‘They must think I’m a fool,’ Eve says as she paces at the scene of the crime. ‘Last night was insane, but not enough to blind me from such a blatant act of disloyalty.’ She takes pictures of Hailey’s dress on the floor, next to Chris’ pants and shirt. It’s not the strongest evidence to build her case, but it’s enough of a start. ‘I will not be taken on a ride during the most important week of my life.’
***
Eve is not your regular entrepreneur. College was never an option, but she’s just as educated, if not more, than all her peers who hold finance degrees. Ever since her parents saw her flip a bag of lollipops for double what she bought it for at the age of 11, they knew she was destined for greatness. She started her own crypto investment firm at the age of 17, taking on her peers’ allowances and investing them in a range of alt-coins that showed promise. Years later she’s about to go public with one of the biggest crypto exchange platforms in North America, but she’ll be damned if her husband and best friend think they can start an affair on the eve of her biggest break yet.
Jacob, Eve’s assistant, is waiting at her doorstep with a coffee and an Advil. His nerves are through the roof, he’s never had to keep anything from her, but it’s for her own good that he wipes the sweat off his forehead and act’s like it’s just another day.
‘The three of you had loads of fun last night huh?’ He says as he puts the car in drive and whips into the street.
‘What do you mean by that?’ Eve’s sunglasses cover the mix of hangover and rage behind her eyes. Wondering if he is in on it too.
‘Don’t act like you don’t remember! You, Chris and Hailey were inseparable last night. All the senior investors were betting on whether the three of you would hit the sack together, lol. Even Hailey and Chris were a bit more familiar than usual.’ Jacobs details without turning to see if she believes him or not.
Worry lines populate the space behind her fringe. Never in her entire life did she think the girl she’s shared every moment with since high school would sleep with her husband. The grey clouds outside her window act as a screen for her to try project the fuzzy memories from the night before, but everything is a blur. She can’t even remember the speech she gave to her team as she popped the first bottle of champagne, let alone how she got home.
Across town Chris and Hailey pattern the office in a panic. They can’t risk Eve’s embarrassment on such a pivotal day.
‘Listen up everybody. We know last night got a bit wild, but today will be even worse if any of it leaks to the papers and Eve is made to feel like a clown.’ Chris bellows from the terrace into the main office. The staff giggle and shuffle, no one can get over what they saw last night. Chris and Hailey did their best to cover it up, but no one will ever see the three of them the same ever again.
‘We aren’t taking any chances,’ Hailey dictates from behind what is usually a bar, but has been transformed into a workstation for the IT department, ‘we are gonna need everyone to line up along the wall. We’re wiping all history, stories, pictures – you name it, from last night’s event. Anything that could jeopardize our IPO and Eve’s reputation. We know last night was a lot. You saw some things that probably changed your opinion of us, but we can’t let any of that get out, okay?’ She asks rhetorically. It was more of a command than a request.
Everyone shuffles into an orderly line. These couple dozen workers would do anything to help Eve out. She’s attended family funerals, paid off student debts and even donated blood to one of her workers’ children who was O+ and was in dire need of a transfusion. It would be insulting if anyone was reluctant to help now.
But they don’t have enough time. Jacob can only stall for so long before Eve catches on to what he’s doing.
If it wasn’t for the hangover Eve would be pressing Jacob to hurry things up, but she’s fine with him running a couple errands before they head for the office. In the meantime she slowly scrolls through her social media pages to watch back the stories of last night’s events, but her face slowly goes pale as she discovers everything she posted last night has been deleted. Same for Chris and Hailey. ‘They are really covering their tracks huh,’ she whispers to herself.
‘Let me see your phone, Jacob.’
‘Oh, my phone? Why?’
‘Why not? You’ve never kept it from me before?’
‘That is true. But I have some unflattering images of myself on there and I’d prefer it if you didn’t see them.’
‘Pull over.’
‘What?’
‘Did I stutter?’
Without noticing where they are, Jacob pulls in to park at the venue where last night’s party was held. The owner and staff are currently cleaning up the confetti and decorations, but Jacob is too busy organizing his thoughts to notice any of the smiling faces outside the window.
‘Is there something going on, Jacob?’ She says as she leans in to talk directly into his ear from the backseat.
‘No not at all,’ awkwardly gulping, ‘why do you ask?’
‘Because everyone seems to have scrubbed the memories from last night from their social media pages. Chris, Hailey, you, and even the staff. What’s going on?’
But before Jacob can answer, Ashish, the venue’s owner, knocks on Eve’s window, motioning her to come out for a chat.
‘I see you already got your morning dose,’ Ashish, pointing at the coffee.
‘Yeah last night was a howler,’ Eve says as she steps out the car, ‘I wish you could have joined us.’
Puzzled by her statement, Ashish looks back and forth at Jacob and Eve in confusion, ‘I was there remember. I came back later and we had a couple drinks together before the three of us took those pictures. Jacob wouldn’t stop taking so many. I thought I was seeing double when I watched his IG story.’
Eve clenches her Jaw to stop herself from barking out at Jacob. Her trust in him is slowly eroding as her mind spirals through thoughts of how he is covering up for Chris and Hailey. Her heart skips a beat as she learns where his loyalty really lies. ‘Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten. Silly me.’ They awkwardly smile at each other for a few seconds too long before she announces her departure.
