“Yes, well, when I told you that I quit,I did not specify a time. It was an hour ago. My lease is running out this week and I, ostensibly, have a new place lined up, but they’re going to pull it out from under me now that I don’t have income.”
“Oh, shit. I was kind of picturing two weeks’ notice.”
“Try two seconds’ notice.” She sighed. “I’m sorry to put you in this position, Bridget. I’m not putting this all on you, I have other people I can contact too, I just know you always had a way with finding solutions for things…”
“Okay, first of all, just worry about yourself right now, that’s a lot to handle. I’m guessing something happened at work this morning, so you’re probably shaken up and stuff too. Do you not have any family or anything in the area?”
She groaned. “I do,” she said, and that was enough for me to figure out what she was saying. Or what she wasn’t saying.
“Right. Understood. I’ll have a look. It’s my top priority.” Not like I was making any progress on my work right now. “In the meantime, go get, like… cookies or something. Cookies and hot chocolate.”
She sighed, sounding like the most tired person I’d ever heard. “Suddenly I’m in the mood for snickerdoodles… that sounds lovely.”
“Oh. Um, well, you could, uh…” I forced an awkward laugh. “Wish you were here! I’ve got way too many to eat all by myself.”The only thing on the counter was a dildo. I wasn’t feeding Victoria that.
“I genuinely really appreciate your help, Bridget. Let me know if you hear anything. I’ll keep you posted if I hear back from anybody else.”
“Who else are you asking?”
The question, apparently, was a mortal blow. Victoria was quiet for a good few seconds before she said, “There’s some… some people from work.”
“Okay, why don’t you forget all of that and leave it to me? You just take care of your snickerdoodles and getting packed up.”
“I don’t know what to say. I really don’t want to put all this on you—”
“Girl, relax.” I was losing my corporate edge. It had been too long. I pulled myself together. “Give yourself a break. You’re not in any state to bring your best efforts right now anyway. Pass the baton along to me, and I’ll carry it until you can take it back, all right?”
“Thank you so much. I owe you a massive favor for all your help.”
“You can pay me back by helping me finish off my next batch of snickerdoodles, okay?” Which would come from the store. I’d squish them a little bit or something to make them look more homemade. “Okay, Victoria, get some rest. I’ll let you know once I find something out.”
∞∞∞
I didn’t get any leads, though.
For how much I talked a big game, I wasn’t really the information broker of this place. Not exactly the kind of place where a professional lesbian slut would make a lot of connections, not that I could really explain that part to Victoria. I was feeling desperate on Victoria’s behalf when I sat in the corner of my bed later, hugging Mary the dinosaur into my chest while I sent Discord messages on my phone, trauma dumping on my friend Nikki, and she typed a reply back.
wanna hop on call?
In lieu of a response, I sent a pleading face emoji. Normally I’d have gone into the studio and set up on my computer with my nice camera and microphone and everything, but this time, I stuck to my phone as she called me, her voice low and smooth.
“It’s sweet that you’re doing this for your friend.”
“I don’t know if I’d even really call her my friend,” I said, slumping back in bed. “We were friendly while we worked together, but we never talked outside of work or anything… I think she’s just desperate. Which means I can’t really just turn up likeoh, jeez, I’ve got nothing, sorry.Ugh! I’m just going to jump into a frozen lake and not have to deal with this anymore.”
“Okay, let’s take it one step at a time, and none of those steps involve jumping into a frozen lake.”
“Ugh. Sorry. I’m just grouchy. I’ve been moody over my situation all day and I can’t focus on anything. Even the latestLesbians’ Labyrinthdoesn’t do it for me. I needed to get off but I couldn’t get in the mood and then I couldn’t get anything done, either.”
“Could keep you company, if you want,” she said, her voice that distinct combination of genuinely caring and also genuinely flirting. Wouldn’t have been the first time we got off together on voice. Nikki and I weren’t remotely romantic, but we were both equally horny, so sometimes friends were there for each other.
“Thanks, but not this time. I’m just stressed out. Even a good orgasm isn’t going to make it go away.”
“What’s your situation?” she said. “If it’s stressing you out so much you can’t even come, it must be a big deal.”
“I shouldn’t have signed on this stupid place,” I groaned, squeezing Mary harder into my chest. “I thought I’d be able to produce so much more when I left the job and I could do it full-time! But I guess I overestimated myself, becausethatdidn’t happen, and my savings from my old job have been slowly running out… I don’t know how I’m going to make it work through the end of the lease. I should have just gotten some dinky little studio in nowheresville instead.”
Nikki paused. “You know, I hate to be out here giving advice when you just need to vent, but I’m kind of seeing an obvious solution.”
