Something New

It was the time I’d stormed out of an interview, and I felt so damn liberated. A part of me hoped he was still sitting there with the same stupid look on his face he had when I told him about himself. Flustered or not, I still had a job to do and decided to call my editor, Jackson, to get ahead of whatever heat would come my way for walking out.

“Why are you calling me so soon? It hasn’t even been a full thirty minutes yet,” he answered.

“He’s repulsive, that’s why!”

“What happened?”

“I walked out; that’s what happened! I’m telling you, Jackson, from the moment I got there, it was like he had it out for my ass. The entire interview, he was just so, we… Just closed off, gave me short, stupid responses to all Naomi’s questions, and then when I tried to ask a few of my own, he practically bit my damn head off! I’m only calling you to give you a heads-up that I left the interview so abruptly. He seems like the type who would whine to his publicist about me wasting his time, so I’m just telling you so that you won’t be blindsided.”

“Dammit, okay. Okay. Let’s not panic here.”

“Are you saying that to yourself or me because I’m good.”

Jackson expelled a frustrated sigh. “Listen, I can tell you’re flustered. I’m so sorry he put you through all that. Maybe he’s just being a hard ass or whatever.”

“Whatever it was, I’m over it, Jackson. I was with you when it came to helping a co-worker, but that man is impossible.”

“Yeah, I hear you. Did you at least get anything useful?”

“I probably have enough material to write an article, just not the one I want to write,” I admitted.

“Damn, okay. We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about it. Just go home, sort through what you’ve got and let me know.”

“I will, but there’s no way I’m covering that grand opening, Jackson. No fucking way. You’re going to have to find someone else.”

“Please don’t do this to me, Isa! You have to stick with this. I would ask someone else if I could, but we have no one else right now.”

I smacked my lips. “Jackson, no. Absolutely not!”

“We’re so short-staffed with maternity leave and vacations. I need you, Isa. I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t. Please, just take the night to clear your head, see what you’ve got in the morning, and like I said, we’ll put our heads together if you don’t have enough for the full spread, but we need content from that grand opening.”

“Ugh!” I groaned, “okay, fine. I’ll talk to you later.”

“You’re the absolute best! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”