Rumor Conscious

“I’m sorry?” You try to clarify upon hearing Becca’s question.

“I’m asking if that new girlfriend of yours is spreading lies about me.” Becca rephrases her question.

“Paige isn’t my girlfriend, Becca. We just met this afternoon.” You tell her defensively.

“So she is spreading lies about me.” Becca retorts.

“I didn’t say that.” You reply.

“It was a negative-pregnant. You only denied the part that she wasn’t your girlfriend.” Becca points out.

“Then I’m denying the part she’s slandering you too.” You immediately reply.

“It’s too late for that, Jay. Tell me what lies she’s been spreading.” Becca replies back just as quickly.

“Am I on trial here? What’s going on?” You finally ask in a panic, not sure what’s really going on with Becca.

“You are not on trial, she is.” Becca replies, pointing to the door behind you.

“Why is she on trial then?” You ask her, trying to take control of the conversation.

“You’re my witness, not her lawyer. Talk.” Becca says in a commanding tone.

“I am not your anything, Becca.” You answer just as assured as she is, making her eyes widen. You’re not sure if her eyes widening is from the surprise that someone had the audacity to not do what she wants, or if she’s impressed that you did have the audacity to not do what she wants. “You’re not her prosecutor either. I need to know what’s going on, and why you’re so concerned about what Paige says about you.” you add to clarify your intent with your earlier statement.

“So you confirm she has said something about me?” Becca asks shrewdly.

“You know what, not saying it is only going to make it sound worse; so, yes, she has mentioned something.” You finally admit, not seeing any point to hide it any further. “The real question is, why do you care what a random person thinks about you? You didn’t seem to care when Tanya called you a control freak back at Dorsia the other night.” You ask her inquisitively.

“I did not care for Tanya’s terminology as it was an appropriate description of who I am. I am someone who enjoys being in control.” Becca answers your question. “What I do care about is when others spread their false perceptions about me to other people. I will not have it.” Becca adds in a more serious tone, and you finally see where she’s coming from. Although, not entirely. You didn’t peg her as someone who cares at all about what other people think, whether that opinion was true or not. Based on your initial interaction with her, at least.

“I completely understand, but how were you so sure she said anything about you?” You ask her.

“I know my reputation around the Head Office. I’m also very much aware of how they act and how they spread false information about me. The only thing I’m not sure of is what false information she shared with you.” Becca explains to you. “Is that a sufficient enough explanation?” Becca then asks, and you nod. “Talk.” Becca once again commands.

“She said she got the impression that older management has, and I quote, ‘old jealous bastard vibes’, end quote.” You inform her. Withholding the information that Paige shared before that statement, in order to protect the young girl. She just told you she’s looking for a job and hoping to get one at Becca’s office. You’re not going to throw her under the bus for just sharing what old jealous bastards told her about Becca.

Becca was not pleased with your answer though. She knows you’re not telling her the full story.

“That’s not the part I’m asking about. You already admitted she mentioned something about me. Please stop wasting my time and tell me already.” Becca tells you. You realize you’ve cornered yourself by admitting that Paige did mention something before thinking about what you were going to tell Becca. You close your eyes and take a deep breath, worried how what you’ll say might affect the hopes of another person.

“She said you were ruthless, and that you fired and blacklisted a guy for an average marketing campaign; and something else after that that I don’t recall as much. That’s honestly all of what she mentioned since she was surprised we were friendly with you.” You tell her. “Please don’t take that against Paige. She—” you tried to say in defense of Paige, but Becca cut you off. Surprisingly, Becca didn’t seem furious at all after hearing what Paige told you earlier.

“Do you believe her?” Becca quickly asks after you finished recounting what Paige said, looking more concerned about your answer to this latest question than the previous ones.

“Of course not, Becca.” You answer her immediately. “I’m not stupid. You can’t fire someone and blacklist them without sufficient cause. I’m pretty sure an average marketing campaign isn’t one of them. Whatever rumor she heard when she worked there, I assume it was blown out of proportion already. That’s how rumors work. I should know, one of my girlfriends is a victim of that.” You add, and it seemed to crack a smile from her for just a second before she recovered her stern facade.

“Thank you. I also appreciate the candidness. Even if it was delayed.” Becca says in a much softer tone than she was in previously. “I’m aware of the story she told you. The man I fired and blacklisted was the former VP of Marketing. I did so because I found out he’s been sexually harassing multiple interns, if you must know.” Becca explains.

“Thanks for telling me, Becca; but I didn’t need to know. That was your business, and you were doing what you thought was right; which, in this case, seemed very right.” You assure her, and now she doesn’t suppress the smile she was hiding earlier and gives you a genuine one after what you just told her. “What I do want to know is, why are you concerned about what I think?” you ask her.

“I’m not.” Becca answers defensively, not cracking her serious demeanor.

“I mean, you asked me if Celeste mentioned anything about you; now, you pull me aside to ask if I believed rumors about you. I’m just trying to connect the dots here.” you explain to her.

“A bit presumptive of you to think that it’s your opinion I care about.” Becca replies, and you can’t help but openly look surprised at her response. She sees the look on your face and smirks. “Then again, I can’t say I’m surprised. A man with as many girlfriends as you must assume the world revolves around him.” Becca remarks teasingly.

“Then who’s opinion do you care about?” You ask her.

“If I recall correctly, you said you just wanted to know, correct? Well, my answer would be, you don’t need to know.” Becca answers you, the smile on her face more wicked than the one you got out of her earlier. You’re stumped as to how to get Becca to talk, and she takes that as the cue to end the conversation.

“Again, thank you for your candidness, Jay. It was much appreciated. I’ve gotten what I wanted, and as the ruthless bitch that I am, you are no longer of any use to me.” Becca says, but she was obviously joking. At least you hope she was.

“I won’t keep you further. Enjoy your dessert.” she adds. “Jay.” she says with finality, similar to her goodbye earlier, and you can only reply with “Becca.” before she walks away to leave the restaurant.

You watch as she boards the backseat of an expensive looking car that drives off immediately.

What the fuck just happened!?

You walk back inside the function room where the girls seem to be laughing about something before they notice you enter.

“That took a while!” Stella reacts.

“What’d you and Becca talk about?” Cassie asks.

“Yeah~ before I answer that… Viv—” you say to grab Viv’s attention. “Has Becca always been self conscious about what people think of her? Did she ask you what we thought of her since the last time we met?” you ask Viv.

“I think Becca’s the farthest from being concerned about what people think of her. She does get flustered when you call her a robot though, but that’s about it. Oh, and she cares about her performance as a Domme too; lest I forget.” Viv answers you honestly. “As to the other part, the answer to that is a ‘no’ too, Junior.” Viv adds.

You take your seat at the table and try to assess why Becca would pull you aside like that just to ask you those questions and then suddenly leave. Maybe it is just your ego making this all about you, or your thinking is being influenced by knowing her scores. You try to mentally slap yourself like you did earlier to remind yourself you’re not all that, but Viv said something interesting that stopped your imaginary hand mid imaginary slap.

“Oh! She did ask me what I thought about you though.”