Page 12 of Differences

Pissed off was an understatement. I was fifteen minutes late and still had five more minutes until I arrived at the office. It was 8:05, and I had a meeting at 8:15 with all the company leaders, managers, and supervisors. I was up bright and early, ready to take on the day, when I walked out of my apartment and realized my car was gone. I had no choice but to call an Uber. I called Jay several times until he finally answered the phone.

“Hello.” His voice was filled with sleep.

“Jay.” I let out a deep sigh. “Where the fuck are you with my car?” I shouted into the phone, not caring about the Uber driver looking at me in the mirror.

“Damn, baby, calm down. I was hungry and ran to Waffle House!” he lied. I knew it was a lie because I never heard him leave.

“Jay...where the fuck are you?”

“Shiiiii, ‘bout forty-five minutes.”

I damn near almost dropped my phone. “Forty-five minutes! What the fuck, Jay? You act like I don’t have a job.”

He sighed. “I know you have a fucking job, Ta. You ain’t got to remind me every day.”

“Are you really trying to switch this shit around on me? I’m having to pay for an Uber when I need to be saving money when I have a goddamn car that I can drive!”

The phone became silent for a few seconds before Jay spoke.

“Baby, I’m sorry. I lost track of time and wanted to do something nice for you. I thought going out to get breakfast would make up for me working and being gone all night.”

Jay was full of shit. Instead of entertaining it, I hung up the phone without even saying goodbye or I love you. I needed to hurry my ass up and make it work at a decent time.

While on the ride to the job, I called Allison. I needed to vent. She was in Japan, and I knew it was ten p.m. over there, which meant she was still up. She answered on the first ring.

“Hey, friend! You’re on your way to work?” she asked.

“Yeah, in fucking Uber.” I let out an annoyed breath.

“Is everything cool with your car?”

I gave Allison the rundown of what had happened. By the time I finished, she was seething just as much as I was.

“Ta, I don’t know why you keep entertaining Jay’s sorry ass. He constantly does shit to piss you off, and he doesn’t deserve you. You can do better. I know you can.”

“But—”

She interrupted me. “Stop all that feeling sorry for him bullshit. He needs to feel sorry for himself. He is bringing you down, best friend.”

Allison was right. The more time I spent trying to make sure Jay was doing okay, or I didn’t outshine him, I was bringing myself down.

“You’re right. Maybe if I talk to him and let him know I am on the verge of leaving, he’ll straighten up.”

Allison sucked her teeth. “Friend, you deserve so much better,” she repeated.

I agreed with Allison, but I also knew that people deserved the opportunity to make it right.

I finally arrived at the office at 8:20 a.m.

“Ally, I’m at the office now. Can I call you later?”

“Of course. I love you. Have a great day at work!”

“Love you too!”

Once inside the building, I sprinted toward the conference room area. It was 8:25 by the time I made it to the conference room. I tried to sneak in but failed when I accidentally ran into the chair, which caused everyone to turn and look at me.

“Um...good...good morning, everyone.”

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