“We'll count next time!” Alex threatened Jack. “I'm going to eat!” He added calmly. "I won't sit here with this hypocrite."
“And you? Are you holy?” Jack began to laugh. “Look, here we have a picture of a flawless narcissist!”
“I have a clear conscience, unlike you... Show off to your friends, corrupt traitor, what photos you gave to Leo Walker.” Alex said calmly.
"You don't have the right to give a shit about who I'm meeting and what I'm doing!" He almost shouted, upset.
“With who? Leo Walker? Jack, what’s going on?” Thomas asked, concerned about what he heard. “Alex, could you explain what you are talking about?”
“What pictures?” Simon was worried too.
“Who's in the shit?” Exclaimed an irritated Jack. “Are you calling me a hypocrite? And you? What were you doing there with that witch?” He asked, pointing to the chief editor's office.
“Are you asking me?” Alex spread his hands. “Nothing to be ashamed of. I was painting.”
“Alex, could you explain what’s going on with Walker?” Adam cut in.
“Have you seen them together?” Moved, Simon wanted to know the details. “Where? When?”
“Let him explain it himself!” Alex pointed to the culprit Jack.
“Don't you have anything better on me, man?” Jack was getting more and more nervous, his face was flushed red.
Both Adam and the others knew that their colleague didn’t have a clear conscience. He hadn't been behaving normally for a while. He avoided talking about the situation they found themselves in at their workplace after Leo Walker left the magazine.
If Alex had seen them together, it was so; they had no doubts. They really wanted to act immediately; press Jack against the wall, shake him, and then by force, if necessary, find out what he was doing with Walker.
They wanted to take care of him there and then, because it ‘stank’ dangerously. The surname ‘Walker’ acted on them like a red rag for a bull, and the outrageous news required immediate explanation.
“Gentlemen, your dinner is getting cold!” The chief editor said. She had been listening to the conversation for a few moments.
“Thank you! Let's go!” Adam announced as he quickly judged the situation; concluded that it was most sensible to end the discussion before it got to the blows.
He wanted to shake Jack himself to learn about the circumstances of his meeting with Walker. But he knew that this was neither the right place nor the right time for male conversations.
Adam was the first to walk towards the kitchen.
“Come! We'll talk later!” He said, dragging Alex by his t-shirt.
The kitchen smelled of freshly brewed coffee and Chinese food.
The chief editor was bustling around in her cute work clothes, as the boys agreed upon it a few hours ago. She heated another batch of food in the microwave and brewed coffee.
Rose was standing by the sink in silence, wearing yellow rubber gloves, and was washing the dishes.
Two other female friends were sitting at the table, already dressed normally. They had finished their dessert and were sipping coffee, delighted to criticize the editorial male colleagues who stood by the wall, completely absorbed in heated discussion and pretending that they were working hard.
Seeing Alex and Adam approaching, they completely ignored the chief editor’s presence and began to comment on their muscles.
“I heard everything! End this discussion about me already!" Alex said as he entered the kitchen.
Alex didn’t hide his joy, seeing the cupboard next to the microwave stocked with numerous containers of Chinese food and a cardboard box with the logo of a familiar confectionery, full of sweets and cups with fragrant coffee.
Even though he wasn’t at all hungry, he wanted to start eating as quickly as possible. He didn’t have the willingness to engage in discussion with female friends.
It was ‘an open secret’ that at all costs, they tried to catch husbands, ones who were the best professionally situated, well-off and, of course, deadly handsome, although in his opinion they didn’t sin either in their beauty or their intellect.
They ‘hunted’ for single colleagues, as well as visiting friends, acquaintances, and basically all the men appearing in the editorial office.
They also didn’t let him go too when he came to the magazine, so he had completely lost respect for them.
One by one, they insisted on getting to him, until one day they wanted to undress him in public while he was drunk, during a party. They just didn’t suppose that despite the large amount of alcohol he had drunk, his grey cells were still working, and quite well at that.
He told them that if he wanted hookers, he would go to the brothel, and the editorials didn't interest him. Everyone present at the party rewarded him with applause.
