Elite

by Joseph C. Anthony

  It had become quite clear that she was keeping Daniel at an arms-length. Jordan had always acted that way when she feared Daniel was getting too close, as though showing any affection would serve only to set him up for some sort of disappointment. The reality was that Daniel was always fully aware of the situation, he just didn’t care. He would rather put himself out there and pour his heart and soul into his relationship with Jordan than to lie down and just give up. In his mind, the pain would hurt the same either way. At least this way he had a remote chance of overcoming the obstacles set before him.

  Still, it was incredibly difficult for Daniel to cope with the idea of being her number two. For so long she had treated him as though they were destined to be together—that nothing could ever get in the way of the love they shared. Now, there was someone else—someone that she may not have cared for in the same way as Daniel, but that she could not get out of her head. She loved Daniel in the deepest way possible, but she was drawn to Gordon Demérs. Until she was drawn in such a way to Daniel, as she once was, there was no way for her to justify being with him.

  Thinking about it tore Daniel apart from the inside out. She had become the center of his world, and he wasn’t even sure why. He wanted to be near her constantly, and any free moment he had he wanted to spend with her. She had other interests most of the time though, and he found himself spending many nights by his phone, hoping for a spontaneous invitation to hang out. When those invitations didn’t come his mind would often become plagued with thoughts of her and Demérs together, filling his heart with a combination of sadness and rage.

  He knew however that this was a burden he was going to have to live with, as the pain he would feel from cutting Jordan off completely would be much greater than that he was currently experiencing. He needed her in his life, or so he thought. At least for right now, until such time as a new woman would rise from the ashes like a mythical phoenix and finally take his mind away from Jordan. He could only hope that woman existed somewhere in the world and that he might find her soon.

  Work was work, as it always was, and July 10th seemed like any other day. It was the middle of summer in Chicago and the sun was hot. The temperature was expected to reach ninety degrees that day, and the air was damp with high levels of humidity. Most people complained about the muggy weather, but Daniel loved it. Once work was finished he planned to go to Navy Pier for a drink or ten and enjoy the summer weather because it always seemed to leave too soon. In the blink of an eye it would be October again and people would be breaking out their winter sweaters. He planned to take as much time as he could to enjoy every last bit of the summer heat.

  He brought a duffel bag with him to work. Inside was a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and a pair of flip-flops for him to change into after work. He had texted Jordan early that morning to invite her to join him, and she had responded that she would love to if she were able to find the time. Daniel didn’t know what could possibly be taking up so much of her time in the summer when school was not in session, but he felt it was best that he didn’t press her for any explanation. That could only serve to annoy her and push her away from him even further, and that was the last thing he wanted.

  He did have to admit that he was less than comfortable when standing out in the sun in his work clothes. It was a major relief to walk into the air conditioned building of the radio station. He walked over to his desk and set his duffel bag on the floor next to his chair.

  As he pulled out his chair to sit down, his boss interrupted him.

  “Hey Daniel, can I see you in my office for a minute?” She asked him.

  “No problem,” Daniel responded as he followed her across the room to where her office was located.

  She held onto the door handle and waited for him to enter the room before closing the door behind him.

  This is odd, Daniel thought to himself. Tanya rarely had any interest in speaking to him except for when she needed him to start on a new project, or to check on the progress of a project he was currently working on. These encounters usually happened in meetings however, or she would simply come to his desk and inquire. She never asked him to come into her office.

  His boss, Tanya Hursinger, was a very strong-willed woman of about fifty. She was married, but had no kids. She struck Daniel as the type of woman who had probably spent most of her life debating whether or not she actually wanted children, and before she knew it time had slipped away from her and ultimately decided that it was too late for her to start now.

  She was tall and slender – still very attractive for her age. Daniel had considered what it might be like to have a scandalous office encounter with her, and decided that it might be quite enjoyable. He had even decided that if the opportunity ever presented itself he would not refuse. Being married and his boss, she would obviously have to make the first move. It was one of those fantasies that Daniel knew would never actually come to fruition, and therefore found no harm in giving it consideration.

  Tanya had fiery red hair, and from Daniel’s experience he found that red-headed women were always crazy in one way or another. He tried to avoid them because of this, but those same qualities always created within him an unavoidable attraction to them.

  He also found her face to be quite beautiful for a woman of her age. A narrow nose sat in between her pale blue eyes which accentuated her pale skin. Daniel generally preferred a tanner shade of color on his women – like was the case with Jordan – but the pale skin worked very well for Tanya. She had just a few visible wrinkles on her face, which did not distract from her beauty in the least.

  Yes, Daniel had a strange attraction to this older woman, and the fact that she was his boss probably had something to do with it. This little meeting however, did not appear to have anything to do with physical attraction.

  Tanya sat down at her desk, across from Daniel. She pushed a couple papers that were on her desk aside, taking one last glance down at them before placing both hands, palms down, on her desk. She seemed intent on making this meeting short and to the point.

