5. Liliana
Chapter 5
Liliana
As soon as the door shuts behind Smity, I'm racing to the coffee table to grab my phone. I need to call Winnie and talk to her about all of this.
“Liliana, it’s too early for a phone call. This is unacceptable,” she groans.
“It’s important, Winnie! I need someone to talk to.”
“Can't you call Smithy? He’s a total morning person.”
“I could, if I didn’t need to talk to someone about him. ”
“Well, now I'm more interested. What are we talking about? I need to know if I'm interested enough to wake up fully, or should I hang up and go back to sleep?”
“He stayed over last night,” I blurt out, trying to keep her interested.
“Yeah, see, that sounds good, but your relationship is so weird. You stay at his house all the time, but you sleep on separate couches, not even in bed together. Try again.” She yawns.
“I slept in his arms? Then he told me this morning I was really tempting. That was after he made me straddle his waist and touch his bare chest and abs.”
“And I'm getting up!” There’s some movement on the other side of the line and the water turns on. “Start from the beginning while I get this coffee going. I'll need all the help I can get today.”
“It’s seven-thirty, Winnie. You act like I woke you up at three o’clock in the morning.” I roll my eyes as I take a bit of the pancakes Smithy made for me. “Holy crap! These are the most amazing pancakes I’ve ever had,” I mumble with my mouth still full.
“Where did you get pancakes?”
“Smithy made them for me before he left.”
“Did he eat any?”
“Uhhh…” I check the sink and find it is free from dishes. He couldn’t have eaten without a plate. “No. There aren’t any dirty plates in the sink.”
“Dang… Tell me everything.”
I spend the next thirty minutes recounting everything that happened over the past twenty-four hours. Winnie listens intently and doesn’t make a comment unless she has a quick question about something. I’m just finishing my story when I pull into the parking lot at work.
“I need to go into work. I have like three minutes, so tell me what I'm supposed to do.”
“You need to go on a date,” she says simply.
“With Smithy?” I practically shriek. A man walking past my car turns and glares at me. I offer him a little wave and sink down lower in my seat.
“No! Oh my gosh, Liliana! Warn a girl before you try to rupture her eardrum! Holy crap. I meant you should go out on a blind date with one of my friends. He’s really sweet and I think the two of you would get along.”
“So, your solution to me being in love with my best friend is to date someone else? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!”
“Will you calm your tits down and listen to me? Sheesh. I suggest you tell Smithy about this blind date. I guarantee he’s going to step in at some point. He won't like the idea of you going out with anyone.”
“But what am I supposed to do until this date? I mean you haven’t even asked this guy if he’d like to go on a date with me.” I roll my eyes even though she can't see me.
“First off, I’ve brought up the topic of a blind date with Kevin and he seemed interested. I’ve sung your praises and told him how amazing you are. I don’t think it will take much effort for me to convince him to take the plunge. Second, you need to act normal until everything is set up. You can't tell Smithy anything until a few days before your date.”
“Why?”
“Because he can't have time to prepare for this. You need to catch him off guard. If he has time to think about it, he might come to terms with it. If you blindside him, he’ll be more impulsive.”
“Ok, so I just need to stay calm and pretend everything is normal until we have a date scheduled. I can do that. I just have to blush and get flustered every time he flirts with me.”
“Exactly. Act like you’re a freshman and the cute senior quarterback is flirting with you.” I can hear the smile in her voice.
“Oh, shush! If anything, he’d be the star baseball player. He’d never play football.”
“Whatever! No one in high school wants the baseball player! We were too stupid to realize how amazing baseball pants are!”
I chuckle and think back to how Winnie and I were in high school. We went to every football game, but I don’t think we attended a single baseball game. I didn’t care about baseball at all… until college, the same day I met Smithy.
At that point, Winnie was dating Wheeler and she convinced me to go to a game with her. After the game, I met Smithy and we instantly hit it off. We started hanging out all the time without Wheeler and Winnie. We became inseparable and that’s never changed.
“Alright, I need to get inside before Bill fires me,” I sigh. “Call me after you talk to Kevin.”
“Deal. Later, Liliana. I'm going back to sleep.”
“Bye.” I chuckle as I hang up and gather my laptop bag out of my backseat.
I love Winnie. She’s fun and easy going. She’s always the life of the party, but she also has a sweet and sensitive side. I’ve seen her care for children and be the most compassionate person in the world.
Even now, Winnie’s been working for the same family since we were freshmen in college. She started nannying for them to make some extra money, and every time she’s tried to quit, they’ve offered her more money to stay with them. At this point, I'm fairly certain she makes more money than I do and works half of the amount of time I do.
