Chapter Seventeen Who Framed Roger Rabbit, dir. by Robert Zemeckis #2
“You held the writer position over me, you promised me—”
“Please, Eli. We’re adults; promises don’t mean anything. You can try to blame me all you want,” Michael says. “But when I
had this idea, I never held a gun to your head, Eli. You made the decision to work on the article. You decided to do this. Not me.”
Eli stares, his chest heaving, fists balled together.
“And now you have to deal with the consequences.”
He’s right. Michael’s right.
At any point, before this started, Eli could’ve said no, realized this was wrong, accepted that this was not how he wanted
to make a name for himself. He could’ve said no, he could’ve quit Vent at any point and time. And he didn’t.
He took on the responsibility. The duty.
The lie.
And at the end of the day, this is no one’s fault save for his own.
“Take the article down.”
“I can’t,” Michael says. “I’m not going to sacrifice clicks and ad revenue because you’re in love with this guy.”
“I’m not—”
“Please, Eli. I’ve read the articles. Both of them; so did Keith. It’s clear that you have feelings for him.”
“Just take it down, I didn’t consent to you posting it.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Michael tells him. “You wrote this for Vent as an employee of Vent , which means it belongs to Vent. ” He finally stands.
“I’m trying to teach you something here, Eli.
This chance, you can’t let it go. The readership from this article, it’s huge and it’s only been an hour.
You could have what it takes to be a real asset to Vent if you just let these personal feelings go.
So, if you can just understand what I’ve been trying to teach you, if you can
accept these lessons, then I’d love to offer you the staff writer position.”
Eli snorts. “You’re not serious.”
“I am.” Michael holds out a hand.
And for a second, just a second , Eli considers what it all means. More job security, the opportunity to write more, to make a larger name for himself, to build
a career. Vent is only the first step to something larger. Once he has that platform, once he has a stronger portfolio, he can leave. He
can go somewhere else, somewhere they’d let him write the harder-hitting, important pieces that he’s been desperate to write
for years.
And in exchange, all he has to do is give up Peter .
It’s not like Peter will want to see him ever again, not with the article out there. So he should take the offer, right?
“You’re right, this is my fault,” Eli admits to him. “I could’ve said no to you, I could’ve come to you earlier and said that
this is wrong. But I didn’t, and I can’t go back and fix that. Just like I can’t make Peter forgive me. But at the very least,
I can make a choice, right here, right now, to not be the person that you’re asking me to be.”
The frustration is apparent on Michael’s face in an instant. “Well... I can’t say I’m surprised, but I’m disappointed.”
“I’ll pack my desk up,” Eli cuts in, walking toward the door.
“You’ve been a strength at Vent , Eli. You’ll be missed.”
“Thanks, Michael, can’t say the same about you.” Eli lets the door close behind him, then walks over and sinks into his desk
chair. He doesn’t quite know what to do with himself except start gathering his things and tossing them into his bag.
None of his coworkers bother to come up to him, none of them wondering just what happened in Michael’s office. In fact, only one of his—now former—coworkers dares to look him in the eye.
From the comfort of his office too.
Eli stands, covering the distance to Keith’s office in quick strides.
“Can I talk to you?” Eli asks, closing Keith’s open door behind him.
“Sure, I have the time.”
“Do you feel good about what you did? Worming your way into my article, turning around and finishing it for me after Michael
told you what he was planning?”
“I did my job, Eli.” Keith’s voice is firm, unwavering. “I did what I was told to do because unlike you, I have what it takes
to survive in this business.”
“Oh, yeah... writing articles about TikTok trends by the time they’re already outdated and some celebrity bleaching her
hair blonde and how it gives you ‘all the feels.’ Real groundbreaking journalism, Keith.”
“Did it ever occur to you that we don’t have the same aspirations? That I don’t want to wake up every morning and wonder how
I can win the Pulitzer Prize as a secretary? That not everyone has the same level of self-important righteousness that you
do?”
Eli pauses, not expecting the biting words.
“Yeah, at the end of the day I’m writing garbage, and I’m not always happy with myself. But at least I’m not a coward, Eli.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that you’ve been here for five years, and for four of those, you chewed my ear off about the lack of opportunities, never getting the chance to grow, when
you could’ve left at any time. No one was stopping you.”
“Michael was, he—”
“You could have left . And maybe things would’ve been rough, but at the very least you could’ve finally been working to make something of yourself
instead of just talking about it.”
