Another typical Friday night.
While her friends were all out partying and blowing off steam from a busy work week, Erin was working late, as usual. But this was life as an ambitious associate in a bustling law firm. Erin knew the game well. A self-made woman who worked her way through college and then busted her ass to graduate top of her class in law school, Erin was rising fast on the track to partnership. She was single-minded in her focus and nothing was going to stop her. Not even her insecure supervising partner who threw every roadblock in her path, trying to keep her down. His latest attempt was an "emergency" research project he handed her at 6 o'clock. While that asshole was piling his wife and kids into the Tesla for a weekend trip to the Hamptons, she was researching and drafting late into the night, so that the partner could forward her work to the client first thing Saturday morning, taking full credit, of course. She hit the send button, emailing the memo at 1:15 in the morning, and gathered papers to review over the rest of the weekend.
Now, she was standing impatiently in the lobby of a silent office building, waiting for the car service to pick her up and drive her home. Where the fuck were they? She was tired and impatient. How busy could a car service actually be on a Friday night? She peered out in the dark. The business district, packed with people during the day, was now an empty canyon of dark skyscrapers. Everyone had left for the weekend. Well, everyone but her and the cleaning crews who were emptying the trash and vacuuming the carpets.
After 10 minutes, the black Cadillac SUV swung around and stopped in front of the building. The night security guard looked up from the security camera monitors. "Your car is here. Try to enjoy the weekend, sweetie."
Erin bristled at being called "sweetie." She glared at the security guard for a few seconds, as if to say, I'm not your "sweetie," you lazy fat rent-a-cop. She walked out of the office building to the waiting car. At least, the firm is paying for car service, she thought to herself. Imagine having to take the subway from downtown all the way back to her apartment on the Upper East Side. She opened the rear passenger door only to find the seat piled high with boxes.
"I am sorry. I thought there would be no more calls for passengers tonight. I bring packages to the courier to make extra money. There is room up front for you or I can call for another car to take you." The driver spoke with a thick Eastern European accent.
Trying to control her annoyance, Erin gritted her teeth. "No. It's fine," Erin answered as she opened the front passenger door and slid inside.
"It's good. This car is very comfortable. I can put on massage seat for you, yes? You want cold? Or heat?"
Erin slumped back in the thick leather seat. "No, no. This is just fine."
She kicked off her heels and ran her toes over the floor mats, worn but still thick and cushioned. She stared out the window as the driver pulled away from the curb and began heading uptown. The neon lights flashed by. Erin looked down at her phone, flipping through her friends' pictures of the night out. Erin just prayed the driver would not try to make any small talk.
No such luck. After a minute or two, the driver broke their silence. "I am Alexei. Nice to meet you."
His booming, deep voice nearly startled her. She looked over and answered, "I am Erin. Nice to meet you, too." She hoped that would be enough talk, staring at her phone.
Alexei was a massive man. His hair was cropped short, which made him seem bigger and more menacing. Even in his black driver's suit, she could see his neck tattoos peeking over his shirt collar and the Cyrillic lettering across his fingers as he gripped the steering wheel with his huge hands. Even in this big SUV, the steering wheel seemed so tiny compared with his giant hands and thick fingers. He was the antithesis of the men she saw in the office every day, bookish, skinny men ignored by girls in college who now make themselves feel important by yelling all day in their nasal voices and telling everyone how many clients they now have.
"Why you work so late? In my country, young people like you go to bars and clubs on Friday night, not working late in office. Woman like you should be dancing, not sitting alone in office. Doesn't boss know this?"
Erin sighed. "Don't even get me started. I was supposed to be out with friends. But then, right at 6 o'clock, my boss gave me an emergency assignment to do. So, I had to cancel with my friends and work."
"Why did he do this? Doesn't boss know you need to have a life, too?"
She knew why her boss fucked up her weekend. There was no emergency. Nothing that could not have waited until Monday. But, her boss was a vindictive little prick. And he was still pissed about the firm banquet last month. The fuck got drunk and made a pass at her. He cornered her near the bar, suggesting that it would be a "good career move" to check out his hotel room upstairs. She politely declined and walked away. Later, he saw her laughing with a couple other women associates, and the insecure asshole assumed she was laughing about him. Even though she explained the next day that her laughing had nothing to do with him, he has been a complete fuck, trying to make her life miserable. Erin stared out the window, lost in thought.
"Miss, are you ok?"
Alexei's booming voice snapped Erin out of her own thoughts. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I am fine. My boss just really needed the work finished in a rush."
Realizing that she would not be able to avoid small talk, Erin smiled and looked around the car. It was worn, but big and comfortable. It was clean with only the faintest hint of cigarette smoke, well disguised with a pine tree air freshener. She saw the foil of a pack of cigarettes peeking from the center console. Motioning towards them, she asked in almost a whisper, "Um, Alexei? Do you mind if I have one?"
Alexei let out a booming laugh. "Oh. It's good. I thought you were going to be mad about smell of smoke in the car. It is against rules. But, yes, of course. May I join you?"
"Sure."
Alexei slid two thin white cigarettes from the pack and held them between his thick lips." He fumbled in his jacket pocket for a few seconds, pulling out a beat up brass Zippo lighter. Although his hands seemed massive, he was very agile. He snapped open the lighter, striking the flame in one fluid motion without ever taking his eyes off of the road. He lit both cigarettes, flipped the lid closed, and returned the lighter to his inside jacket pocket. He took a gentle drag on both cigarettes, making sure they were lit, and handed one to her.
