SS NYM Ch 9

Athena lets herself in to find Meri and Colby kneeling in the entryway. Meri is offering a hot towel while Colby holds up a glass of wine.

Athena looks as though she’s been run over by a bus. This is what anyone looks like after a day as an intern at Warmer.

“Oh my god,” she says quietly, quickly shutting the door behind her so no one in the hallway sees the rather provocative outfits. “Wow.” She looks down at them, then takes the glass of wine and gulps half of it. “This is really sweet.” She picks up the towel, but doesn’t appear to know what to do with it.

Meri and Colby hop up and push her into the bathroom. Colby takes her purse while Meri forcibly strips her. Athena’s too worn out to fight, so she plays along. She sits patiently in the tub, which is full of bubbles, oils, and rose petals as Meri and Colby use sponges to bathe her. It would probably be more relaxing for her to just soak, but Meri has committed to the gimmick.

Colby slips away to make sure that dinner is perfect while Meri helps Athena dry off. It’s a quiet, private, intimate moment, but a few seconds of eye contact takes the place of any talking. Athena doesn’t know what to say, and Meri doesn’t need her to say anything.

Wrapped in a robe, Athena sits down with them to eat. In a perfect world, the Warmer Group could be left at the office and they could relax. But this is the real world.

“What happened?” Athena asks after graciously thanking them for all their trouble. Colby is seated, but Meri is on her feet, serving the food.

“This lady named Annette had a plan for a televised soccer league. Half sports, half reality. Very weird, but she’d given a lot of thought to how to market it and who to market it to. It’s a passion project,” Meri says, using tongs to put salad on Athena’s plate. “But she obviously ran it through a few marketing firms to make it more real.”

Athena looks worried. “What’s the pitch?”

“She spun it like this: the split between boys and girls sports is sixty-forty. It means that a lot of girls play sports. But the split between men’s sports and women’s sports as far as people watching and buying tickets is like ninety-five to five. She thinks she can hit both markets. Empowerment and T&A at the same time.”

“That’s a tough line to walk,” Athena says with a frown, pouring more wine.

“CCL walked it,” Meri replies.

“And look how that turned out. Did you promise her anything?”

Meri shakes her head. “No. Just a second look.”

“That’s fine,” Athena says with a nod.

“You’re sure?”

“I’m grateful it was you and not me. I don’t know what I’d have done after today,” she says with a sigh. “It’s fine. Thank you.”