‘Listen, last night was great, thanks for having us. Jacob here just came to pick up some stuff from last night, but I gotta run, I just remembered there’s something I left at home.’
The statement catches Jacob by surprise but he can’t let Ashish know something is amiss. The two walk into the venue whilst Eve gets into an Uber, but it doesn’t go back in the direction they came from, she’s headed straight downtown, for the office.
Without bothering to tip the driver, Eve storms out of the Uber and into the foyer. The guards can barely get a greeting in with the way she zooms past them, heading for the elevator where she’s packed in with a few of the other employees from last night, but they can barely hold back the sneaky smiles and grins from spreading across their faces.
‘Hello everyone,’ she says as professionally as possible, but her voice is telling that something inside her isn’t right.
They all make space for her as she breaks out the elevator and guns straight for the terrace office where she finds Chris and Eve, locked in conversation over something on the laptop beside them.
‘Why me? Why now?’ Eve says as she breaks into tears the minute she walks onto the terrace. Chris motions to the workers dispersing from the scene to close the glass doors behind them.
‘I thought you loved me, both of you. But instead I find out you’re having an affair? Right before our IPO goes out? And if that isn’t bad enough you’re using the office resources to cover it up?’ She says pointing at the IT guys who are now packing up their things since finishing scrubbing all the employees’ devices.
‘If last night had gotten out, it would have jeopardized our IPO. I know you love having everything out in the open, but last night was a bit too much.’ Chris begins reaching for her hands to calm her down, ‘you know I love you. I’ve always loved you. And this, we are doing this for yo-’
‘Shut up! Don’t tell me this is for me.’ Pulling her hands away to walk over to Hailey. ‘Was it for me when you banged my best friend in our home last night?’
Hailey, squinting and scratching her head. ‘Excuse me?’ Stepping back to fold her hands. ‘I don’t know what you think you know, Eve, but you and I go way back, and everything we’ve done in the past 8 hours has been to protect you.’ Hailey says, moving forward to try to calm her best friend down, but Eve pulls back, turning to face her employees who are not even trying to hide the fact that they are watching intently.
‘Oh, so you’re saying you used a condom?’ Chuckling at her rebuttal.
‘No dammit! We are saying you messed up last night, and we have been on the phone with all the major investors who were at the party last night apologizing on your behalf.’ Chris yells. He’s had enough of her bad-mouthing. ‘We’ve been sitting here since 4AM after we dropped you off and changed clothes because you threw up on us as we were putting you in the car.’
Eve, now drying up her tears and sitting down for what is turning into a lecture she was not expecting.
Hailey, sitting down beside her to comfort her as she details what actually happened last night. ‘You had a bit too much to drink. More than I’ve seen you drink in a while, and the celebrations kind of went south. But it’s better if we show you instead.’
Hailey selects all the video files they got from the employees phones and presses P, and Eve’s eyes dilate with each video.
*Yo Mat. I know you are a big investor and all, but next time your wife offers to bake a cake for my celebration, tell her I strongly decline.*
*Standing up on one of the tables, Eve begins twerking on all fours and singing at the top of her voice*
*Listen kids, don’t think all of yooour kids will make it if you don’t send them to university. I’m ONE of a kind. That’s why Hailey has stuck with me, and why Chris likes to, well you know ;)*
*Scampering into a corner with a trash can, Eve pees into it whilst Chris and Hailey try to shield her from everyone’s view. Don’t mind me people, I’m just letting one loose.*
The videos go on for another five or so minutes. Chris has his back to the two of them. ‘You see how you act? You see why we had to tiptoe around you all morning? You nearly cost us our jo-’
But she interrupts him with a hug from the back. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m so sorry. I had no idea I was being a menace. I guess the work leading up to this IPO was really intense, and when I finally let it all out, I did a bit too much.’ Trying to sound as sincere as humanly possible.
‘A bit?’ Hailey says, rolling her eyes, ‘ DO you know how much of a stir this would have caused had the blog sites gotten wind of this? You’re lucky your employees ride for you, otherwise we would have been packing it up and calling it.’
And with that said Eve lunges for the door. ‘I want you all to know how sorry I am for last night’s behaviour. That wasn’t me and it never will be again. I was stressed and went a bit too hard last night, but that is no excuse for the way I acted. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, and you will all be adequately rewarded for your loyalty today.’
The floor breaks into claps and whistles. One of the benefits of working with a bunch of college graduates is they aren’t as uptight as the older gen, and have all been in some situation similar to Eve’s. They cheer her on as she skips back out to smoothen things out with Chris and Hailey.
‘So unless you guys have any other messes of mine to clean up, how about you let me take you both out for brunch to apologize?’ she says with a wide grin and arms wide open.
‘It’s gonna take more than a brunch to get us to forgive you,’ Hailey begins.
‘But it’s a good start.’ Chris finishes. ‘We can list the rest of our demands on our way there.’
The three of them walkout of the building, in hands and laughter. Eve’s always had a bad habit of jumping to conclusions, and today was no different. Unfortunately, she was the cause of her own problems this time, lucky for her she had a good set of friends to save her from herself. If only we all had friends like Chris and Hailey. Better yet, if only we could all be more like them.
