16
I attract positive, healthy relationships when isolated from society.
A WEEK LATER
Once again, I'm embracing the downfalls of being unemployed as I sit in unwashed clothes on a couch with a bag of chips, scrolling through my laptop searching for job openings while watching soaps. I worked my way through college, trying to earn enough money to pay the loans for my tuition. My parents couldn't care less what I do with my life and didn't care whether I went to college or fled the country. I am full of determination and have the drive to live a better life than they did, scrounging and figuring out what house will be cheaper to rent in a month is not in my life plans. I've already surpassed them by maintaining a job for a consecutive year straight.
Though, I feel like I'm channeling my mother's behavior, and it's depressing.
“It's okay to take a break from the job search," Layla tells me from behind her computer. You're driving yourself nuts.
“I'm not quitting until I have at least one lead," I tell her.
“You know, I can just set you up on more feature dates. There's nothing wrong with a little escorting, right?"
“No, Layla, find another job venture, please."
“I did."
“You started another company?" I ask.
“Yup, yesterday," she says as if this is a casual thing.
“I shouldn't be surprised about this. What is this company called?"
She giggles and covers her face, stalling before answering my question. “You will want to kill me after I tell you."
My pulse is already speeding up. She goes too far and has a track record of not seeing the line she crosses. “What did you do?"
My inbox opens in the time I'm waiting for her to talk. My freaking computer took an hour to update this morning. “Oh my God, I have an email from Lacto Natural Central." Holy cow, no … breast. I chew on my thumbnail, nervous to see what this says. If they didn't see my response to the article which is likely, this could be some kind of additional personal lawsuit if they are linking me to Virtual Generation's actions. My body heats to where I feel like I'm having a hot flash. Shit. Shit. Shit. I click open and see the entire email in a chunk rather than focusing on the first line. I have a tendency of trying to observe the mood of the writer by picking out critical parts like the punctuation or emoticons, but at a glance, everything appears friendly, so I start at the top.
“They want to talk," I tell Layla.
“For what?" she says, sounding as nervous as I am.
“They read my rebuttal. Many people read my rebuttal and mentioned my response to them when purchasing their services. I brought them business somehow."
“Didn't you mention your promotional ideas in response to that article?"
“Yeah, but I‘m thinking it wasa bad idea."
“Who cares?" Layla shouts. “They want to talk to you because people are mentioning you while purchasing …" Those are the only words in that email that matter.
“I'm sure they want information about Virtual Generation since I'm not being represented by someone telling me to keep my mouth closed."
“Well, um, I'm telling you to keep your mouth closed. Anything you say might end up in a trial if or when this goes to court, so don't say a word about anything."
“It's kind of too late for that, don't you think?"
“Yeah, it is. You already shot yourself in the foot there. Oh well."
I shake my head at Layla even though she isn't looking. She isso annoying.I grab my phone to dial the number at the bottom of the email.I hope I don't seem too desperate by calling an hour after receiving the email. Whatever, I have nothing to lose right now other than being tied into a lawsuit.What am I doing? How did I get here? I talked to Minnie Mouse—that was what I did. This is unreal.
I press the phone up to my ear and wait for someone to pick up. “This is Heather Marks with Lacto Natural Central, how can I help you?"
“Hi Heather, this is—uh—this is Madelyn Wall. I received your email this morning, requesting me to call."
“Oh my gosh, thank you so much for calling me back. I felt the need to chat with you after reading your response to our article. First, I appreciate your commentary. It was wonderfulto get another opinion on the matter, particularly from a person working at Virtual Generation. I can't imagine it went over well for you, however."
