Boss Agreement

Anny

After leaving the copies and the data that Magda's assistant needed to draw up the contract, Stephanie went to her best friend's house, whom she had promised to tell not only about the outcome of the interview but also, and more urgently, the pregnancy test.

"So, you're sure it was at the graduation party?" Anny, Stephanie's best friend, asked after she told her not only about the result of the test, but that, due to the nausea, she was very close to losing her job, even before she had got it.

"Yes, I'm sure because, well, that night too, you know..."

Anny brought her hands to her mouth.

"It was your first time!" She exclaimed.

"First and only, so I couldn't be more sure."

"But, did you not use any protection, or what happened? Don't tell me you didn't know..."

"How are babies made?" Stephanie said sarcastically. "Of course I knew, but remember I had been drinking a lot and I'm not sure of anything anymore. I don't even remember the face of the man I was with, or his name, nothing."

"Oh, no, friend, and it's that if I had been there that night but I couldn't precisely go because of my dad.”

Since the moment she began to suspect, almost a month ago, about her condition, Stephanie had tried to remember the face of the man she had gone with, the night of the party for her university graduation, but despite it being the first time she had given herself to a man, she couldn't remember any more than some moments, like when she arrived at the motel room, when she was undressing and couldn't stop repeating that she had never been with a man as handsome as the one she was about to sleep with, and after that, nothing, not even the pain that, as she understood it, she should have felt at that moment.

"It's like I fell asleep and then he, well, he did it," Stephanie remembered, for the ninetieth time, the moment.

"But, he didn't r**e you, right?" Anny asked.

Stephanie shook her head.

"No. I know I was also excited and that I couldn't stop repeating that he was very handsome, very beautiful, the man I wanted to marry, but then, when the moment came, I don't know, the liquor went to my head and I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remember is waking up the next day, in the bed of that motel, alone."

"He finished his business and left, a miserable one," Anny said.

"That's how they all do, right? Unless they're your boyfriend, they'll go away after a night with a stranger."

"And have you thought about asking for a video record from the motel?" Anny asked. "At least you could see his face, because what if he's someone from the university."

Stephanie shook her head again. "I thought about it, but the truth is I'm too embarrassed and I don't even know how to ask for it." The truth was that Stephanie had already done it, but the manager of the motel had told her that, for the safety and privacy of the couples that went to the motel, he couldn't give her access to the videos unless it was with a court order.

"You make up that it's someone that robbed you," Anny suggested.

Stephanie smiled remembering that that had been the excuse she had used to ask the manager of the motel to let her see the cameras.

"I'll think about it and I'll do it one of these days," Stephanie said. "For now, the only thing that comforts me is knowing that at least I got that job, although the happiness isn't complete, because if you knew who my boss is you would feel even more sorry for me."

"I don't feel sorry for you, friend," Anny hastened to say while she tried to hug Stephanie. "In fact, I'm very proud of you and I know that, even though you have to do it alone, you're going to be the best mother for the baby you're expecting."

Stephanie received her friend's embrace. At least she would have Anny as moral support, because now she had to figure out what she was going to tell her parents, from whom she knew she wouldn't get any support, but quite the opposite.

"Well, thanks to that job, you can at least become independent," Anny said when Stephanie brought up the topic of her parents.

"You'll see that, when they see their grandchild, their hearts will soften."

"Yes, that may happen, but until that baby comes I'll have to deal with it alone, unless..." Stephanie had gone to Anny's house not only because she had promised her so, but also because she was about to make her a proposition.

"What?" Anny asked upon Stephanie's dramatic pause.

"That you want to go and live with me," Stephanie said with a half-smile because she knew that, contrary to her, Anny was very attached to her parents and it wouldn't be easy to convince her to leave home.

"Are you crazy? My mom would die if she knew I'm going to live with you," Anny said while Stephanie made her signs so that she would not speak so harshly.

“Then don't tell them you're going to live with me," Stephanie suggested.

"What? So what do I tell them I'm doing? That I'm going with a boyfriend? Even worse!"

"No, I know you can't tell them that either."

"So, how do I explain that I'm leaving and that I have money to pay rent? It's obvious they're going to know I'm going to live with you," Anny said.

Stephanie bit her lip. It was true, there was no way to take Anny out of her house without telling her parents the truth because, although they were the same age, Anny had decided not to study any career and it seemed that she wouldn't be employed soon either, although she insisted on being a YouTuber and that, any day, her channel would get enough followers to start monetizing it.

"What if you tell them that, finally, your channel is already making money and that you need a place to start recording," Stephanie suggested after thinking of a solution. Anny's mother called the two girls to have lunch before Anny could give an answer to her suggestion.

"Coming, Mom!" Anny shouted. "I don't know, let me think about it because, now that we know you're pregnant, you're going to need someone to be with you and who also knows about your condition."

With the idea running around in her head, the two friends attended the call of Anny's mother.

"This looks delicious, Martha, thank you so much," Stephanie said as she sat down. During lunch, they talked about Stephanie's new job which, despite smiling and feeling proud to enter the law firm she had always wanted, she couldn't stop thinking about who her boss would be and the warnings Magda had made about him.