Work Text:
A few days had passed and Sammie still hadn’t told Chris what had happened at the meeting. She'd just told him it went okay, but hadn't gone into detail. She especially hadn't mentioned the fact that she'd been given an ultimatum to either break up with him or lose her job or that she had a deadline on her "decision".
Sammie knew she had to tell Chris soon, but she knew he’d be furious that her job was on the line because of him. He didn’t need that kind of distraction right now while he was home in Boston training. He needed to focus on getting back into shape for Infinity Wars and not worrying about whether or not his girlfriend had a job.
Sammie strolled into work dressed in her yoga clothes since no students would be in attendance and she had a yoga date with Kellie. She quickly got to work: grading last minute projects, responding to emails, and making sure everything in her room was in their proper home.
While she worked, the Chris and work situation nagged at her until she couldn't just sit there anymore. She couldn't talk to Chris about it, but maybe, she reasoned, if she could talk with Ms. Williams the whole situation could be resolved without Chris ever having to know about it. It was a long shot, but if it worked everything out, it was totally worth it.
Sammie walked down to the office to check and see if the principal was in yet. As Sammie always came in earlier than most of the staff, she wouldn’t be surprised if the principal wasn’t in yet. When she walked into the office, she was surprised to see Maria, however, already sitting at her desk.
“Morning, Maria! You’re here early for a teacher work day. I didn’t know you had to come in.”
“Yeah, well, Jennifer wanted me in today, so I’m here. I’m okay with that, though. It gives me time to organize this mess here.” She gestured to the scattered papers on her desk.
As soon as her eyes took in the disaster, Sammie began to mentally organize the desk and how she would set it up to make it the most efficient to work with. She didn’t even notice Maria trying to get her attention until the other woman waved her hand in front of Sammie's face.
“Hey, how did that meeting go last week? Sorry, we didn’t get a chance to talk. I had to run out and pick up my kid from school.”
“Uh...it went well.” Sammie lied, not wanting to get into what happened. “I was actually coming down to see if Ms.Williams was in early so I could chat with her about the meeting. I just wanted to go over some of the things again to make sure we’re on the same page.”
“Okay. Well, when she comes in I can let her know you wanna talk and I can give you a call. Sound good?” Maria asked, sitting down to turn her computer on.
“Yeah, that would be great, Thanks, Mar.”
***
By noon, Sammie still hadn’t heard back from Maria about Jennifer being in her office.
To kill time, Sammie sat at her desk, cross-referencing her hardcopy of the grade book to the online system, making sure everything matched up correctly. She was about half way done when her cellphone started to ring. She smiled when she noticed it was Chris.
“Morning Sunshine! I’m surprised you’re up this early.” Sammie chirped as she relaxed back in her chair.
“Babe, it’s nearly lunch time. Plus, I gotta get in shape for the movie. Haven’t been doing much since my time off.” Chris yawned into the phone.
“If I recall, you had plenty of time last night with my ass on display for you ,” Sammie said, reminding him of last night's events. She had made sure to keep him and his mouth busy, so the topic of her job didn’t come up.
“Oh, believe me, I’m not complaining. Nothing like hearing my girl have a good time.” Chris quickly stated.
“Good. What are your plans for the afternoon?” Sammie asked, reclining in her chair, propping her feet on the edge of her desk.
“Well...since it’s almost lunch time, I was thinking of bringing you lunch and having a little lunch date.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I have a busy afternoon,” Sammie said, panicking.
“Well I’m already on my way, I should be there in about ten minutes.”
“What the fuck, Chris! I can’t have lunch with you here. I have a meeting this afternoon. And you can’t just spring this shit on me. If you had told me earlier, I might have been able to, but Jesus fucking Christ, Chris,” Sammie took her feet off her desk and rubbed her forehead with her free hand.
“Why can’t I come by? I’ll just drop if off at the front office then if you don’t wanna have lunch. I just wanted to do something nice for you.” Chris got snippy with her since she had lashed out on him.
“I just- I’m busy, okay? I have a lot I have to do and I don’t wanna bring any of it home with me. And do NOT drop it off at the front office. I’ll figure something out, okay? Can’t we do dinner instead?”
“Sammie, what aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing. I just have a lot to do. I have to go, I have a call waiting.” She lied, wanting to end this conversation quickly.
“Alright, dinner then. Sammie?” Chris quietly asked.
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love ya, too.” Sammie hung up and let out a breath she didn’t know she had held in.
Sammie felt horrible. She knew Chris was trying to do something sweet by bringing her lunch, but after that meeting with Ms. Williams, she didn’t need Chris here. That wouldn’t help her case. It would only add fuel to the fire. A fire in which she was trying to put out.
The sound of her office phone ringing pulled her from her thoughts. She saw it was Maria and answered it.
“Hey Maria, what’s up?.” She asked.
“Nothing. Ms.Williams is in if you wanna come down. I told her you wanted to talk and she said to send you down. So if you’re not too busy, she’s ready.”
