Like a Best Friend | ✓

chapter three

First thing Monday morning (okay, a little after first thing – I blame the T) I knock on the door to Jason's office, armed with all the reasons why he needs to let me take a vacation next month. I have imagined every reason he could tell me no and I've thought of a counterattack for all of them, and I walk up to his desk with a high head and a straight back.

"Campbell, hey, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he says. He calls all of us by our last names. There's no end to the list of things I will answer to, especially considering both of my younger siblings had trouble pronouncing Felicity. Cece's nine now and she still struggles, thanks to her lisp, so I am Flick to her. Fliss to my friends. Flitty to my eleven-year-old brother, Isaac. And to my boss, I am Campbell. That one took the most getting used to.

"Hi, Jason," I say, steeling myself for a confrontation. Which is ridiculous, laughable really, considering Jason has never displayed a confrontational bone in his body. And yet I'm geared up for a fight, like I need to prove to him with a powerpoint presentation why I should be allowed to take time off.

"Everything alright?" he asks, tearing his eyes from his screen and giving me his full attention. I like Jason – founder of the firm; father of two; marketing genius – but that doesn't stop the fear when I open my mouth to ask for a break. Rip off the bandaid, I think to myself. I have to just do it.

"I need to take a couple weeks off, the last two weeks of October. I need to go to L–"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Campbell," Jason says, holding up a hand. My heart sinks. He's going to make this difficult.

"If I could ju–"

"Campbell," he says, getting up from behind his desk. "In the nicest way possible, it's none of my damn business why you want time off or what you're gonna do, and I don't particularly care. You don't need to explain yourself to me."

"Oh."

"All you gotta do is fill out a leave request form."

"Okay. But I really need to take the time, so if that means I need to work remotely for a bit while I'm away, I can probably make that work."

Jason gives me that look again. The one that says shut up, for the love of god. I try to internalize those words, words I say to myself countless times every day, every time I interract with another human. "You're ahead of every single one of your deadlines, Campbell," he says, "and the time you're asking to have off is a month away. There won't be a problem. I only need the form for records." He slips one out of a clear plastic sheet and pushes it across the table to me, along with a pen. "Give me the dates and have fun."

I fill out the form right there and then, and there's a skip in my step on my way to my desk. Sally's already at hers, her eyes on me as I get behind my computer and log in. We don't technically have our own desks here, more of a hot desk situation, but no-one ever takes these two, an unspoken rule that they belong to Sally and me. Aside from Jason, we're the only ones who come in virtually every day we work ever since we started within a couple months of each other six years ago. Sally moved over from a rival company thanks to the competitive salary and the lax time off policy; I came here straight out of college after a summer internship before my senior year.

"Someone's looking perky," she says, eyeing me up. "Did you get some last night?"

"Sally!" I scoff at the thought. Like Kitty, it's been months since I got some. Unlike Kitty, I haven't been sharing a bed with a guy for the last two years. "No, I didn't, but I did just book a two-week vacation."

"Oh my god, call the press. Breaking news!" she crows with a laugh. "Never thought I'd see the day."

She's being dramatic. I've taken vacation days, but never more than a few at once. We're nine months into the year already and I've taken four or five days total. Sally, on the other hand, is up to her fourth week.