Eli swallows.
“Is that why—”
Keith rolls his eyes, raking his hands through his hair. “Don’t ask if that’s why I broke up with you.”
“Well, is it?” Eli begs anyway. “Is that the reason?”
Keith sighs before he asks, “Do you want the truth?”
And Eli nods.
“Yeah, it is. Part of it, at least,” he finally says. “Because I’m an adult, and I had to move on with my life. And I couldn’t
be with someone who weighed himself down so badly to the point that he was afraid to move on. I want a future, Eli. I want
a career, I want a home, and I want... I want. I want and so do you, but it was clear that we didn’t want in the same way.”
Now, it’s Eli’s turn to refuse to look at Keith.
“You’re a coward,” Keith continues. “And that was fine for a while because we’re all afraid of something. I was afraid of
breaking your heart. The difference between the two of us is that I’m not addicted to my own misery.”
Eli has a thousand biting words on his tongue, ranging from the simple Fuck you to the lie that is You’re wrong .
He knows Keith is right.
He’s never wanted to admit it to himself before, but he’s been afraid for a long time now.
“You’re right,” Eli tells him. “You’re right. I was afraid. I am afraid.”
Keith seems taken aback by the honesty.
“And I’m sorry for the things I put you through, for not listening more, for turning my problems into yours. That was selfish.”
“Oh, well... thank you, Eli.”
“And I’m sorry that things have been so uncomfortable here for so long. Maybe I should’ve taken that as a sign to get out
of here earlier, to leave with a little more dignity.”
“I can’t fault you for that,” Keith says. “I certainly didn’t help.”
“No... you didn’t,” Eli tells him. “Can I ask you something? You can say no, but I’d like your honesty if you choose to answer it.”
“Okay.” There’s an exhausted tone to Keith’s voice.
“Did you really fall out of love with me? Or was that just the excuse you gave me to spare my feelings?”
“No,” Keith answers without hesitation. “I never fell out of love with you.”
Eli swallows.
“But I could see that we’re two different people, Eli. That we wanted different things out of life. And I knew that you’d
never be brave enough to break my heart.”
“So, you did it for me?”
Keith remains silent.
“Did it ever occur to you that that’s not what I wanted?” Eli asks.
“No, because in that moment I needed to be selfish.” Keith sighs. “Lots of things occurred to me, but I did what I thought
was right. Because that’s all any of us can do with what we have.”
Eli doesn’t know how to accept this odd truth.
“For what it’s worth, Peter seems like a fantastic guy.”
“You barely even met him,” Eli says.
“Yeah, but I had to read all your notes and drafts to finish the article, and Michael gave me Lavender Country to look over.
I know that the entire premise of this thing was for the two of you to fake everything, but... it seemed genuine.”
“He taught me a lot,” Eli admits. “Like going for the things that scare me.”
“Have you talked to him?” Keith asks.
“Not yet.”
“Well... you should.”
“I know,” Eli says, stepping toward the office door. “Thanks, Keith.”
“Go, before Michael calls building security on you.”
Eli can’t stop himself from smiling, managing to forget for nearly a full second that the hardest part of the day isn’t over yet. He strides back toward his desk, grabbing his bag off the back of his chair.
He nearly slips the company iPad and Apple Pencil into his bag as well. It wouldn’t be the first time property isn’t returned
to IT, but he decides against it. He doesn’t want anything of Vent to linger in his apartment. He’s done with this chapter of his life. For better or for worse.
Now he has to come clean.
***
Eli calls Peter a total of twenty times.
Six times while he waits for the bus, eleven more times on the bus, and three times on the short four-block walk from the stop to the front of Peter’s apartment. He only leaves one
voicemail.
“Hey, Peter. Please call me when you get this. It’s important.”
It’s all he knows how to say. He doesn’t want Peter to hear anything else unless it’s coming directly from him. Not even through
his phone.
He rounds the block, soaked thanks to the rain that’s now pouring down, seeing the gate to Peter’s building out of the corner
of his eye. He could turn around right now. Block Peter on everything, hide from him for the rest of his life and leave Peter
with nothing.
But Keith was right. Eli is a coward. And he has been for a long time.
So it’s time to fix that.
He presses on the doorbell again and again and again. He pulls out his phone, rain splattering the screen the same way it’s
covered his glasses, his hot breath fogging them up, hair hanging limp in his face.