Good to You [Eddie Munson x OFC]

Chapter Eighteen

I barely slept last night. I kept replaying my conversation with Billy over and over again in my head. I kept seeing the blood gushing from his nose after I had punched him. My knuckles were bruised and sore when I finally got up for work this morning. I stared at my hand and moved my fingers up and down, wincing as the pain shot through my hand. Why did I punch him?

John found me immediately once I got to work and out to the pool. He asked if I was alright and I said I mostly was. Sore knuckles weren't on my list of problems for today. I was mostly just anxious about what was going to happen with Billy. I hadn't yet told Eddie what happened. I know Eddie would be proud of me for standing up for myself, but Billy had been irate with me and in all the years I've known him, I never saw him get that angry. I was genuinely afraid of what Billy could be capable of.

A couple hours passed by before one of the new hires for this year showed up. She was a little early and I wondered why she was here so early. She approached the lifeguard stand and looked up at me.

"Hi Cas!" She greeted me.

"Um, hey, Jess. You're here early. What's going on?" I asked her as I looked at her over the rims of my sunglasses.

"Brian wants to see you in the office. He asked me to come in early to cover you." She explained.

My face dropped. Shit. This was going to be about what happened with Billy, wasn't it. "Oh," I said as I started to descend the steps. The walk to Brian's office felt like hours rather than minutes. I could feel everyone's eyes on me as I approached the office building. When I walked through the door, the AC was on and I shivered from the cold air. I approached Brian's office door and took a deep breath before knocking softly.

"Come in." Brian said from the other side of the door. I opened the door slowly, not sure what to expect. Brian looked up at me from behind his desk. "Oh, Cas. Come in. Have a seat." He motioned to the chair in front of his desk. I sat down, gripping the armrest with my uninjured hand. I could feel my stomach twisting into knots as I sat there in front of Brian while he shuffled through some papers on his desk before speaking again. "I assume you know why you're here." He looked at me.

I gulped and nodded. "Yes, I-"

Brian cut me off with a wave of his hand. "Cassie, you broke Billy's nose."

My jaw dropped. There was no way I had broken Billy's nose. I wasn't that strong and I couldn't punch that hard. Billy had to be exaggerating for sympathy. "N-no, I didn't." I stuttered. It was impossible I punched him that hard.

Brian nodded. "Yes, Cassie, you did. John took him to an urgent care center and Billy came by early this morning with a doctor's note indicating that he had a broken nose." Brian shuffled through more papers on his desk. "I can't have you punching a coworker in the face even if it happened outside of work hours. It still happened in the parking lot where patrons could see you and it makes me look bad to have one of my lifeguards punching another one in the face."

I dropped my head into my hands. I was so fired. There was no way I was going to get out of this situation scot free. How was I going to explain this to my mom? I couldn't tell her I had punched Billy in the face and I certainly couldn't tell her I got fired for punching Billy in the face.

I finally looked up at Brian with tears welling up in my eyes. "Are you going to fire me?" I finally asked. Brian sighed and I could feel my stomach begin to flip. This was it.

"No," He finally spoke. "You're leaving in a few weeks anyway, and you're one of my veteran lifeguards. I also can't afford to lose one of my lifeguards at the height of August heat. So, no, I'm not going to fire you. And I don't care what happened between you and Billy. But at least work through it without a physical altercation next time."