Three months into her job as an editor

“I just got a text back. He says he’s gonna be a few minutes late. There’s a lot of traffic right now.” Said Ashley as she handed Brooke a glass of ice cold soda. The ice cubes clinked against the glass as Brooke raised it to her lips and took a sip. Ashley plopped down in the seat across from Brooke

“Of course he is.” Brook sighed. She leaned back and swiveled her chair to face the bookshelf behind her.

“Look, I know his work isn’t really up your alley, but this guy is our biggest client.“Ashley pleaded. “This is probably our best shot at getting promoted!”

“Okay, first of all,” Brooke snapped. “I already have the highest of honors this dump can bestow.” She gestured at the air-conditioning unit on the far left wall. Ashley giggled. Brooke turned her chair around to face Ashley.

“Second of all,” Brooke continued,“This is absolutely up my alley. I am the only erotica editor at this company, after all. It’s just this hypnosis fetish stuff that’s j-”

“You’re kink-shaming our client now?” Ashley interrupted, a hint of amusement in her voice.

“I would NEVER.” said Brooke, playfully feigning offense.

“I respect the fetishes of all of my clients, because LITERATURE BELONGS TO EVERYONE,” Brooke added dramatically. She reached out and adjusted the small placard on her shelf. “Literature Belongs to Everyone”, it read. The company slogan.

“Everyone but him, you mean?” Ashley laughed.

“I have nothing against him, or any of this hypnosis stuff, but most of the stuff that shows up on my desk is just insubstantial drivel that reads like they had their hand on their dicks when it should have been on the backspace key. And that’s the other thing, it’s mostly straight cis men writing this shit.”

“I know the writing can be bad at times…” Ashley started.

“Most of the time.” Brooke interrupted.

“Right, most of the time,” Ashley nodded. “But sometimes you get something special from someone who truly understands why a person would want to give up control and let someone else, um, do all the thinking”

“I suppose it could be freeing, in a way.I mean, just imagine losing yourself in blissful ignorance, only concerned with your one true calling: Putting the right amount of ice in my drink.” Brooke teased. She shook her glass, making the ice rattle. Ashley squirmed in her seat, her face flushed.

“Shut up!” yelled Ashley. They both broke into a fit of laughter. After some time had passed, Brooke broke the silence.

“Alright, I do understand. But a lot of it is just not that. There’s no chemistry. A lot of the hypnotists are just complete losers who only get laid because of hypnosis. The saddest part is I think some of them are self-inserts.”

“You’re still on about that?” Ashley asked wearily.

“Uh, yeah, it’s about to become our whole day, remember?”

“Okay, but-”

“I swear to god if the character sheets are just names and cup sizes again my memoir is going to double as a confession!”

“I thought you liked fleshing out the women in their stories?”

“No, I said I like the way they cry when we do it. Remember the look on the guy’s face I asked if the lady with double D cups had scoliosis?”

“That was hilarious! He was so confused!”

“The way he panicked when I asked why he didn’t want disabled representation. Oh! What about the time we made the client act out the scene with action figures?”

“That was the best! Wait! No! The best one was the time you told the guy his characters had no chemistry and he just left crying!”

“I wish more of them did that.”

“Ugh, Jeff won’t shut up about that one.” Ashley grumbled.

“You lost us a very valuable client.” Brooke mimicked.

“He says it that way every time.”

“The cheap cologne industry is going to lose a valuable client the day he discovers s-”

***KNOCK KNOCK***

They both jumped.

“That must be him. I’ll get it.” said Ashley.