A cracked resolve

Sitting at her desk April finished filling out a form for one of the interns that had quit. Closing her eyes she pinched the bridge of her nose in aggravation. She had gotten a phone call from HR about one of her male interns Christos Nikolaou, a twenty year old that she currently had assisting in their information technology department. He had apparently gone to them to claim the manager there, Camila Rodriguez had sexually harassed him. April only knew the woman in passing and without Christos coming to her about the issue she had no way of knowing if the woman was just as bad as the men around the building or if the young man was crying wolf.

“Miss April.”

April opened her eyes after hearing her name spoken in a soft feminine voice. Standing in front of her desk she saw Bailey with a determined look on their face. “What did I tell you about using my first name at the office?” She asked with a little more vitreal than she intended.

Pressing his lips together Bailey could feel the lipstick on his pouty lips as they slid against one another. He didn’t want to play politics with her, but he also didn’t want to have her mad at him. Not just because she knew he had been with her younger brother sexually and how she could easily tell people, but also because he needed her help to deal with Brannon. The man had made him feel so helpless, he had firmed his resolve to come to her. Yet now that he felt the dark pools of her eyes on him and hearing the tone of her voice it started to crack and he could feel the tears wanting to flood his eyes. He hardly ever cried, pressing things down to be stoic like his father. When his emotions first started to be all over the place he hated it, but when he was held and told to let it all out he had and felt better for it. Now standing here in the office he wished he could go back to pushing it all down, or at least have someone to tell him everything was going to be okay while holding him.

Blinking a few times to try and fight off the tears Bailey took a deep breath in looking at April Gates, wishing he was talking to someone else that would tell him everything was all right. “Miss Gates…”

Seeing Bailey’s green eyes well up with tears, April quickly hit complete on the form before standing up from her desk to stand closer to the feminized man. “Miss best.” April glanced around them before talking in a gentler voice. “Bailey, are you okay?” She asked, suddenly feeling bad for biting his head off the second he came to her. He aggravated her to no end, wasn’t close to good enough for her friend, yet standing there dressed as he was and looking like he was on the verge of crying. Bailey deserved a lot, but he didn’t need to pay for her own frustrations.

Hearing the question Bailey instinctually nodded, the normal smile starting to creep back up his face before faltering. ‘Like get it together! You are totally stronger than this!’

The facial expressions of Bailey seemed so genuine to April, Bailey looking like they were about to burst into tears and trying to put on a brave face at the same time. It made her want to help, to leap into action, but she cooled her emotions with logic. She always knew Bailey was good at manipulating Amanda, her friend would tell her how young he made her feel, but she just never understood how she could put up with a man that was a leech. Now she was wondering if acts like this were how he manipulated her into allowing him to stay around. “Well if you are okay, then what can I do for you?” She spoke in the same gentle tone she had just used, but was feel much more warry.

“Its… umm like about Mr. Brannon.”

“What about him?” April cocked her head to the side, now feeling like she had a better handle on what Bailey was after. Act sad, turn on some water works so he could be moved to work with someone else. He hadn’t even done a proper job of setting up a conference room the previous day, she didn’t feel even a little inclined to move him away from the position she put him in.

Dry swallowing Bailey nodded, mostly to himself as he tried to bring back the resolve he had as he walked up to her desk. Admitting what happened felt wrong, he shouldn’t be ****, that wasn’t something men were… yet he did. The heels changing his balance, the restrictive skirt and exposed legs all fed into how he felt, not that he was self aware enough to put it together. “He… he like, umm.” Seeing April’s eyebrow go up as he stumbled on his words only made things harder. As he tried to tell her what happened he relived the feeling of being pressed down on the desk, a firm hand spanking him.

“He what, Bailey? When I told you to ramp up the ditzy act you have going on, I did not mean with me. Tell me what is going on or get back to work.”

Giving her a weak smile Bailey gave her a few micro nods of his head, feeling his earrings and hair moving he just wished she wouldn’t make this so hard. “Mr. Brannon spanked me when I spilled paperwork and made me.. Made me say things he wanted.” He wanted to tell her what the man had made him say, but just admitting he let the balding man put his hands on him was emasculating enough.

“He spanked you? Like pulled you over his lap or slapped your rear as you walked by?”

“Umm… he umm like, he had me over his desk and did it.” Bailey said in a small voice.

A torrent of emotions flooded April, many of them conflicting with one another. She had always despised George Brannon, the way he treated everyone, the way he treated women especially stoked the fire of her anger. The man was a creep, and yet someone wormed his way to the top of this branch, or he would soon as the appointment took place. She had known of more than one girl that had reported him for his behavior, heck she knew of one man under him that reported him for cursing at him. Amanda had told her how she was in charge of some people, yet had her hands tied to discipline some people and even though she didn’t say his name, April knew she meant the bald weasel. Yet she had chosen him specifically so that Bailey could understand what women in the workplace would go through. She wanted to report him, she wanted to punch him so hard his jaw would dislocate. Bailey getting spanked like a misbehaving child wasn’t specifically what she had in mind, but she also thought it was fitting. Hearing Bailey’s confession, one that she was sure he was exaggerating on considering it was coming from him both upset her and brought a small amount of joy. ‘They are perfect for each other. One chauvinist acting out things with another, better Bailey than any of the girls I am in charge of.’

