Things promised to be irritating right from the onset. Eva, after waking up to find her car wouldn’t start, was forced to call a cab to get to work. Then when she finally did arrive she logged into her desktop only to find a deluge of emails awaiting her. All of them regarding projects she’d assigned to Tina. All of them finished. All of them done marvelously. Eva’s lip snarled as she looked over them all and found no faults; and to make matters worse the little minx had wisened up and CC’d others throughout the company to the emails. Just in case Eva made up an excuse to thrust the work back on her. A justified fear in fairness, but annoying nonetheless. 

So that was how the day had begun, and from there it only promised to get more bothersome. Today was, after all, the long-awaited big day for the company. The dreaded day where their former CEO would be officially stepping down from his position and where Dana would assume the role. In fact, in regards to that particular matter there was an email from Dana herself hidden among Tina’s onslaught of project updates. A mass letter formally announcing herself to the company and offering platitudes for the future of R.E.I.. Hidden in her signature was the real twist of the knife.

Dana Moore - Chief Executive Officer

That blonde bimbo was now officially Eva’s boss and no amount of grousing would ever change that. She’d had weeks to come to terms with it, but reality was at last weighing in. For all her efforts, planning, and ingenuity Eva was denied that which was rightfully hers; and the backstabber who did it wasn’t even polite enough to give her the satisfaction of failing in her tasks. Quite the contrary, thus far Tina had endured and overcome everything thrown at her; and frankly things didn’t give the same satisfaction now that Eva knew what laid beneath her assistant’s bulky clothes. 

Did it stop her from doing it? Of course not. It only soured the fun like so many other things Tina had done as of late. Oh well. Today at least the cockroach would get a pass. Considering the day, Eva needed to save her energy for the herculean task that would be the day’s Board Meeting.

She didn’t expect it to be any different from any other meeting, though Eva needed to brace herself. Both for the sight of Dana at the head of that table and hearing the woman give that new CEO spiel in person. Ugh, what she would give for an excuse not to attend. As equals in the company they were friends, but as Eva’s boss? Disgusting. Unthinkable. And now the reality she was forced to deal with. Dana was fine at what she did, but the simple truth was it should’ve been Eva. That was a fact. 

Alas, there was no real point crying about it now. She’d had time to get the worst of her emotions under control. She had to keep herself collected for the day, tempting as it was to vent anyway. This was the interim she had to gather herself. To watch the clock tick by one minute after the next and ready herself for perhaps her best theatrical performance yet. For a woman who deserved so much more, forcing herself to greet Dana of all people with a faux smile and a “Yes Ma’am.” was a disgrace of the highest caliber.

The appointed hour came far too quickly, as such things were want to do. Loathful as it was, Eva departed from her office without any delay, averting her eyes from Tina’s desk purposefully on the way out.

“Have fun at the meeting Ms. Rhodes.” Tina offered. The kind words went utterly ignored as Eva marched on with a derisive huff. 

Three o’clock. Friday afternoon. Eva sat in her usual seat and crossed her legs in anticipation. It had been six weeks since it had all begun. Back then the scene was set much the same way as it was now. Eva was seated exactly as she was and her fellow Board Members were all more or less in the same habitual positions. Well, save for one of course. The seat beside Eva was notably vacant, its former occupant now at the head of the table. 

Dana cut a different figure today. The woman typically known for her floral dresses and the like had instead opted for a straight black pencil skirt and a golden button-down shirt. It fit her ample form well, Eva had to admit. The dark color contrasted nicely with her wavy blonde hair and a set of beige pumps elevated Dana a subtle, but meaningful few inches above her typical height. For a woman who always preferred casual comfort, it was a statement. Things were different now. She was different. Even if her position was only marginally above theirs, it was above it. 

“Right.” Dana smiled once all were present and accounted for. “Can’t say I’m terribly used to this, but after a few years of meetings I think I might have an idea how it works.” She spoke and was met with a series of polite chuckles. A familiar pattern of noise that used to accompany everything Dan said. It sounded almost alien now that it was being applied to Dana. “Eva, why don’t you start us off?”

“Of course.” Eva replied with the same respectful smile she’d allotted Dan for years. In front of her was a notebook she’d brought, opened to a page with a series of bullet points written out.  “Preparations for our deal with Amazon are well underway. My team and I have been staying in contact with Production and keeping our contacts up to date on any developments. Right now everything is proceeding on schedule and unless something goes wrong we should be set to start deliveries at the start of the next Fiscal Quarter.” To say any more would’ve delved into minutiae that was more Alan or Alonzo’s speciality. 

From there Eva went on, listing off the various odds and ends she’d been up to. Everything from updates with Amazon to fielding new clients who courted them after news about the deal got out. Once her part was said and done, then began the tired cycle of everyone speaking in turn with their various progress reports. It was all rather painfully typical. Alan rambled a bit too long, Alonzo perhaps a bit too short. The usual things that made Eva fight not to roll her eyes. Only even more tedious now that Dana stood at the helm.

Eventually, it came time for the big woman herself. Dana cleared her throat and flashed everyone a warm smile. “Well, as you can imagine a lot of what I’ve had to do is pick up the reigns from where Dan left off.” She began with the slightest hint of a Southern drawl in her accent. “So I haven’t had a lot of time to do too much yet, but there are some restructuring changes I wanted to update everyone on.” Her eyes flicked to the empty seat beside Eva.

