Page 45 of My Infatuation with Isabella

“Good afternoon,” he greets, shifting back in his chair. “I’m Eric Louw, the operations director of the entertainment and lifestyle division of Copal Media, though I also assist with the sports division. That’s Jacob Morton, our group attorney.” He points to the other guy in a suit, and the tension in the room creeps up a notch. “He’s standing in for Elenore today. She’s off sick. You remember Elenore, don’t you?”

Tommy nods. “Yep. She’s the group HR manager. She hired...and fired me.”

“And that’s Damon Aberknackey.” Eric points to the casually dressed, thirty-something-year-old man. “You must be Tommy?”

“Yes, sir. Thomas Mc Clarkson.”

He looks at me, and I feel overwhelmed and intimidated by his presence. He’s definitely one of the big bosses because his power is displayed in his body language and demeanor. “And...Izzy?”

“Isabella,” I correct nervously.

“Okay, now that the formalities are over, let me share a bit of background to give you both some context before we go further. Copal Media owns multiple satellite radio stations, news broadcasters, and the like. We also have part ownership of certain traditional radio stations that broadcast over open airwaves, like AmpUP Radio. That’s our biggest station. Now, onto the college station you two weremoonlightingon. While that one generally runs autonomously, we work closely with the management team of every station owned by Copal Media, so we’ve been dealing with a lot of repercussions after your little nighttime...discussion. Since that show aired, Damon has been fielding some...how would you describe it, Damon?”

All eyes fall on Damon as he thinks about it. “I would say...vibrant.”

“Yes. Damon has been fielding some veryvibrantcalls from some very outspoken listeners. We’ve had some complaints, and?”

“We’re really sorry,” Tommy cuts in, sounding panicked. “We didn’t know we were on the air. It was just an innocent mistake. A very,verybad mistake, but still a mistake.” He shifts in his chair to face Jacob. “Your honor, we plead for you to hear our case. Please don’t send us to jail. And if one of us has to take the fall, let it be Izzy. She can hold her own if bitches fuck with her in the yard, but I’m not cut out for that kind of life. I need fresh air...and moisturizer.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re throwing me under the bus, Tom?”

“It’s more of a light shove.” Tom’s eyes move to Eric. “Please, Mr. Louw, sir. We didn’t mean to offend anyone.” He looks at Jacob again. “Please, your honor, have mercy.”

Eric steps in once again to redirect the conversation, but the route he takes is not what I was expecting at all. “Tell me something about...teddy bears.”

“Teddy bears?” I echo, utterly confused.

Tommy doesn’t take the question well and allows his anxiety to get the better of him when he answers. “My dude, you’ve got us stressed out of our minds here. I’m losing hair as we speak. My heart is pounding. My intestines are all coiled up. I won’t be able to shit for a week. And instead of telling us why you asked us to come here, you want us to talk to you aboutteddy bears?”

Mr. Louw is unfazed by his rambling and simply shrugs. “What if I called you both here to talk about teddy bears?”

I’m too discombobulated to even try to figure out what the hell is going on. Tom, however, is only getting more agitated. “Please stop playing mind games.”

“I’m not,” he casually responds. “I genuinely want to know what you think.”

Tom casts a wary look in my direction before focusing on Mr. Louw again. “If we answer, will you let us go without any repercussions?”

“Depends on what your answer is.”

With the possibility of getting out of here unscathed, Tommy rises to the challenge. “Teddy bears, huh? You want some fun facts or something?”

“Anything you want to talk about,” Mr. Louw replies. “Don’t hold back when you speak. I want to hear your unfiltered thoughts.”

“If we’re not holding back, let’s start by saying this is weird as all hell...but okay. Uh...fun fact is that teddy bears are known to have killed more people than actual bears.”

I wholeheartedly agree with Tom that this is weird, but I decide to intervene just to veer him off a darker path. “Um...that’s just a fact, Tom. There’s nothing fun about that.”

“Okay.” He snaps his fingers. He does that when he’s trying to remember something. “Uh...oh, February tenth is teddy bear day.”

“You’re making this up,” I say. “Why would teddy bears have a day?”

“Because they’re cute and special, and I suppose that’s the day teddy bear sales go up because it’s right before Valentine’s Day.”

“Hmm...That makes sense, actually. How do you know all this?”

“Remember, I worked at Build-A-Bear for four months a couple years ago. I learned a lot of weird stats while I was there. Oh, another weird one. Did you know that teddy bears got their name from good old Theodore Roosevelt?”

“Really?” Eric asks, and I’m not sure if the surprise in his voice is real or not. It sounds like a prompt for more information. “I didn’t know that.”

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