The furious women immediately ostentatiously left the premises. For several weeks they didn’t speak to him at all. They had kept their distance since then, but Alex felt uncomfortable around them nonetheless.
He tried to avoid them diplomatically, but sometimes he had no choice but to talk to them. However, he didn’t hide that he felt sick at the sight of them.
“We know perfectly well that we both look divine. But neither of you have a chance to take anatomy lessons with us!” Adam added with a smile, having a similar opinion about editorial women.
He wanted to add that with the exception of the chief editor but she was not speaking but listening.
“How modest!” Blanca ironically commented. She had been trying to date him unsuccessfully for a long time.
"We know our worth, sweetheart." Alex said as he sat down next to her with fragrant food on his plate. “We value ourselves!” He added after a moment of hesitation.
"Not too much?" Kate asked mockingly.
“This is your opinion, you have the right to have it.” Adam added.
“What an aroma!” Simon rushed into the kitchen like a hurricane. “Food! Delicious food!”
Upon seeing him, Blanca and Kate ended the topic immediately. Both of them were meeting Simon in turn, wanting to be closer to his more attractive, handsome colleagues, which of course he was well aware of.
Cunningly taking advantage of this fact, Simon showed up at various events, banquets in their company, but eventually he got bored.
Openly and quite honestly said that he didn't feel like ‘bait’ anymore. They don't stand a chance with his buddies. For his honesty, they hated him. They gave him a wide berth, not talking to him, except on purely professional topics.
"Boys, we're leaving early." Kate said coquettishly, correcting her short, dishevelled, red-dyed hair.
“We're done with work!” Blanca added, looking at the chief editor, who smiled in a gesture of approval.
“I'm also leaving in a moment!” Alice informed the editorial team.
So they did. Nicolas and Alex also left the office with them.
The rest of the journalists were to finish the painting. As soon as the bosses left the workplace, the atmosphere relaxed. They finished painting by eleven. They concluded that it was too late and that there was no point in going home, so they should rest in editorial offices.
Jack went to the night shop and gathered the necessary supplies…
The next day, just before nine o’clock, the chief editor came to the office. She was surprised to see the editorial team sitting at the collegiate table on a Friday morning.Alex and Adam came right behind her.“Good morning, gentlemen!” She greeted them.“Not good morning, but bad morning…” Michael began to complain about sleeplessness. In addition, regardless of the presence of the editor, he stretched as if he was still in bed in his bedroom, not at work.“Shut up, Michael!” Thomas sitting next to him, also sleepy, tried to bring him to order. "Dude, you barely got up, you're already complaining. You were supposed to change! Shave! Brush up!”"Shh..." Michael put a finger to his lips. “I have a headache! Don't yell behind my ears!”“Gentlemen, I have a surprise!” The chief editor announced. "There's a package on my desk in my office. Can one of you bring it in,
At twenty to ten, in complete silence, they began to leave the editorial office. They were waiting at the main exit of the building. It soon turned out that not only the chief editor and all the females were going to the event, but also Nicolas Williams, who had just parked his car in front of the building.The bosses cunningly waited for the male half of the team to leave, then followed right behind them so that one wouldn’t have the opportunity to get missing and disappear somewhere around the corner unnoticed.Journalists really wanted to get lost, but assumed that the consequences could be severe.When they entered the sports hall belonging to the Academy of Physical Education, they lost the rest of their good humor for the day.“Damn it! What are we doing here? There are journalists of all local mass media, and maybe even national ones.” Simon commented. “And there are even those damn spectators!”The huge sports
Soon, the journalists of the ‘Man’ began to clap. Their witch in a turquoise suit looked great, standing next to the competitors warming up their muscles before the start. But instead of warming up, Alice stood almost motionless, looking at the opposite edge of the pool.The boys, looking at her, had no doubts that she spent her free time not like them, in the Tavern, but working hard on her physical condition. However, they were aware that having a beautifully built body does not mean that it can swim well.They began to argue that the competition was controversial, not very fair, as there were two women and four men taking part in it, and the distance was as long as two lengths of the pool.For a moment they forgot about the hatred, anger, the fragile male honor and the painting she forced them to do. They really hoped that their chief editor not only looked great, but she could swim, and that'd be good enough.“And racing on electric
