Chapter Thirty-One Zola
Chapter Thirty-One
Zola
Zola entered the tech suite and forced a smile as she noticed Ethan already sitting at his desk.
‘Morning, Ethan,’ she said cheerily. He glanced towards her, then back at his screen.
Great, she thought – another morning of not entirely comfortable silence.
She pulled out her phone and opened her archived messages.
Still nothing from Curtis. She then scrolled through his Instagram to check his uploads and number of followers – still the same as yesterday.
She sighed, feeling sickly and troubled.
She hated what Curtis had done, but she also wondered if she could have done more to save their relationship.
Curtis wasn’t a horrible person, Zola knew that.
But he had no ambition, no motivation, and as the years passed, they grew into entirely different people.
‘So, how are things progressing with the app? Did we get the final candidates downloaded?’ Zola asked, finally pulling out her seat and sitting.
Ethan grunted back, and Zola felt herself getting more irritated.
Ever since she’d arrived, he’d only offered one-word answers or shot her daggers when she entered the room like she was an intruder, an inconvenience.
Today, she’d had enough. She’d just endured a thirty-minute car ride listening to Katy read out every increasingly explicit message from her Tinder porn star who was promising to rearrange her ovaries.
She was on high alert with the stalker, and Curtis was AWOL.
She was craving a normal, polite conversation.
Darren was on his paternity leave, and with only Ethan as backup conversation, Zola flipped.
‘Look, Ethan,’ she began, putting her coffee down on the desk with a decisive thunk.
‘I get that my being here is a new thing for you, and you don’t like change.
But I am here, whether you like it or not.
So maybe if we worked together, we’d get this project finished a lot quicker, then I’d be out of your hair, back to Scotland, and you’d be happy! ’
In the wake of her outburst, she closed her eyes briefly, then leaned forward to switch on her laptop. In the process, however, she knocked her coffee off balance and watched in horror as the hot black liquid cascaded over her laptop.
‘Fuck!’ she shouted, jumping up, making sure she didn’t spill anything on her new cream playsuit.
‘And that is exactly why no liquids are to be consumed in the tech suite,’ Ethan replied as smug as ever, pointing to a sign that clearly stated the drinks ban.
Zola reached for a bundle of tissues, frantically patting her keyboard dry. ‘Yeah, yeah. You’re right,’ she agreed sarcastically. ‘As ever.’
‘Look, Zola. It’s not that I don’t want you here. I don’t care. But I like to know who I’m working with and what their capabilities are. Then I can work out what I can talk to them about.’
Zola turned to Ethan, utterly confused, holding up the soggy, coffee-drenched tissues. ‘What?’
‘I asked for your IQ, but you still haven’t given it. I want to know on what level I can discuss things with you. Until I know what you can understand, how am I supposed to know what to talk about?’ He was fully serious, not a smirk or glimmer of humour in sight.
‘It’s a hundred and twenty-nine,’ Zola mumbled under her breath. ‘I did do it when you asked, but I didn’t send it over because I didn’t quite reach Mensa level.’
Ethan stood up, his chair scraping across the floor. ‘You’re the fifth highest in the company, Zola,’ he said, looking impressed.
‘I am?’ She let out a confused laugh, sussing out his change in energy. ‘Fifth highest, though – that doesn’t seem too impressive.’
‘That’s four higher than Darren.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘And, now that I know who I’m dealing with, I can show you real coding and how it performs at a much higher level than what you’re doing now.’
Zola laughed, nodding, but feeling completely confused by the shift.
She didn’t trust easily, but there was an innocence and straightforwardness in Ethan that she felt she could believe in.
‘That all sounds great, but . . . I don’t suppose you know anything about hacking?
’ she asked. ‘It’s always interested me.
I just can’t seem to get past the firewall. ’
Ethan’s eyes squinted mischievously. ‘Because I built it.’ He grinned. ‘You know, a straightforward hack is pretty insulting. I’m capable of a lot more.’
Zola tilted her head. ‘Oh yeah? Prove it.’
‘Who do you want to hack and why?’ Ethan was curious, and quite rightly so.
Zola felt her cheeks go warm as she tried to think on the spot.
‘There’s a woman in PR, who Katy heard on the phone; she seemed suss.
Katy thought she might be sabotaging the app.
Maybe working with another app company or something?
’ Zola could hear her voice squeak at the end, which made her wonder if she was trying to convince herself or Ethan of the fake reasoning.
‘Britney!’ He scurried back to his desk, looking pleased to be joining forces. By his quick actions, Zola knew he had no alliances with her.
‘And you’re really not going to say it’s breaching the policies or breaking the rules?’ Zola turned to him, watching him hit the keys like Elton John at his Glastonbury appearance.
‘As if those dumbasses will know a thing about it,’ he said, his brain almost beaming with sheer logical intelligence. ‘That’s why your friend Katy came here the other week?’ he asked, surprising her.
‘Yeah,’ she said, remembering that Ethan had left the tech room for them to speak. Zola pushed her chair up beside him.
‘Watch it,’ Ethan warned as she came closer. ‘Physical touch is a major no-go for me.’
‘Of course,’ Zola agreed, shuffling her chair back. ‘Got it.’