“He couldn’t make it today sadly, but as y’all know Isaiah will be filling in my old job starting today. I’ve trained him myself so you guys can relax. He won’t ruin anything too much.” She said with the sort of faux office humor that Eva really had grown to hate as of late. It didn’t stop her from joining in the accommodating laughs, however. 

“Which…” Dana sighed. “...Does bring me to the other big thing.” Her tone changed to one more serious, and her expression adjusted to match. Eva found her interest piqued, especially when the blonde’s piercing blue eyes found themselves settling squarely on her. There was a weight to them she wasn’t used to from Dana. Enough to make even her stiffen in her seat. She suddenly grew aware Dana’s weren’t the only eyes focused on her. Something was off. 

“Eva...I’ll be blunt. HR informed me that there have been a lot of complaints filed against you.” The blonde stated flatly. A heavy air began to fall over proceedings as she leaned in, palms pressing into the table. “A lot of complaints.”

Eva relaxed ever so. This old song and dance was it? It seemed a bit silly for Dana to bring it up at a Board Meeting like this, but perhaps the woman wasn’t confident without a flotilla of Yes Men at her side. Aside from perhaps the slightest annoyed twitch, Eva masterfully maintained her collected exterior. It was pretty typical of people in new roles to flex on day one she supposed. “Is that so? I’m sorry to hear that. If you want, I can speak with HR and see what I can do to-”

“-Yeah that really isn’t gonna be good enough.”

Eva Rhodes was not a woman used to being cut off like that. She blinked like a deer in headlights, feeling the weight fall upon her shoulders now. “...What is this about?” She asked after an uncertain delay.

The warm smile was completely wiped from Dana’s countenance. The woman staring at her was not her friend, but her boss. Her rather displeased boss. “It’s about your behavior Eva. These complaints aren’t new. According to Debbie down in HR you’ve been getting them regularly for years. Now, maybe you were productive enough Dan could let that sort of stuff slide, but I’m not Dan.”

Evidently not. Dan at least understood that results mattered. Eva thought bitterly. 

Aloud, however, her tone was quite the opposite; the woman speaking softly and deliberately. “What are you trying to say? You all know I do excellent work. I helped build this company up to what it is today.” The various Board Members shared looks. Looks Eva did not care for. 

Those rats...They’ve already discussed this. She realized. Not a look of surprise among any of them. More like this was an uncomfortable bump in the road they needed to get through to proceed. 

Dana frowned, silence seizing the room for several moments. “...You’re gonna play that card? Really?” She muttered in a voice so low it was tantamount to a whisper. Eva blinked as it reached her ears, tilting her head slightly. 

“What do you mean?”

“Come on Eva. Everyone knows Tina does all your work - And that she has been doing all your work for a while.”

It was the last name she had expected to hear. The last name she wanted to hear. “Is that what this is supposed to be about then? Trying to defame me and all the hard work I’ve done for this company?” Eva snarled. 

“Hardly. Like I said Eva, this isn’t a new thing.” If Eva expected to intimidate, it didn’t work. Dana looked to the other Board Members; all of whom seemed more than content to let her handle this. It made the blonde sigh and refocus on Eva. “Over a dozen employees can attest to the late days Tina’s been pulling lately - And the many early days you’ve been taking. Not to mention tons of complaints of harassment, abusive conduct, and violation of office rules.” She tapped her finger against the table and glowered at the dark-haired woman. “I can personally attest to those late nights because I was here helping her on some of them.”

Eva remained silent. That wasn’t a particular revelation, just what she already figured. More pressing was the direction this talk was going. Because it almost felt like...No. They wouldn’t dare.

Right as realization hit her Dana let out a heavy breath and looked to Eva apologetically. “I hate to do this after all you’ve done, but...We held a virtual meeting yesterday to discuss this and the Board has voted unanimously to...terminate your employment with the company. Effective immediately.”

“….What?” 

She’d heard it. She had heard it more clearly than anything she’d ever heard in her life. Even so, it failed to fully register. Dana had already moved on to talking about some sort of severance package and how Eva was more than qualified to find employment elsewhere but...She heard none of it. All of it was white noise as Eva sat in her seat in stunned silence. She was alone in an amorphous void and, for once, she didn’t wear a mask that hid her stupor from the world around her. A rare sign of weakness from the formidable woman.

I….I’m fired…

What followed was a haze of events and conversations. Eva largely nodded along, the life sucked right out of her. For the rest of the meeting she lingered in a vegetative state, visibly hollowed out. She had to be escorted out by Dana as the meeting ended and Eva hadn’t even shown any signs she noticed. The blonde muttered something about staying friends like she genuinely meant it. Utter horseshit. They were never friends. Friends would never backstab each other or steal their jobs. 

How had it gone so horribly wrong? For once her thoughts were blank, and before she realized it Eva was back in her office. Tina wasn’t at her work station and plenty others were out for the day, leaving Eva...alone.

The work day was over. It was time to clock out.  All she had to do was just log out of her computer, leave, and...that was it. She could come and get her things next week if she wanted, but after that…

What the fuck happened here? What went wrong? Whose fault was it? Who fucking dared…!

As if on cue, there was a certain figure standing in the doorway. Eva turned, the arrival snapping her back to reality. Right, of course. She knew exactly who did this to her. 

“Miss Rhodes, can we talk for a sec?” Tina asked.