Alex didn’t object when someone called over a doctor who was watching over the players. The diagnosis managed to bring everyone down. The medic decided to take the injured to the hospital for observation and X-ray. Adam standing next to him, the culprit of all the fuss, looked no better than the injured Alex. He didn't want to knock out his friend, he just wanted to distract him. Now, he felt remorse and had a moral hangover. Faced with the requests and pleas of his colleagues, Alex ended up sitting on the stand with an ice pack on his head. It was the only thing he could do for his colleagues. Stay on the sidelines until the end of the tournament. Observe and support them in spirit. The last discipline of the competition turned out to be extremely dramatic. It was attended by the entire ‘Man’ team except for the injured Alex and Alice, who sat worriedly next to him. The injured person didn’t feel well, but kept a cool head and didn’t move from his se
The boys, tired of the murderous rivalry at the event, the previous night’s all-night party and climbing the stairs, decided that before they went down to get new equipment, they would first rest for a while. They hoped a miracle would happen and the elevators would repair themselves, or it would turn out that there was no breakdown at all, and they wouldn't have to climb up to the seventh floor again. They sat in silence, happy in the depths of their souls; there was a weekend ahead of them, two long days that they absolutely wanted to devote to rest. Only Michael, burgundy with rage, complained about the bad luck that haunted him: all the evil, injustice, meanness of the world in the hard life of an honest, conscientiously working, and underappreciated outstanding journalist. He muttered under his breath about the terrible headache that didn’t allow him to think rationally, the terrible pain in his back and nagging muscle soreness that made it diffi
Michael planned to share his problems with his friend, the only person he could trust and who always had unnecessary cash. Just tonight, he was going to talk to Alex about a small loan so he could settle the bills. He knew that when Alex hears the amount he urgently needs, he will at least sit down, if he has something on. Besides, he will have to patiently listen to his friend's critical opinions about his recent excessive and unnecessary expenditures at work and in the inn. He will once again be forced to make promises to Alex that he won’t keep. However, an unexpected problem occurred. Immediately after the competition, Nicolas had taken the knocked out Alex to the hospital, where, after the tests, the doctors decided to leave him under observation. Michael hoped it was just a preventative procedure, and not anything serious. He found himself in a trap, it was not proper to talk about money even with his best friend in the hospital. The deadline fo
Meanwhile, Michael ran to open the door. That was her. He had no doubts whatsoever. Through the door, or rather its slits, he could smell her sensual perfume.“Good evening! I'm sorry for being late!” She said with a smile.She didn't look like the magazines’ witch at all. She looked different, quite ordinary in blue jeans and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up almost to the elbows, and a sophisticated collar that covered her long neck.It was only now he noticed that she had a high, beautiful forehead, which she usually covered with bangs, beneath which lay her exquisite eyes and long eyelashes. He had never seen her like this before. Completely ordinary, but beautiful.“Please! A bottle of good French wine, vintage 1977!” She said as she handed over the elegantly wrapped bottle.Without waiting for an invitation, she stepped inside."Take a look around the house." Michael choked out. "And I'll take care
“Would you like something to drink?” Michael's voice came from the kitchen.“Whiskey with ice, double please. Great working conditions.”“I don't work there!” She heard the voice of Michael approaching.“I usually write in the bedroom, in bed. I don't like the library, it reminds me of my father and grandfather.”“Michael, do you work at home?” She was really surprised, and began to laugh out loud. “I thought you wrote your amazing columns twenty minutes before the end of each issue.”“You are absolutely right!” He also laughed.There was no denying that he was not an overzealous scribbler. As befits a seasoned columnist, he writes only when he has to, at the last minute.‘A big plus for Alice. She is perceptive.’ He thought. For appreciating his excellent columns. He wondered if she had any hints to herself in the last issue. Probably yes.