Sammie quickly stood up and placed the phone between her ear and shoulder, tidying up her desk and locking her computer.
“Okay, I’ll be right down. Thanks, Maria.” Sammie hung up the phone, grabbed her room key and set out for the office.
There was no game plan for this meeting. The only thing she was gonna do was try and reason with the principal.
Walking into the office, Sammie saw Maria was on the phone, but nodded when Maria gestured for her to go into Ms. Williams’s office.
Knocking on the open door, Sammie got the attention of the principal.
“Good morning, Ms. Davis. Please have a seat.” Jennifer stood up, gesturing to one of the open chairs in front of her desk.
She seemed a little over dressed for a teacher in-service day, wearing a black pencil skirt, white blouse and an orange jacket. This made Sammie feel slightly insecure for wearing her yoga clothes. Her former boss had always dressed down. Wearing jeans and a hoodie. But even with the change in administration, Sammie hadn't thought about what her boss would be wearing.
Sammie closed the door and took the few steps to the chairs and then sat down. Looking at her boss, she realized how young the other woman was. She vaguely recalled Ms. Williams telling the staff, back during their in-service week before school started, about how she'd quickly risen up the education ladder, but Sammie hadn't believed it until now.
Jennifer had medium length blonde hair that rested on her shoulders. She had piercing blue eyes and fair skin. They were practically the same height and, if Sammie had to guess by her number of years in education, they were around the same age.
“What can I do for you today?” Jennifer asked.
“I uh...I wanted to talk about the meeting from last week.” Sammie sat on her hands as to not fidget with them.
“You made a decision then! Great. So tell me what you decided.” Jennifer clasped her hands together, excited about the news Sammie was going to share.
“Don’t hold your breath.” Sammie laughed nervously. “I want to make some sort of deal or maybe just come to an agreement. Deal seems like the wrong word. I don’t think I should have to fight for my job when I've done nothing wrong other than finding someone who makes me happy.
“I know you said it’s putting my job at risk, which I honestly think is ridiculous. I’ve been a highly effective teacher two years in a row and before that, I was rated effective. You said there is a risk of my students becoming obsessed with him? And try and wiggle their way into meeting him? But I have only brought him once and I don’t mention him to my students. I don’t even have a photo of him on my desk just because I don’t want people to know. I’m doing what I need to do to protect myself and Chris.”
“Ms.Davis, you’re a great teacher. And you are right. This has nothing to do with your teaching. But, it could impact it later on. That is what I am trying to prevent. I’m trying to prevent the day when the media shows up at our front doorstep or when you get parent phone calls asking about their child coming to meet Chris. We don’t want that, Sam. We want a safe learning environment for our students. We are worried that it won’t be once this gets out of hand.”
Out of hand? What would get out of hand? Sammie thought to herself.
Sammie was pissed. Not at what she was being told, but how Jennifer seemed so calm about it, even enjoying herself. It seemed she didn’t genuinely care about how this could affect Sammie in the long run. Jennifer had a know-it-all attitude and used it well. Even though she was having an adult conversation with Sammie, she talked down to her. Making it seem that Sammie's opinion didn’t matter. She found a way to spin the situation so it was more about the students and not Sammie.
“I’m confused, Jennifer. Can you explain what you mean when you say, ‘once this gets out of hand.’ I can’t control what reporters do. I can control myself and myself alone. I will say this over and over, my relationship with Chris or anyone for that matter, should not determine whether or not I keep or lose my job.
“I know I am not going to get anywhere in this matter. I know you won’t budge along with anyone from Human Resources. But I wanted to give one last effort.” Sammie tried not to sound defeated, but she knew she wasn’t going to get anywhere with her boss.
“Ms.Davis as much as I want to help, my hands are tied. I can’t go above Human Resources. How would it look if I changed my mind? You know you have a deadline to give us your decision. You have a month, Ms. Davis. If we get confirmation from you one way or another, action will be taken. It would be the shame to lose a great teacher here, one that is respected and loved by the staff, students, and community. Unfortunately, I need to do what is best for the students.” Sammie caught on as to how unconvincing that sounded. She put that in the back of her mind for future reference.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?” Ms.Williams asked, not letting Sammie get another word in. Clearly ready for her to leave the office.
“Oh, um, no, I don’t have anything else. That was all. Thank you. I’ll let you know as soon as I decide what I am going to do.”
“Okay, have a good rest of your day, Sam.”
“Thanks. You too.”
Sammie left the office as quick as she could. She didn’t even say “hi” to Maria as she fled. She was furious. She was pissed at her boss for not taking her side.
***
When she made it to her classroom, Sammie began to pack up. She couldn’t stay there any longer. She decided she would finish everything at home. She opened the messaging app on her phone sent a quick text to Kellie saying she was leaving work early and that she was going to meet up at her place instead of meeting at the new yoga place in town.
Sammie used the key Kellie gave her to let herself in.
“Kel? It’s me. Where are you?” Sammie shouted.
