A bad day nearly over

Getting into the passenger seat of the car Bailey unclipped the new employee ID complete with a picture that had been taken earlier in the day. The day had been a trial and he mentally threatened to just scream if he heard one more person say TGIF. Buckling himself in he pulled down the sun visor, shifting his face from left to right to check his makeup. It looked fine, just like it had when he checked it in the reflective glass of the building before exiting. Something just felt off and he hoped it would be something easy to fix like having lipstick on his teeth.

“You okay sis?” Candi asked as she turned her head to look at her friend as she started the car.

Flipping the visor back up Bailey turned his head to the left, his normal vapid smile still in place. ‘Can’t like tell her about Brannon. Peaches, I would love to see her tell him off.’ Bailey thought as he considered how to answer her and thinking back to how he went back to the aged pervert after a lunch break with no lunch. He had been more than receptive to an apology that he didn’t deserve.

“You're sorry?” George shrugged his shoulders. “It isn’t that big of a deal, don’t fret your pretty little head about it. You understand why I had to be firm with you right? Most sexy little things like you think they can just get away with whatever they want, mistake here, teasing there, but you…” He wagged his finger in the air in his intern’s direction. “You as airheaded as you are understand the order of things and you're willing to accept fault instead of arguing or whining about it.”

At the man’s words part of Bailey’s motto ran through his mind. ‘A good girl never argues or complains.’ Shifting his weight from one heeled foot to the other, Bailey felt uncomfortable as he saw the man sitting at the desk in front of him leer at his body, the man’s eyes roaming across him.

“I tell you what little Best, why don’t you come over here, have a seat.” George pushed himself back, his chair sliding on its wheels a little back from his desk and patted his leg. “I will show you a little of what I do here. You can feel free to ask me as many questions as you like about things you don’t understand.”

Bailey hadn’t wanted to sit on the man’s lap, but he had a job to do. So he took the offered place to sit down, watched and listened while the creep had one hand wrapped around his waist, pressing on his stomach to hold him in place. Feeling the man’s touch was horrible, but without it Bailey knew his eyes would have glazed over as he was given a crash course in Brannon’s role. He poured over spreadsheets, something at least a little familiar to him from years ago when he helped run his parents store, but then he started to talk about the mathematical formula in the background, something that bored him to tears and oddly enough something Brannon and Mommy had in common as a topic they liked to discuss. Pivot table this, pivot table that. It made Bailey understand why the creep wanted a distraction from his job, he just wished he wasn’t it.

Bailey had endured the treatment, and didn't complain once when feeling the man’s hand slide across his knee. Feeling the warmth of Brannon’s hand did make Bailey think about how he needed to wear hose to the office, the place was kept too cool to have his legs exposed. When it was time to go and get his picture taken for his badge, Bailey practically skipped out of the office to tell Miss April how he had recorded Brannon asking for him to sit on his lap.

That had been another disappointment in a long line of them that day as the head of the interns listened to the beginning of the recording. “He didn’t exactly speak to you like he should, but that will not be enough for any action to be taken and Bailey.” April closed her eyes for a second, pinching the bridge of her nose. “When recording you have to actually get the person to say things. All he said was for you to have a seat, he didn’t say for you to sit in his lap and you didn’t tell him no that isn’t appropriate. You have to get him to threaten you, to **** you. You know, something actionable. Jeez… Brannon isn’t going to get in trouble if you willingly rub your ass on his crotch. The only one that would get in trouble would be you, not exactly what we are looking for.”

Nodding his head Bailey could feel his long hair that was held up with a hair clip move slightly. “I ahh, well I was like, thinking if I didn’t say anything that we could submit this like anonna… anonymously.” Bailey said, getting tongue tied on the word. “That way I like, don’t get in trouble for recording.”

Taking Bailey’s hand in her own, April clasped both hands around Bailey's, a little surprised at how smooth and delicate it felt in her own. “Nevada is a one party consent state, only one person has to agree to be recorded. Now you need to get him to admit what he is doing.” She gave the feminized man in front of her a small smile, trying to not let on to how much she enjoyed the idea of Bailey sitting in another man’s lap for over an hour. “You can do better, be better.” She gave Bailey’s hand a small squeeze before letting go. ‘Maybe being treated like a sex object will make you better after living through what women have to go through.’ April thought before bringing her fake god daughter down to human resources to get an official badge. Waiting till the end of the first week to give badges had been her idea after learning about the turnover rate in the first week of the intern problem.

“Earth to Bailey.” Candi said leaning close enough that only an inch was between the two. Some days her friend was more spacey than others and considering she was saying that she spent the day learning about how the accounts payable department operated she bet her friend was at her limit. Something she could understand, even with August’s company her task was more than monotonous and mentally draining.

Bailey jumped back in his seat after realizing Candi was talking to him close enough that the two could have kissed. It felt like a jump scare with her suddenly so close to him, he had been thinking about his horrible day so much that he didn’t even notice her getting that close when he was facing her. The thought that she was close enough to kiss made his eyes linger for half a second on his friend’s lips. They were plump like his own and looked so inviting covered in gloss. “Ahhh, umm, like what did you say?”

Leaning back in her seat a small lilting giggle escaped her lips. “I was saying that I can tell something is wrong.”

Pursing his lips for a moment before smiling again, Bailey shook his head twice before pointing to the corners of his mouth with his index fingers on either hand, both just shy of touching his dimples. “Nothing bad like, wrong and stuff. See, all smiles!” It was crushing enough to admit what happened earlier that morning to Miss April, he didn’t want to bring it up again or trouble her with his new quest to get the sugar loving man fired or even arrested.

