Sarah stole the money from me? I assume she’s
going to pay it back to me before that?”
“Oh no,” said
the lawyer, shaking his head and smiling a little, as if laughing to himself at
my innocence. “My client has no intention of paying the money back. That’s why
she hired me. We’re developing a case that shows that you have been severely
underpaying her for years and she only took what was needed as financial compensation…she
needed money to pay her bills, just to live.”
“That’s
insane,” I said, nearly shouting. “She gets the exact same cut as me. We’re
partners. We split the profits 50 – 50.”
“That’s what
you say. But the papers show something different.”
“Well, yeah,” I
said. “We never drew up the proper paperwork. We don’t have contracts or
anything…because we’ve been best friends for so long. We share everything...”
“Well that was
a big mistake,” said the lawyer, shaking his head a little, as if he couldn’t
believe my lack of business acumen. “You’re going to have to go to court.
You’re going to have to hire a lawyer. And you’re going to lose a lot of money.
Now, I could recommend a couple friends I have in the business who might be
able to represent you…”
“This is
ridiculous,” I said, getting really mad. It was so bad my heart was pounding, and
I was sweating. “Get out! Get out now.”
“Now just hear
me out…” said the lawyer.
“Out!” I
shouted, as loud as I could. “Out, or I’m calling the cops!”
He could see
how mad I was. He got to his feet and scrambled on out of the office, the door
slamming behind him.
I sprinted
after him as best I could in my high heels.
I opened the
door.
“And give me
your fucking key!” I shouted. “You’re not welcome back here.”
“But it’s your
business partner’s key,” he shouted, clearly nervous…he seemed to think I might
attack him at any minute.
“The lease is
in my name,” I shouted. “And she’s suing me…give me the fucking
key…now…before…”
That was all I
needed to say.
“Okay, okay,”
he shouted, throwing the key toward me. It landed at my feet, and he turned
around and dashed away, his suit jacket flapping behind him as he ran away.
I couldn’t
believe it. How could Sara do this too me? It was simply unbelievable.
I pulled her
number up in my phone and pressed dial.
“Hello, thank
you for calling Sara,” said a mechanical robot computer voice on the other end
of the line. “Please leave your name and number after the beep.”
I knew Sara
really well. I knew that she always kept her phone with her at all times, on
vibrate and the highest ring tones.
In all the
years I had known her, Sara had never missed a single phone call…even in the
middle of the night…even when she was in the shower…even when she was
masturbating or having sex.
We’d had plenty
of conversations where I’d called her when she was masturbating…Sarah was
practically always masturbating.
Usually I’d ask
her for the name of the video she was watching. Sometimes I’d pull it up on my computer
and watch it too. Usually it was some hot cowboy or hot buff black guy. We
never talked about it, but I’m pretty sure we were both masturbating together
while talking on the phone...I know I certainly was.
I tell you that
just to give you a sense of how close I was to Sara.
I was immensely
hurt that she didn’t pick up my call…we had a pact, that we would always pick
up the phone no matter what. Sara was my only friend. My best friend. The
person I trusted most in the world.
Not only was
she ignoring my calls intentionally…I was sure of it…but she had been stealing
money from me for years. And now she had sent a lawyer to our office telling me
she was suing me…for unfair payment. What bullshit. We had worked out the numbers
together…it was an even split right down the middle.
Tears welled in
my eyes.
But my sadness
and despair quickly turned to rage.
I