"What?" Lexi asked, sounding stunned, as she sat across from a man in a nice suit behind a desk. He smiled, leaned back and nodded.
"Yeah," he said, "It's true. He sang like a canary, thusly fingering his business partner as the brains behind the operation and including the proof necessary to back it up. Trails of receipts, ledgers, you name it. Handed it all over. Because of this, they're going more lenient on him, unfreezing his funds, while still giving him a sentence, albeit a much shorter one than before." "...oh my god," Lexi said, "...so...what does this mean for me?" The lawyer smiled, happy to give her the best news she'd get all day. *** Keagan and Michelle were sitting outside the studio, eating lunch at a small picnic table in an area that the network had provided for its employees. They'd both ordered something out of a nearby food truck and were scarfing it down, each hungry as a wolf from working all day. Neither one spoke, as there wasn't a single moment neither one wasn't chewing. Finally after a bit, Keagan put her fork down and exhaled longingly, blinking a few times. "I need to eat more often than one meal a day," she said, just as Eliza saddled down beside Michelle with her own lunch. "You're not eating in The Hole today?" Michelle asked as Eliza shook her head, digging into her bag and pulling out small separate containers of food. "Wow, so organized," Keagan said, playing with her dreads absentmindedly as Eliza smiled and started to eat; Keagan looked back to Michelle and said, "so, how's Bea? I mean, after that incident I wouldn't be surprised if she was having a rather hard time readjusting." "She's...struggling, yeah, it's kinda messed her up," Michelle said, "But she'll be okay. She and Liam are working hard to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. They're even bringing in a psychologist for anyone on the crew who might wanna get things off their chest." "That's very new agey of them," Keagan said, just as a car horn honked brightly and the girls all looked to the right at the parking lot to see Lexi pull up in a nice little sports car. She got out, looking as perfect as always, and strolled up to the picnic table, seating herself beside Keagan and kissing her on the cheek. "Where'd that come from? Did you a rob a dealership?" Michelle asked. "It's my fathers," Lexi said, "I get everything he had. He turned states evidence on his business partner, and as a result, he'll get a shortened sentence and he transferred ownership of everything to me. All his money, all his stocks, his car, everything. It's all mine now. At least until he gets out of jail, but that's gonna be another year at least." "Well I ain't driving that thing without you in it," Keagan said, looking over her shoulder back at the car. "What? Why not?" "Because I'm black, Lexi, the cops will think I stole it," Keagan said, making Michelle laugh. "Sorry," Michelle said, "Sorry, I just...you're right. Screwed up as it is, you're right." "Well how about, then, I buy new cars for everyone?" Lexi asked, making the table hush up. "...what?" Keagan asked quietly. "I couldn't accept that," Michelle said. "I don't drive," Eliza said softly. Lexi felt her gut plummet. All she'd wanted to do was share the good news she'd gotten that day with the people she cared about, and it was starting to seem like nobody but her was interested in it. She sighed, then stood up and rummaged through her purse for some change. "I'm gonna go get a soda from the machine," she said, vanishing inside the building. Keagan felt bad, but she didn't know what to think. She had known Lexi had come from a lot of money, but she wasn't expecting her to return to that lifestyle so quickly or so eagerly. Now she felt the gap between them widen all the more. Yes, she liked Lexi, perhaps even loved her, but that class difference was really starting to be hammered home. After all, Keagan had once told Michelle that "Lexi could get any job she wants, while I only have the job I have because I know you and Bea", and now with this new car, it was beginning to set in just how different they really were. Michelle suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Beatrice standing there. She wasn't even in costume, just an old fashioned dress and a cardigan. Michelle smiled as she looked up at her, and Bea nodded. "I need to speak with you," she said, and Michelle excused herself. As the two of them started to walk down the backlot of the studio, Michelle could tell Bea was rattled by something. "What's going on?" Michelle asked. "I just haven't been sleeping well these last few weeks," she said, "Liam and I are trying to make this all financially feasible, but we're running out of money, and the network won't give us anymore, and...and then with what happened...I don't know, Michelle, please tell me that what we're doing here isn't a giant legacy tarnishing mistake." "It isn't, it's gonna be great," Michelle said, coughing a little before adding, "and I'll do anything I can to help, Bea, you know that. If you need to