  “So,” she began, “Daniel—you’ve been here how long now?” She seemed harmlessly curious, as if the answer really had nothing to do with why they were there.

  “Almost a year now.”

  “A year?” She repeated, seeming a bit surprised. “Do you think you might be looking at a career as an AE soon?”

  “I had considered it,” Daniel responded. “It seems like the next logical step.”

  It was common that after receiving around a year of experience as a Sales Assistant anyone who was good at radio sales and maintained an interest in it would move on to become an Account Executive. Stations were always hiring sales people, and Daniel figured he would be a shoo-in if it was something he really wanted to do. His only problem with the job was that being an AE meant you worked entirely on commission. A lack of guaranteed pay was somewhat of a frightening thought for Daniel, but if you were good you could make some major bucks. Daniel figured he had probably learned enough, and made enough connections as an assistant that he could survive, but failure would more than likely mean having to move back to Indiana, and that would crush him.

  Even more so now that he and Jordan were in the same city for the first time since college.

  Tanya took a deep breath and sighed.

  Daniel thought for a moment that he had figured out what this meeting was about. She was going to try and push him to move on from being a Sales Assistant to an Account Executive. It would be something he would have to give some serious thought. Generally new reps were given a three month stipend with which to live on before being turned over to entirely commission-based pay. It was no easy task to establish yourself in the sales world in only three months. In fact, there were many failed AEs out there who would tell you it’s flat-out impossible.

  Daniel felt that he might be able to do it however. It might be time for him to give himself the opportunity to start making a little more money. His pockets would never come clos
e to the size of Gordon Demérs’, but at least they could grow enough to offer Jordan a comfortable life with him.

  “As you know, the station is constantly facing budget cuts,” Tanya continued.

  “Oh,” Daniel said flatly. He knew now what this was about. She wasn’t going to give him the option of becoming an AE – this was an ultimatum.

  “Radio just isn’t what it used to be, and we have to become more efficient in the way we allocate our income…”

  Daniel’s face began to feel hot. This wasn’t good.

  “Therefore we have decided to eliminate the Sales Assistant position all together. It isn’t crucial to the daily operations of the station, and is in reality more of a convenience to the sales staff. Your responsibilities are going to now be allocated to the rest of the sales team, and we are going to have to let you go.”

  Daniel’s head dropped, making it very easy for Tanya to read his emotions.

  “If you would like an Account Executive position, I would be happy to set you up with one. You’re a hard worker Daniel, and you have a solid understanding of radio sales. I think you could do quite well as an AE.”

  Daniel looked up at her. It was well-known in the world of radio that there was never any forewarning of when employees were going to be let go, and when it happened, it was always effective immediately.

  Daniel never expected it to happen to him. At least not so soon, and not like this.

  But at least his boss had provided him with a safety net, and it would now be a much easier decision to take the job as an AE.

  “The stipend for the AE job – that’s three months, correct?” He asked.

  She took another deep breath, an awful indication of the answer to come.

  “Unfortunately, because of the cutbacks and the whole reason we had to eliminate your position in the first place, we are no longer able to offer a stipend to incoming sales reps.”

  Daniel’s heart sank. There was no way he could survive his first three months on commission alone. He had some experience and a few connections, yes, but all of those accounts already belonged to another sales person in the office. He would be making practically nothing in those three months. On top of that, if he took the new position he would not be eligible for the little bit of severance he had coming his way. He would never survive.

  Daniel realized that he was wrong – Tanya had brought him into her office to fuck him.

  Before he could find the words to speak, Tanya got up from her chair and moved to the door. “You can go home and think about it tonight, and give me a call when you’ve thought it over.”

  She opened the door, and he got up to follow.

  “We will pack your things up for you, and have them sent to you,” she concluded.

  A building security officer was waiting outside the door to escort him out of the building. It was standard procedure. They didn’t want someone who had just had their life set ablaze throwing a hissy fit and tearing apart the office before leaving for good.

  It seemed that in a blink of an eye Daniel found himself walking through the front doors of the building, out into the blazing heat on the streets of Downtown Chicago.

  He already knew that taking the job as an AE was not feasible—He would never be able to pay his rent that way. He had been left with only two options: Move back home to Indiana, or take Richfield up on his offer.

  It seemed that in another blink of an eye Daniel found himself in the subway, waiting for the southbound red train to arrive at the station. He didn’t remember any of his walk from the radio station building to the subway station. He had been so consumed by his thoughts that he had shut out the rest of the world and unconsciously began making his way home.

  Something had suddenly brought him back into the world of the living.

  His phone was vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out to see who was calling—it was Jordan.

  He was surprised he got signal on the platform. Normally he lost it once he made his way underground and into the bowels of the subway.

  Suddenly he was interrupted by his own thoughts.