“He shouldn’t be touching you or anyone. I will walk with you down to human resources and you can fill out a report. It wouldn’t be the first one today.”

Bailey’s eyes went wider at the idea of telling someone else. Part of him knew she couldn’t make someone happen and that it would have to go further, April wasn’t just an admin really. ‘If I go with her then everyone will know… Mommy will know I let that happen.’

“Can’t… umm can’t you just go talk to him or…”

April cut Bailey off, moving a little closer. “No, I cannot just go and talk to him. What would I say? Hey, would you please stop spanking your intern because she doesn’t like it? We can go down to HR, tell them what happened. They are the only ones we can go to for this, not that they will do anything about him, but you. You, they will fire and before you go thinking that would be for the best, I want you to really think about what that means.” April leaned just a little closer, pointing her finger in the platinum blonde’s direction.

Moving his right hand Bailey felt the thick cheap gold bangle on his wrist shift as he gripped his other arm just above the elbow, his eyes shifting away from the women pointing at him and to the floor. Shame flooded his mind as he did exactly as she said. ‘A good girl is always obedient.’ He thought of what the man had said about being in charge soon, how he was getting the promotion mommy was supposed to get because of who he knew and how if he did exactly as he was told then she would be safe. “I… I want to protect her, but… this is like too much!”

“Protect her?” April asked, confused, but continued on before Bailey could respond, irking her that he said it was too much. It really was too much, the man had crossed a line, but so had Bailey with the caricature he chose to portray. “No Bailey, that isn’t too much. Women around here…” She leaned in closer. “Real women go through so much worse. What you are going to do is go back to him and apologize for making a mess or making a scene or whatever.”

“But…”

“No buts Miss Best.” As she cut Bailey off an idea popped into her mind on how she could still teach Bailey a thing or two and maybe have the leverage she needed to protect more people from the ambitious asshole. One of her goals was to get Bailey to quit, not just Mega Corp but the whole act, she just didn’t know how to fully do that and still save her friends career and her own. While her idea wasn’t profound it could be a step in the right direction for her own career if she could pull it off. “I get that what happened was hard on you, but let me ask you something. I think if someone has to suffer so many others will never have to then it is worth the price. Ends and means and all that.” The hard expression on April’s face faded away as she smiled, putting on hand on fake teen’s shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“Everyone knows you are less than smart, or at least everyone does after you talk to them. Girls like you break the rules all the time. Carrying their phones around with them instead of keeping them at their desks, so no one would think twice if you did. Now this is the question. What would happen if you had your phone with you and recorded how he treated you? Have on record you asking him to stop, have on record him not just violating company policy but breaking the law?”

“I'll tell you what will happen.” April continued without waiting for an answer. “You would be protecting everyone at this company from that man.” She latched on to what Bailey said earlier about protecting her, thinking he meant Candi. “You would be a hero, at least I would think of you that way.”

Blinking a few times the normal smile on Bailey’s face returned as he looked back to the women in front of him, making eye contact once more. “A hero? You would?”

April nodded. ‘You would be more like an informant than a hero.’ She thought, but didn’t dare bring the thought to voice. “The man treats everyone like they are beneath them, except those he sucks up to and those people not only protect him, but raise him up. How do you think Amanda would feel if the man that used back channels to steal the promotion that she worked hard for suddenly had justice come upon him.”

Bailey had spent many hours sitting on the couch with his golden haired girlfriend as she watched shows like How to Catch a Killer and knew exactly how she would feel about someone like Brannon succumbing to the weight of his sins. Just as he knew how bad it would be for him if she found out about what he had done behind her back. “It would be good.”

The lilt in Bailey’s voice gave April the impression the disguised man was asking a question rather than just answering her. She repressed the urge to roll her eyes, wishing he would have at least dropped the act while they were having a serious conversation. “Yes Bailey, it would be good. Some might even call it great. Now how about you run along, get your phone and…” She glanced at the slim watch on her right wrist. “How about instead you take an early lunch. Give you time to calm down and practice with recording on your phone. Then you can go back to George, give him that apologetic innocent act that men love.”

“Then you can get him fired?” Bailey asked, imagining his girlfriend hugging him, giving him a kiss on the cheek as she thanked him before pulling him off to the bedroom.

“Honestly, I’m hoping we can have him arrested.” Apil said, yearning for that outcome.

Walking away from the dark eyed woman to go get his purse Bailey nodded to himself happy enough with the outcome that he started to sing Walking on Sunshine softly to himself. He had almost collapsed, had almost given up and Miss April had shown him the path to not only take the man down, but to take some control back of his life. ‘I always thought she was hot, but bitchy. But like I can totally see why Mommy has her for a best friend, she is like waaay smart! I wonder if like after I do this she will be nice to me and hmm like how nice?’ Bailey thought, the song briefly stopping as he got his purse from the desk drawer and thoughts of April waiting on the bed for him with Mandy popped into his mind.

Things were starting to look good to Bailey, even after dealing with everything that morning. Yet things took another dip as he opened the fridge in the break room to pull out his leftovers from the previous day. Reaching in his mouth was already started to salivate, but something felt wrong right away when the styrofoam container was much lighter than it had any right to be. Opening it his heart sank. Someone had eaten all of his left overs and then had put the container with his name on it back. “Who like does that!?” Bailey said to the empty break room, it being too early for most people to be taking a lunch break.