save money on sets, I'll design more myself. You know I can." Bea smirked. She did know that Michelle could do anything she set her mind to, and she did know that with her by her side, everything would be fine. But the guilt over what had happened to those former crew members was eating away at Beatrice internally, and she was scared to share that with even those closest to her. She sighed and looked out at the studio buildings. "I used to do plays," Beatrice said, "that's how this all started. Beatrice was nothing but a one woman play. A small stage production. Now look at it. Does something lose its charm when its given more money, more room to explore? Or does the charm grow with the program? I don't know. I just know that the first time Liam and I showed up to the network back in the day, I was so nervous. I didn't come a city, Michelle, I grew up on a small piece of farmland somewhat removed from the city, and I wasn't a very social child." "Hey, neither was I, being stuck in hospital beds and all," Michelle said, nudging Bea with her elbow, making her chuckle. "But," Bea continued, "...I just can't help but feel like I'm walking down the same kind of path again. What seems like a great experience starting out will only in the end leave me bitter and hostile...and alone." "You'll never be alone again, Bea," Michelle said, hugging her, "I'll make sure of that." "You know, I've been doing a lot of reading online these days, and one of the things people really talk against are parasocial relationships," Beatrice said, "people who think they're friends with famous people or influencers or whomever, but in reality they're not. They misjudge and misevaluate these relationships so gravely that it often leaves them feeling genuinely wounded when something terrible happens, like they've lost a family member. I don't want us to have that kind of relationship." "I don't think we do," Michelle said, "In the first place, I prefer parasocial relationships. Much less expectation put on me to be the best me I can be. I'm not there to prove anything to anyone. That's how I know what we have isn't one, because I AM trying to prove myself to you all the time." Beatrice took Michelle's hand and patted it gently. "You're a good kid," she said, "but if I ever start to take advantage of you, please, stop me." "Will do," Michelle said. *** "It's like...we're just two different people, you know?" Keagan said, "When we both worked fast food, we were of the same stock. We both had come from different places, sure, but now we were more or less equal in societies eyes. Nothing but burger flippers. But now, with her having access to her money again, I don't know...I feel like she's not the same person I knew." "People shouldn't remain the same," Eliza said as she dipped her brush in some red paint and started applying it to the puppet she was toying with, "people should never be the person you once knew. People should always grow." "I mean, yeah, and I don't want her to not grow because of me, or whatever, but...I don't know," Keagan said, leaning against a workbench and sighing. Eliza turned in her chair, setting the puppet on the towel in her lap and looked at Keagan. "I've never dated," Eliza said, "So I don't...like...really understand how relationships work. The only people I've ever really been associated with are Bea and my parents and Liam, but...shouldn't you be happy for her? She's happy, right?" "Yeah she's happy, and yeah I want her to be happy and yeah I'm happy for her, but it just feels like the difference between is growing ever wider," Keagan said, "You don't get it, you're not black. There's different rules in society for me then there are for pretty privileged rich white women like her." "But she's gay too, right?" Eliza asked. "I mean, yeah, we're together." "So she isn't perfect, at least, uh, not in societies eyes. I mean, that came out wrong, um...oh I'm stupid." "No, you're not stupid, I know what you mean," Keagan said, smiling, "And I guess you're right, in the sense we're both minorities. But even that's a different kind of minority. The queer community still is eons ahead of the black community, despite us fighting for longer amounts of time for equality. And I know that makes me sound bitter, but I'm not, I'm...I'm happy about that in many regards but...ugh, it's all so complicated." "It doesn't have to be," Eliza said, "...I like puppets. Puppets are exactly what they're made to be. Nothing is misrepresented. There's no hidden truths. See this Armadillo? He's an Armadillo. He's never going to be anything other than an Armadillo. Even if I give him a tuxedo and a limo, he's still going to an Armadillo. Just...a fancier one. That's how people should be. They're just people, and everything else is just a facet that makes up their whole." Keagan was surprised. She'd known Eliza was damaged mentally, and yet here she was, proving she was in fact the smartest one of all, even when it came to a topic she herself admittedly had no experience within; relationships. "...I guess you're