“In my room!” Kellie yelled back.
Sammie walked the short distance down the hall to Kellie’s room. Kellie was dressed in cropped yoga pants, a tank and her shoes. She was sitting on her bed going through her phone when Sammie entered the room.
“Knock knock.” Sammie said as she entered Kellie’s bedroom.
“Oh, it’s you.” Kellie deadpanned.
“Ha, you’re funny.” Sammie said sarcastically. That had both girls smiling and laughing.
“You’re here early. You got everything done for the day?” Kellie locked her phone and set it on her night stand.
“You could say that.” Sammie dropped her bag and plopped down on the bed beside Kellie.
“Okay, what’s really going on?”
“Nothing, Kel.” Sammie couldn’t lie to save her life. She was amazed that Chris had been letting it slide for so long.
“You’re lying. You suck at lying. How about you tell me what’s going on as I drive us to yoga.” Kellie patted Sammie’s leg as she got up and gathered the rest of her stuff for yoga.
“Okay.” Sammie got up off the bed, grabbed her bag, and followed Kellie out to her car.
“So what’s really going on? Every time we talk on the phone, you seem to be on edge. When you text, sometimes they’re just one word responses. So what gives?” Kellie was very persistent.
“It’s work, Chris, everything. I’ve had two meetings with my boss. Both of them didn’t go well at all.” Sammie sighed, looking out the window.
“What were these meetings about?” Kellie asked, concerned.
“Well, they’re saying my relationship with Chris is putting my job at risk.”
“What?! Are you serious? Sam, have you told Chris?”
“Uh-”
“You haven’t told him?! Do you realize what he’s gonna do when he finds out and not from you? Sammie, as your best friend, I’m telling you, you need to tell Chris. He has a right to know. You know how he’s gonna feel knowing his girlfriend didn’t tell him her job was at risk because of him?”
“You don’t think I know that? I’ve been wanting to tell him. But I just can’t, Kel. He’s training for Infinity Wars and the last thing he needs on his plate before Atlanta is this whole thing.
“And that isn’t all. They’re saying if I continue to be in magazines and gossip columns, they might have to take disciplinary action.” Sammie winced.
“Samantha Marie! Do you realize what you’re doing to yourself? You’re gonna cause more anxiety for yourself by keeping all of this in. I don’t wanna see you have some meltdown over this situation. Although, I can assume you will anyways.
“Look, Chris has a right to know. You know he loves and cares about you. Please tell me you’ll tell him. No promise me you’ll tell him. Just think. How would you feel if he’d been keeping all of this from you? Wouldn’t you want to know? Don’t you think you’d be upset he waited because he was worried you might freak out? Well that’s what you’re doing Sam. You’re keeping something from him that he needs to know. Promise me you’ll tell him next time you see him.”
Sammie sighed. She knew Kellie was right. She did need to tell Chris. She was more worried about what his reaction was going to be more than anything.
“You’re right. I do need to tell him. It’s just- Kel, I know how he’s gonna react and -”
“Sammie, you don’t know that. You’re just assuming, which is just as bad. You don’t know how he’ll react. Maybe he’ll get upset. Maybe he’ll stay calm. You don’t know.”
“I know. You’re right. I do need to tell him. I just don’t know how.”
“Just tell him. Why don’t you invite him over for dinner at your place. Have him bring Dodger so the dogs can play together. Make dinner and, while you’re eating, maybe just bring it up. You never know, maybe the conversation will happen organically or he’ll bring it up.”
“You’re right. I’ll text him and tell him to come over for dinner. I just don’t want anything bad to come of this. We both have worked hard to get to where we are now after that mishap back in July.” Sammie got her phone out of her bag and quickly texted Chris telling him to come over for dinner. She didn’t wait for a response before she put the phone back in her bag.
“I know, Sammie. I’m happy for both of you. I see the way you two look at each other. I don’t want anything bad to happen either. But it will if you don’t tell him. It will backfire. You won’t have anyone to blame but yourself.”
“Okay, okay, okay. My plan for tonight is to make Chris dinner, maybe lasagna? No, I don’t have time. I’ll make Chicken Marsala. I just gotta go pick up Marsala wine.” Sammie began thinking out loud. “And then I’ll pick up his some Sam Adams Octoberfest. Oh and some desert. I’ll pick up some Starburst Jelly Beans, too.”
“Sammie, as happy as I am that you’re gonna tell Chris and make him food something with a lot of protein to build muscle. And you know he’s training so I don’t know the point of the candy.”
“For when the real conversation happens. Give him some candy and then lay it on him.” Sammie let out a nervous chuckle.
“Let’s just do some yoga and get your mind off of it for the next hour or so.”
The girls walked into the studio ready to get relax and stretch. But in the back of Sammie’s mind, she couldn’t stop thinking about how she was going to tell Chris. Both of their careers meant everything to them. She knew the news would hit him hard no matter what she did. She had to figure out soon, because he was due at her house for dinner soon.