that drove max crazy, too - the ignoring her, skating right on by max when she so clearly was trying to fucking talk to her. again, in another situation, ariela’s dedication to finishing out the script might have reminded max - they were on air! she should act like it! but it didn’t, not now, not this time; it only served to make her more and more frustrated. so, she stood there, fuming, oblivious to her job going on around her ( yeah, not her proudest moment ), 5 feet and 5 inches of really super pissed. and when ariela finally did address max, that did exactly nothing to quell her anger.
“what, like if the situation was reversed, you would have welcomed me into your room, your bed? is that actually what you’re implying? you probably would have had me, like, sleeping in the lobby, or something! just because i made it clear i didn’t wanna do the nice thing i did for you, that doesn’t mean i didn’t do it! and i don’t have to prove myself to you, god! i mean, i got hired here for a reason, but i don’t have to tell you all about how i pour over my notes every weekend or how i research every assignment no matter how stupid it is, and i don’t have to tell you about how half the time it’s me editing the teleprompter to add in supplementary information, because it’s none of your business! you’re not my boss, you’re not my friend, you’re barely my coworker - you’re an obnoxious roommate at best!” she exclaimed, heartbeat loud in her ears as she more or less devolved into yelling at ariela right there, in front of the bakery. and, there was an irony in it, and it was kind of pathetic: i don’t have to prove myself to you, max asserted, not half a second before she felt compelled to list all of her most professional behavior out to the other woman. why did she care so damn much? this so wasn’t max, the anger she couldn’t choke down, the need to make it clear that she wasn’t a complete and total slacker like ariela seemed to think; god, why did max care?
and just like that, ariela found herself reverting back to seventeen, back to the fights with her mother that ruined it all. low-blows would be slung, while the rest of the family tried to avoid their wrath. by now, ariela was over a thousand miles away from that cursed little denver apartment, but in this instance, it felt like it never ended. no amount of professional fronts would change that.
“ i’m barely a co-worker. “ she repeated, swallowing back that strange, thick little burning lump in her esophagus. “ alright. that’s fine. then tell me this. why would i be spending all this time trying to get some semblance of normalcy on the air, hm ?? why would i be covering both your ass and mine, even though i hate you ?? i hate you, max !! i hate your little quips and your stupid jokes that you think are witty, but are actually just stupid. in fact, it seems to me like you make a joke out of everything !! so please excuse me if i for a second think that you’re not taking any of this seriously !! maybe if you’d let that work shine through these stupid little segments, someone would see that. and i hate your bitching about every little thing i do, like i’m sorry if this isn’t ideal for you. i promise you, i’m not on cloud nine either. i hate you, and you’re not making that any easier on me. so i’d like to formally apologize to you for being an annoying roommate of yours. i’m sorry for blowing my hair dryer. i’m sorry for offering to foot the room service bill. i’m sorry for insisting on rooming with you, so i didn’t have to go home. and if the tables were turned, i promise, i’d handle it a lot better than you did. i’m sorry if i for a second tried to save your ass on-air and for annoying you in the night with what i consider to be important procedures for any sort of next-day presentation. lord knows someone has to look like they’re doing something around here, and if it’s not you, i’m going to do what i can to try to keep this ship from sinking. “ she finally ranted. “ so go on. finish out the segment. do what max does best and make a joke out of all of this, because i’m sure the viewers thinks you’re just the pinnacle of comedy. oh, and don’t forget to omit my name from the conclusion, as well. “