The kids love her though. She has this amazing connection with them and now that they’re both in school full time, she helps the parents by running errands and cleaning up the house while the kids are in school. She can come and go as she wants and just needs to pick up the kids from school at the end of the day. She starts making dinner and helps the kids with their homework until their parents come home around six o’clock at night. It’s her dream job and gives her so much freedom.
I step through the door of my office and let out a soft sigh. I wish I had more freedom. I wish I didn’t need to work and I could look for a job I actually enjoyed.
“Liliana! Drop your stuff in your office, then get your butt in my office,” Bill hollers as I walk past his door.
I don’t bother answering. I clench my fist to keep myself from flipping him off and place my things under my desk. I want to check my emails and put off this interaction with Bill, but there’s no point. The longer he has to think about whatever he wants to discuss, the worse this is going to be for me.
“You wanted to see me.” I give Bill a tight smile as I enter his office. He motions for me to shut the door and I happily comply. I know I'm getting yelled at and I’d rather not have an audience for it.
“What is this piece of trash?” He tosses my printed article across his desk. I emailed it to him last night before I cuddled up in Smithy’s arms.
“That’s the article I wrote yesterday after meeting with Macy Hayes. She gave me insider information about what happened with Stubbs and videos.”
“Did you send me the videos?” Bill scowls at his computer.
“Yes, right after I sent the article.”
I want to roll my eyes, but I stop myself. He’ll flip out if he thinks I’m being disrespectful in any way. Bill isn't shy about disliking me. He doesn’t believe a female reporter deserves to be anywhere near sports. He thinks I should be covering celebrities or the newest weight-loss trend. He has no respect for women and it shows.
“Ah, I see it now.” He must click on the video from Owen’s office because soon Stubbs’ screaming fills the office and makes me wince.
I’ve never been comfortable around Stubbs. He’s grabbed my ass more than once and made crude comments about what he’d do to me if he could get me alone. I swear he did it hoping I’d tell Smithy. He was always looking for a way to push Smithy’s buttons and get him to react. That’s why I’ve kept my mouth shut. Why I’ve never paid attention to anything he’s done or said.
After that, he clicks on the video of Stubbs injuring Wyatt on purpose. There’s no way to deny it. Stubbs was aiming for Wyatt’s knee and he accomplished exactly what he wanted to.
Bill sits back in his chair and rubs his hand over his mouth. He’s looking for a way to spin this story, but he doesn’t know how.
“I guess I’ll have to run the story the way you have it if I want to use the videos,” he sighs like I'm an annoyance for him to deal with. “I don’t think I can spin this the way I want to.”
“I presented the facts in my article, nothing else.”
“Which isn't what I wanted and you know it. Owen Powell isn't a good man.”
“I’ve met Owen Powell on multiple occasions and he was very nice and humble.” I frown at my boss.
“How have you met him? During an interview?”
“No. My best friend works for him.”
“Doing what?” Bill arches his brow and I swallow hard. I shouldn’t have opened my mouth. He’s going to use this to his advantage and I don’t want that.
“He plays shortstop.” I keep my voice and my entire demeanor emotionless. If Bill sees any sort of a reaction, he’s going to pounce.
“You’re best friends with Smithy?” His eyes widen and he watches me in shock and disbelief.
“Yeah, we met in college and have been best friends since.”
“Ok. I can work with that.” A slow smile spreads across his lips, making my stomach churn and bile creep up my throat. I don’t trust this man as far as I can throw him. Considering I don’t think I could even lift him, I obviously can't throw him at all.
“I'm sorry? You can work with what?”
“I want you to get close to Owen Powell. Dig up as much as you possibly can and then expose him for the terrible man he is. I’ll give you until… two weeks after the season starts. You won't have any other assignments the entire time. Your sole focus should be taking down Powell.” His grin turns wicked as his plan takes shape. He wants this so badly he can taste it.
“What if I can't find anything negative about him?”
“People like him are always hiding tons of skeletons in their closets, you just have to search hard enough for them.”
“And if I can't find them?”
“You make them up.”
I frown at Bill. We’re in the media. Our job is to present the facts to the public, not to use this as a way to play out your personal vendetta on someone.
“Listen, Liliana. Sometimes you need to fudge some facts to make a story sell. It doesn’t matter. In the long run, no matter how much I drag Powell’s name through the mud, it isn't going to affect him. He has more money than he knows what to do with.”
“Then why try to tarnish his name?”
“Because he’s a prick and he deserves it. You don’t need to know more than that.” He turns back to his computer and pretends I'm not there. “Unless you have another useless question, you can go to your office and begin digging into Powell’s life.”
I rise without a single word. I don’t know what I'm going to do, but I have a few weeks to figure it out. The only thing I'm positive about is I'm not trying to take down Owen Powell.