  “Navy Pier!” He exclaimed quietly, yet still audibly to himself.

  He answered the phone as his normal brain function began returning to him.

  “Hey Jordan,” he said into the phone, still a little out of it as his conscious mind had not yet fully reached 100 percent efficiency.

  “Hey, are you busy?” she asked.

  Daniel looked around. He had probably never been less busy in his entire life.

  “Not a bit,” he responded, not able to hold back a tiny smirk from emerging on his face.

  He figured she was probably calling to decline his invitation to go and drink with him at the pier. It had become a common occurrence since she had moved to town. Between teaching and Demérs, she had very little time for a casual afternoon rendezvous with Daniel.

  Today, Daniel thought, he almost preferred it that way. All he wanted to do right now was go home, crack open a beer, and try not to break down. For the first time since meeting her, he felt he would rather be alone than with Jordan.

  “Are you still going to Navy Pier later?” She asked him.

  Later? He thought to himself.

  He looked down at his watch. It wasn’t even ten o’clock. Then he remembered that he had only just gotten to work when they sent him packing. He hadn’t even sat down yet. In all of the chaos that had ensued inside his head, he had completely lost touch with the fact that it was still morning.

  It was also very odd for Jordan to be calling him this early.

  “Umm…” Daniel contemplated his answer. This wasn’t a situation he had prepared himself for. He truly didn’t know the answer.

  “Yes,” he decided. He was curious to know her response, and decided that if she said she couldn’t make it he would most likely just stay home.

  “Will you be joining me?” He inquired.

  “I’m not sure yet.” It was her usual safe response. “I don’t have anything planned right now though, so I think maybe, yeah.”

  Typical Jordan—telling him what he wanted to hear but leaving the door wide open for her to bail at the last minute.

  Daniel let out an audible sigh, and he knew, that she knew, that he knew why she had answered the way she had.

  He decided to just come right out with the news.

  “Well I just lost my job, so even though I shouldn’t spend any money on it, I’m probably going to need a drink or two…or five.”

  The intention was to grease her wheels a little, and guilt her into coming. This made him realize that his earlier thought of wanting to be alone had been a bold faced lie that he had only told himself so that it wouldn’t hurt as bad when she said no. The last thing he needed was more disappointment.

  Still, even though he had used his unfortunate situation as a weapon, Jordan was his best friend and it wouldn’t have made a lick of sense not to tell her.

  “Oh no!” She said with sincere grief. “Daniel, that’s terrible!”

  “Yeah,” he said plainly. “They offered me another job, but I would work entirely on commission. I’d never survive the first few months. I don’t have nearly enough money saved up to pay rent for even one month. I’m pretty much screwed.”

  “Daniel…” she said, conveying as much sympathy as she could. Every bit of it was real, Daniel knew, but Jordan was definitely pushing it in her voice so that it would be clear that she felt sorry for him. “I’m so, so sorry. I hate this for you.”

  “Well I’m not exactly dancing on sunshine,” he said, his voice still level and almost unconcerned. He wasn’t about to start pouting to Jordan on the phone in the middle of the subway station.

  “I can only imagine,” she said despairingly. “Well I am definitely going to make it out to the Pier now, and drinks are on me at Margaritaville.”

  Daniel smiled. He truly did not want to, but he couldn’t help it. He would always love her.

  Just then the train pulle
d up. It was his cue.

  “Okay, well I’m headed home and the train just got here, so I’m going to let you go,” he told Jordan.

  “Okay, I have to go too,” she replied. “Try to keep your chin up and I’ll see you around five-thirty. Text me if you need to.”

  Daniel found that his smile had not yet disappeared from his face.

  “Bye,” he told her, almost sweetly.

  “Bye,” she reciprocated in a tone one would generally end a phone call with.

  He hung up the phone and found an open seat on the train. He allowed a bit of happiness to rise up within himself. At least something positive would come out of this day. He now admitted to himself that he preferred being at Navy Pier with Jordan than at home by himself. Regardless, he would now experience the best of both worlds.

  He decided that when he got home he would lay on his bed and contemplate the horror film that had become his life, then head back into the center of town to meet Jordan for drinks.

  Dammit! He cursed himself. He probably could have gotten Jordan to come over to his apartment if he had asked. He had taken a passive-aggressive approach to trying to get Jordan over his apartment more often, but she was very skilled at finding ways around it. Only one time had he convinced her to come over—it was a Friday night and she came by after work to make dinner with him. He had tried then to convince her to stay, but she had refused.

  He almost considered texting her—she would no doubt feel obligated to stop by if he told her he’d rather stay in and needed someone to talk to—but he decided against it. He wasn’t going to use his pain against Jordan any longer. He hated doing that. He’d rather bear the pain the nature of their relationship continuously created within him, than to pass that onto her. Sometimes he let it slip out when he got really low and wanted her to know how he felt, but he tried to avoid it at all costs.