Page 80 of Power Moves
Without a second thought, I find Archie’s name in my phone and press ‘call’.
‘Millsy,’ he answers.
‘Archie. Archibald. Archie.’Fuck. I have no idea what to call him. I just need to convey hatred.
‘Millsy—’
‘No, you listen to me, Archie. YouknowBoss is a good guy and you know this60 Minutesstory could ruin his life. He could lose his wife, his son, his job,everything.’
‘This isn’t about you.’
Argh!I’m trying not to think about that night in the tent but I can’t help it. I want to scream at the oncoming traffic. I’m breathing so hard I’m about to hyperventilate. How did I let my guard down with this guy?!
‘Archie, you need to call off the interview.’
‘I’m not doing that.’
‘Archie!’
‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance! You wanted to be a journo, Millsy. If you had the opportunity to do this interview, you’d never call it off.’
ARGHHHHHHH!I can’t deal with this man! What a great time for him to remind me he has my dream job! If he twisted the knife in any further it’d pop out the other side of me. Tears of rage are welling in the corners of my eyes. Blindly, I step onto a crossing and a giant SUV beeps at me. I jump back, startled.
‘Fuck!’
‘What?’
‘I almost got hit by a car.’
‘You okay?’
‘NO OF COURSE I’M NOT FUCKING OKAY!’ Innocent pedestrians walking their dogs are glancing at me, alarmed. Mothers of small children are crossing the road to avoid me. I’m a terrifying, raging ball of stress wrapped in overpriced Lululemon. I feel the urgent need to swing a tennis racquet at something—someone—very hard.
Archie tries again. ‘Millsy, this is work. It has nothing to do with you. Us doing our jobs shouldn’t make things weird between us.’
‘What do you mean weird between “us”?! There is nous! The only reason I speak to you isbecauseit’s my job!’
‘Oh, so we’re playing this game again?’
I am going to throttle him!I’m going to wrap my fingers around his neck and … oh god, now I’m imagining him naked and, for god’s sake, I didn’t mean to do that! Is this going to be the rest of my life? Thinking about killing Archie,only for my traitorous brain to start replaying memories from the tent? What have I done to deserve this karma?
Before I’ve even finished the thought, I know: Idodeserve this karma. I deserve this and more.This is the universe saying,You’ve been running so long, Mill, but we’ve finally caught you. You thought we’d forget? No way. WeOWNyou. Your secrets aren’t safe with us.
I inhale deeply but my breathing won’t steady. ‘Archie, we have another two weeks left in this election campaign. I’m under Boss’s orders to be civil to you until then.’
‘So you’ll only speak to me because of him?’
‘Why is that so hard to understand? He’s my boss!’
‘Millsy, how can you be so blind? He’s a prick! He manipulates you. You work yourself to the bone for him and he treats you like crap.’
‘He does not!’
‘For fuck’s sake, Millsy, I can’t do this anymore.’
‘Good! Perfect! Finally we agree on something. You can get out of my life, and I’ll get out of yours.’
‘Fine then. Block my number,’ spits Archie.
