was foreboding in how the woman spoke those words. And how she looked at him as if she knew something he didn't.
With a shrug, he decided to get back to work. And, while he was determined to stay away from Heathcliff and remain strictly professional in their dealings, he was not going just to let random people gossip or speak ill of him. The guy was more than just his image, and, as Aidan knew well, a good person.
***
"Is the boss in?" Aidan asked the secretary.
Part of his assertiveness training involved reminding his boss, with some frequency, that he was very much interested in a creative position. He was efficient, he was doing his job, day by day, and he had not much else to learn from his current situation.
The secretary placed one hand over the phone with a bored expression. "Let me check if he can see you."
Aidan remained standing. It was three hours after what was supposed to be closing time, but his boss was still at work, and he was keeping his secretary from leaving home, as well. Of course, that meant his boss was busy. But Aidan wasn't going to take much of his time.
The secretary spoke perfunctorily over the phone and then gestured for him to go inside.
"Spark," his boss boomed, "good job on the photo and video shoot!"
"Thank you, sir," Aidan said. "What do you think of the results?"
"Sit," the man ordered, looking at him over his glasses.
Aidan sat on one of the little chairs available. Having his knees up almost to his chest was making him feel awkward. It was not the ideal position to ask for a promotion, but he needed to make do with what he had.
"Is Heathcliff Stone behaving?" the man asked.
Aidan knew what his boss was asking, and it was making him grind his teeth a little.
"He's on his best behavior, sir," he murmured.
Being part of this charade was making him feel bad, even if he wasn't the instigator, by all means.
"Good. Now, can I help you with anything?" his boss asked, still looking over his glasses, and visibly not in the mood to extend this visit from an employee for too long.
