"I did. I ... uh ... I knew you would be looking for me to go out for lunch and I did my sexy thing and you know how it goes. So there you are. Fire me." My explanation is not going over well with Evaleen despite the complete logic of it. I sense my Brain pacing back and forth, screaming "NO" at me.
"Sounds good, Drake, but the thing is I know you and you like Payne. I don't understand WHY you like him, but you do. You aren't some money grubbing woman or cutthroat she-beast who will do anything to get to the top. I like you, Drake, because you are a hard worker and an honest person. The only thing I can't understand is why you are lying right now?"
"I'm not lying."
I'm lying. I'm crazy-tell-everyone-your-kid-is-stuck-in-a-weather-balloon-for-fame lying. I didn't know Evaleen would walk in on us. Actually I had totally forgotten about our lunch date. I wasn't exactly thinking of food at that moment.
But watching Henrik throw everything he has worked over a decade for away, and knowing how truly valuable he is to this company I just couldn't have him losing his job over this. Oh, and also my stupid heart thought it was romantic or something. "Books are written about such things, Morgana," my Heart moans, looking starry eyed out the window. "Yeah, but I haven't written a book, Heart, so where are the royalties to support me through this?" She shrugs her shoulder, "I don't know. Personal finance isn't my problem." Figures.
Evaleen mumbles something under her breath and turns to her computer to start typing. After a minute I hear the printer perk up behind her and she walks over to grab the paper coming out. Finally she places the print out in front of me.
"This is a statement of what you and Payne have told me about the incident. Please sign the bottom if you agree that it is accurate and true. Upon signing you, as well as Payne, will be put on leave without pay until an investigation can prove what you say is true."
She is holding a pen out in front of me and my hand shakes as I grab it. My eyes glance over the type on the page but I can't make out the words as my eyes blur from unshed tears and my head begins to throb. Nervously I sign and hand everything back to Evaleen.
"Well, I guess this means no lunch then." I try to joke but my voice is shaky.
"No, I have too much work to do now and I have to talk to the Mimir brothers about this. Mr. Payne has already left the building, so you can go and grab your things. Unfortunately you will need to leave immediately. Do you want me to walk out with you, Morgana?"
Oh god she used my first name ... this is bad. Evaleen must really feel sorry for me.
"No. I'm okay. I'll just grab the few things I have. My picture of my family, my porcelain cake statues and assorted dessert sprinkles. I think that's it."
I rise, not as a twenty-nine-year-old woman who takes the challenges of life and seeks to conquer them, but as a defeated female slowly crashing and burning while feeling like she is living in a ninety-year-old body. Tottering out of her office, I make my way down the hall and notice Mr. Payne's door is open. Gathering my courage, what minuscule crumbs are left of it, I peek inside. It's like stepping back in time to that Friday over a week ago. The chairs are overturned and that poor plant, who never asked to be in Mr. Payne's office, is lying on its side, gasping its last ... whatever the opposite of "breath" is in photosynthesis.
Walking over I lovingly try to put it straight. Regrettably it has taken so much abuse, the leaves are bent or broken off. The plant is a shell of its former self, so I sit beside it and hold its palm as it passes from this world.
"Shh, little Planty. No need to cry, I'm here. I won't hurt you."
My eyes begin to burn again as my cheeks prickle and before I know it a long sob takes over. By sob I mean ugly, snotty, wet cry. The word moist grosses me out, but it's in the English language for a reason. To describe my face at this moment; it is moist, red and puffy. I'm sure my mascara has added to the facial fail.
I don't stop crying for quite a long time and I'm surprised security hasn't shown up to have me removed.
"Morgana, what did you do now?" I hear Aria's voice coming from the door as I look up to see her moving toward me. She comes to sit beside me at my impromptu wake honoring the passing of both Planty and my career.
"I fucked up, Aria. Like stupid fucked up. I'm on leave without pay and will most likely be fired after the investigation. Also, Mr. Payne hates me. Hates me!"
She is shaking her head in disbelief.
"Wait? What? Investigation? Oh my God, Morgana, what happened? Evaleen called me to come get you, but she didn't say why."
I sigh and tell her the whole story, even the spanking. She giggles at that and crinkles her nose. Methinks the lady hath not been spanked before. By the end she gives me a lopsided smile and shakes her head.
"Oh Morgana ... do you know what the record is for most orgasms in an hour?"
I shake my head, feeling my voice go hoarse after the day's events.
"One hundred thirty-four orgasms in an hour by a woman. I think for a man it was sixteen."