right," Keagan said. "We should all be Armadillos," Eliza said, making Keagan laugh. "We should," she agreed. *** Lexi was lying on the couch, eating food from a take out box in her pajamas, watching a Hockey game, when the front door opened and Keagan came inside. She tossed her jacket and her purse down on the floor and walked around to the couch, seating herself on it as Lexi sat up and put the food container down on the coffee table in front of them. "Where's Michelle?" "She and Bea and Liam and Eliza went out to dinner together. I had to come home and talk to you," Keagan said. "Okay, what's going on?" Lexi asked, pulling her knees to her chest, feeling nervous. "...I'm sorry," Keagan said, "I'm sorry that I was kind of...a bitch earlier, I guess, and I'm sorry that I am letting your parents wealth influence my opinions about us as a couple. I just was...so afraid to...I guess, lose you? I don't know, you're the first girl I've ever really had a relationship with, and this is all kinda new to me, and I just didn't feel like...I felt like before you had the money, we were kinda the same. We were both kinda broke, we both worked at a shitty job, and we liked one another." Lexi smiled. "But then," Keagan continued, "you got this money and...suddenly I saw you for who you actually were, before you met me, and it scared me. I think success in general scares me, because my family has always just scraped by, you know? I mean, we weren't poor or anything, but my parents worked multiple jobs to keep us fed and housed and clothed, and we were always treated poorly by rich uppity white people, but having been with you, I know that's not what you are. You're not that kind of person, money or otherwise." "I'm really not," Lexi said, giggling. "I'm sorry, Lexi. Lately I've been feeling really apart from us as a whole and it's bummed me out and it wasn't until I talked to Eliza that I realized that the one thing we have in common is what's most important...we love one another, and that's what we should focus on." Lexi nodded, leaning in and kissing Keagan. "I have a surprise for you," Lexi whispered, getting up off the couch and running into the other room before coming back, holding a piece of paper as she sat back down. "You got me paper? Wow, how did you know?" Keagan said, laughing, making Lexi roll her eyes. "You need to sign this," Lexi said, "...it's a document that cuts what I got in half, and gives half to you." "...what?" Keagan asked, taking the paper and looking at it, then looking back up at Lexi. "Yeah," Lexi said, "You wanna be equals? Let's be equals. It's not my fuckin' money anyway, and all it ever brought my father was bad luck, so let's share the wealth, shall we?" "No, this is, you've gotta be-" "Sign it," Lexi said, "Sign it and then kiss me again. I liked that." Keagan blushed, then took the pen from Lexi's hands and signed it. She looked at the paper, then looked back at Lexi. "Wow, that's a lot of money made in a matter of seconds. Now I feel like I'm in show business," Keagan said, the both of them laughing as they laid together on the couch for the rest of the evening. When Michelle got home, she found them asleep, and instead of waking them, she simply laid a big quilt over the two of them and then went to bed. *** Beatrice woke that night in her darkened bedroom, hearing the rain tap at her window. She struggled to climb out of the bed, put her robe on and head into the living room. She walked to the kitchenette, got herself a glass of water from the sink and drank it in one swift gulp before heading back to the bedroom. As she stepped into the living room again she screamed and dropped the glass on the floor, where it shattered, as she looked at a Beagle sitting on the couch, reading a book. "...Beatrice?" she asked. "Amelia," Beatrice said, looking up from the book. "...what are you doing here?" she asked, approaching the couch cautiously. "You don't have to be careful, I never bit," Beatrice said, "Sit with me." Amelia nodded and sat beside Beatrice on the couch. Beatrice licked her cheek and Amelia started to cry as she pushed her face into the beagles furry neck. "It's okay," Beatrice said, "you cry all you need. I'm here." And then Beatrice woke up. Still in bed. Sweating profusely. She could've sworn her dog was here. She could've sworn that she was holding her best friend. She wanted to cry. She wanted to throw up. Instead she got up from the bed, walked into the living room and picked up the phone, dialing a number before sitting on the couch. It rang a few times before a woman answered. "Hello?" she asked, sounding half asleep. "Mom, it's Amelia," Beatrice said, "...I need to come home."
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
About
Beatrice Beagle follows a young woman obsessed with a defunct pizzeria and kids show featuring a dog mascot. As she uncovers more about its mysterious past, she becomes sucked into the life of the woman who played the mascot, they both discover just how much they need eachother. Archives
April 2024
Categories |