“Bull.” Candi said, crossing her arms under her chest as she gave her green eyed companion a hard look. “I have always totally admired how you could always smile no matter how tough things got or like you always try to. A brave face that tells the world you can take what it has, but.” She narrowed her eyes, uncrossing her arms and tapped her chest with each of her next words. “Not. With. Me.” She then used that same hand to point an index finger in Bailey’s direction. “Now spill.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, Bailey rolled his green eyes. “It's like…” he paused for a second deciding what to tell her. If he told her about Brannon she would either want in on it, or would ruin everything by confronting him or going to her father. He loved and appreciated her and the fire within, but she just didn’t understand how the world worked, how cruel it was. “My leftovers…” Bailey stuck out his bottom lip in an honest pout, feeling just as upset saying it out loud now as he did when he opened the styrofoam box. “Someone ate them and left the box in the fridge and then I just sat there in the break room. You and Auggy were still working and I can’t drive and like, didn’t have any change for the vending machines.”

“They ate your food and put back the empty container!?” Candi shook her head in disgust. “Circle of hell, I don’t like, know which one, but people like that… yeah. Stealing and then rubbing the owner's face in it. God, that is like some Hugh Astor kind of bull. I swear he thinks everything belongs to him. Did you know like… no you don’t because you weren’t there, but like. He came down to the records room to ask me out on a date, but instead of asking he just told me to give him my address so he could pick me up tonight to go to some club.” Candi blew out a breath, directing it up so it pushed some of her hair out of the way. “I hadn’t even thought about going to a club, but now we totally can now that we are eighteen…” She held up one hand in a stop motion. “I’m getting off topic, well when I told him no he seemed shocked. I had to tell him I would rather kiss a hundred frogs to find a prince than even hold his hand for a second.” She stopped again nodding her head to the side. “I said that part after he took my hand saying how we would go out tonight or another night soon because no one could resist him. Gahh! Can you believe that!?”

Scrunching up his nose Bailey’s muscles in his neck and shoulders tightened as he shook his head. “Eww he said that?”

Candi nodded vigorously before opening her mouth, sticking out her tongue and motioning with her index finger in a gagging motion. “Yeah, what a creep. Wait, that is what happened to me, but we were totally talking about you. Sorry, I just like, really needed to get that off my chest and I’m totally sorry you had to sit by yourself and didn’t get lunch. August and I missed you for lunch too, he had a gift card his sister gave him to a place called White Wolf, it was so cute. I don’t know why they call it wolf, there isn’t any wolf stuff there and the food is like, really good. Maybe Monday we can bring out lunches and you can just come down to us to eat lunch. It's not like there are any managers around to say no. How about we go get a milkshake and fries to celebrate the end of the week?”

The offer for food was incredibly tempting to Bailey, but he wanted to get back to Aunt Megan’s place to talk to her about what happened with Liam and was ready to forgo food to hear about the first steps in the realization of his ****, but that thought came to an end as his stomach growled.

“I will take that as not just a yes, but a hell yes!” Candi said, pointing to her friend's stomach that had cheered at her offer.

The offered meal wasn’t exactly what Bailey had thought of, the two of them shared a chocolate malt and a medium order of slightly over cooked fries, leaving them extra crispy. Dipping the salty crisp fries in the sweet malt was like eating a small bite of heaven to Bailey with his empty stomach, an experience that came to an end all too quickly.

“So are you excited for Mom to come home tomorrow?” Candi asked, tossing a crumpled up napkin on the empty plate that once held their fries. Bailey just responded by raising a single eyebrow. “Don’t give me that, we both know they will be engaged and then married before we know it. Don’t like, be a doubting Nancy now after all the work we put in.”

With a large grin on his face Bailey rolled his eyes at the girl, not for the first time this day. ‘Mommy is coming home to me, Derrick is nice and all, but she loves me.’ He thought as he pulled the malt glass closer to himself, running his finger along the rip to get one last taste of the chocolate drink. “I like, really can’t wait to see her tomorrow. It is like, funny, she has gone away on trips before and I was fine, but like a lot has happened and umm.” Bailey looked away from himself feeling sheepish to admit the truth. “I miss her.”

“Awww! I have no doubt she has missed you too. But!” Candi added the last word with extra excitement. “If you are excited for her to come home, you will totally be beside yourself when you hear what we are doing this weekend!”

Blinking at her a few times Bailey cocked his head to the side, he hadn’t even thought about the weekend with how busy he had been. “What are we doing?”

Turning her head to the side Candi looked at her friend out of the corner of her eye, her acting coy with the information. “Hmm, maybe I should let it be a surprise.”

“Nooooo, you should tell me!”

Candi touched a finger to her chin as she pretended to think about it. “I think it would be better if it was a surprise.” She gave a wicked grin to her friend sitting across from her.

He knew she was playing with him, but he didn’t feel much like playing along, much of his patience already spent sitting in a man’s lap earlier that day. “Fine, I can wait.”

It was Candance’s turn to stick out her bottom lip to pout. “You're no fun.” She glowered at Bailey for a handful of seconds before giving in, her own patience giving way to what she felt was a stand off. “Fine, I will give you a hint.”

Bailey raised an eyebrow, holding in a chuckle at how quickly she folded. He watched her bite bite her bottom lip, waiting on him to bite her hook, but when he didn’t reply she finally spoke, giving him the hint for their activities this weekend.

“A horse named Cherry.” Candi said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Emotions flooded Bailey as memories of his time with the fillie came to mind. He recalled riding the young horse, his father showing him how to cinch a saddle, riding along side of him and the large smile on the normally stoic man’s face when he tried getting the horse to gallop for the first time and the stern tone to his voice when admonished him for doing so before he was ready. “Cherry!?” Bailey said, tears welling up in his eyes. The news of Derrick finding the horse at the birthday party had all been forgotten in the shuffle of his hectic summer.