Chapter Twenty Three

“Ugh, why did we decide to do this again?” I was emailing another press release out, and I leaned my head down on the keyboard, making the subject line a burst of letters.
“Because girls need Lucky Bitch!” Leo chirped.
“We need luck.” I said
“No, we need more work.”
We were in our impromptu office: Leo’s living room. Yuki was cutting and pasting a rough layout for a meeting later, and our new interns, Sophie and Justin, were handling our small orders. We were being carried by a few small independent venders, in places like San Francisco or Portland, but we had a lot of subscription queries after some press on feminist websites and culture blogs. Our circulation would be about 5,000 copies for the first issue, October. Leo was cheerfully typing a blog on our newly launched web site about her commitment ceremony last weekend. We had devised a nearly interactive magazine/website link system, where you got a code when you bought the issue that would get you everything online. Non-subscribers could get on too, but only paying customers saw the whole issue online, with blogs, extra features and music downloads. Andrew and the boys had recorded a new demo song exclusively for our customers. They were also playing our launch party three weeks later in mid-September. I felt a little like I was relying on him too much to get publicity, but he insisted. I also relied on the rest of the guys for editing, since they all DID have Harvard degrees. Taylor was useful for helping us with layout, and font choices, since her day job was graphic design. Being around such creative, motivated people pushed me to work harder.
“Done!” Justin looked up expectantly. He was our little puppy, a sensitive high schooler who was so excited to hang out with us, he needed constant praise.
“Good job, J.” Yuki nodded at him, raising her eyebrows at me. She treated him like her baby brother.
“Ok, ok. I’m done with the press releases. Hopefully someone will take note. I emailed blogs, zines, and some other publications. What now?” I sighed. I was exhausted.
“I was saving this til later, but….” Leo looked mischievous.
“I hope its whiskey.” I said.
“Better!”
“Impossible.”
“Ahem.” She was being silly. “See You’s email list! Ta Da!”
“Holy shit!”
“Leo!”
“Oh my god.”
“Isn’t this illegal?”
She laughed.
“I don’t know, maybe. It’s just the Tri-State area, anyways. But they deserve it for firing me. So get on this, Justin, type out those email addresses.”
“I love you Leo.” I jumped on her.
“Hey, cut it out, I’m a married woman!”
“Only in the state of Vermont.” Yuki countered.
“Our marriage is in our heart!” Taylor yelled from the kitchen.
“Awwww.” We all giggled.
“Tay, you should write for gay Hallmark.” I added.
“Ahem.” Leo adjusted her glasses. “Back to business, no more discussion of MY WIFE,” She giggled, “and our never ending love. Justin, make sure you use the subscription link in that email to our illegal email list, and also invite them all to the launch party.”
“Speaking of which, I need to call that place tomorrow to make sure we have the booking.” Sophie said, looking at her to-do list.
“Ugh I love you.” Leo smiled appreciatively. Sophie was so organized; it helped us more every day.
“And I need to get going to my date from hell.” I was meeting Steven at a nearby dive, to apologize and set things straight.
“Have fun.”
“Shut up, Yuki!” She giggled, ducking as I threw my pencil at her.
I called Andrew on my walk over.
“You’re sure you don’t care?”
“I trust you.”
“Thanks, but you’re supposed to tell me no so I can cancel with him. Jeez, you horrible boyfriend.”
“I love hearing you say that.”
“What?”
“Boyfriend. I don’t particularly like horrible boyfriend, but I’ll take it.”
“I’m coming home after, Boyfriend.” I smiled. I loved this new ease in our relationship. I no longer felt nervous I would lose him. I lost him once, and I survived, and now we were stronger than before.
“Good. Now be nice, baby.”
“I’m not nice!”
“Yes you are, you just pretend to be mean.”
“That’s what you think.”
“That’s what I know. Bye.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I walked into the dark bar, and saw Steven sitting in a corner booth. I ordered a whiskey sour, and joined him.
“Hi.”
“Hey, Jane.”
“Steven…”
“It’s fine. Not what I planned, but fine.”
“I never meant for it to end like this. I was going to tell you, but Marie set it up so you would be hurt like this.” I explained what had happened.
“Wow, that’s kind of harsh. How’s Viv?”
“She’s out on Long Island, recuperating and going to meetings and stuff.”
“Good. Well, I really liked you Jane. I wish things had worked.”
“I’m sorry. But we’re not right for each other.”
“I know.”
“I was unfair, I was in love with him the whole time, I was just denying it.”
“That’s kind of a bitch move.”
“Trust me, I know. I’ve been realizing exactly what a bitch I am.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself, just give me the number of a single friend.”
“You’re relentless, you dog.”
“You owe me.”
“Fine, come to the launch party, this girl Lexi will be there.”
“Sweet.” I handed him the invite. “See You This Tuesday Launch Party for Lucky Bitch? That’s hilarious.”
“We thought so. I have to get going, but friends?”
“Depends on how cute this Lexi is.”
“Bye, Steven.” I shook my head. I left feeling lighter, the added stress of our situation taken care of. Now all I needed was to focus on the magazine.