Student Debt

“Call him back in.” 

“Sir, he just left--”

“Call him back in, please.” 

Alex’s voice was the same calm, but demanding tone it always was, but Isaiah could hear that hint of frustration. He knew this might not be the best choice to make, but he wasn’t in the mood to try to argue. He dialed Josh’s number as Alex waited, facing the wall. 

“... Hi, Mr. Caine, sorry for the inconvenience, but would you be able to make another trip out here? Mr. Amore would like to speak with you.” 

Isaiah noticed Alex turn and slowly pace across the room as he listened. 

“No, he wants you here in person… As soon as possible for you.” 

Alex stopped and stood next to Isaiah’s chair. 

“Thank you. Bye.” Isaiah quickly hung up and turned to face his boss. 

“He’s on his way?”

“Yep.”

“Excellent!” Alex smiled and turned to leave. “Oh, and send him straight to my office, please!”

Isaiah nodded and Alex quickly walked out of the room. He slipped past surgeons and other patients, flashing an occasional grin at them. It was only after he got into the quiet of the elevator that he could handle his racing thoughts. 

I usually do a very good job of hiding any sort of frustrations when something goes wrong. If I am to run this company properly, it would be unprofessional to let personal, emotional issues get in the way. 

The ding of the elevator briefly interrupted him. Alex immediately walked to his office.

But sometimes, that can’t be helped. 

He shut the door and collapsed into his seat at his desk. He opened his computer and quickly checked every tab he had on Josh. With practiced efficiency, he navigated through company files, experiment logs, and personal records as well as his Facebook (both personal and professional), dentistry website, and friends’ Instagrams (since Josh didn’t have his own.) 

Nothing Josh owned online was ever updated often, and Alex knew every detail of his company involvement. He could find no new information. He settled on looking through his old SPARROW files to keep him occupied. Josh should be here any minute. 

Alex was focused intently on his screen when he heard the door start to open. Almost automatically, he closed every Josh-related tab on his computer and put on his usual smile.

“Hello, Joshua!” 

Josh stared back at Alex, sitting at his desk with his hands folded together. He hated that fake smile and he hated this facade he put on that apparently only Josh could see through. He decided to skip the greetings. He just saw this guy 30 minutes ago. 

“Why did you need me back here?”

He saw Alex’s smile briefly drop, but it came back as fast as it left. 

“It’s not very polite to not return someone’s ‘hello,’ you know.” 

Alex kept his smile as he awaited Josh’s response. Josh hated that smile. It would be so much more bearable if he just acted like a normal person. It was like he constantly wore a mask and Josh. Hated. It. 

“Well, it’d be great if you could plan accordingly to not force me to make two trips here.”

Alex was unphased by Josh’s reaction this time. He pulled open a drawer by his desk and placed some papers in front of him. 

“Sometimes things unplanned come up last minute.” Alex turned the papers around for Josh to see. “Look at that. All of these ‘x’s are times that you were called in and failed to show up. It’s not helpful to you or any of the workers here if you show up late or not at all without warning.” 

“You couldn’t have told me this over the phone?”

“No. Because you might need to learn something about being present.” Alex pulled the papers across the desk and neatly tucked them back into the drawer. “If you don’t contribute your part, you risk losing this position.”

“I don’t need this job.” Josh spat back. It was an impulsive decision, and it was completely false, but he was frustrated with everything. 

“You don’t?”

“My day job pays just fine. I’ll be more than stable with just that.” 

Alex knew Josh was lying. Not only from the way his eyes shifted around the room and how he fumbled with his hands, but also because he had records of Josh’s income, mortgage, and unpaid student loans. Josh needed this job. 

“But what about those student loans you have to pay off?” 

Right. Those. 

“I’ll be fine. I’m on track to pay those off soon.”

That wasn’t true either, but Alex was willing to humor him for a little bit. 

“Are you? Perhaps you really don’t need this job then.”

Josh looked up at Alex in surprise. Was he really just about to let him go? After years of chasing after him, was this it? 

“But we’d hate to have to lose you.” Alex continued. “You’re one of our best subjects, you know. I don’t know if we’ll ever find somebody like you again. Compared to other patients at your level, you have a 15% bonus in your paycheck…” 

Josh wanted to quit right then and there. Did he honestly think he could just guilt trip him into staying? He knew his job security was solid as a rock. Alex isn’t gonna get rid of him, so Josh theoretically can leave on his own terms. The problem is Alex won’t ever let him leave.

“Why are you trying so hard to keep me here? You have such an obvious bias towards me, get over it!”

Fuck it, he’ll figure out another way to get the money he needs. Anything would be better than sticking around working for this creep.

Alex paused, obviously caught off guard. “Joshua, we give you this bonus because you are a better subject. And with a pain tolerance like yours, you can help us push the boundaries of science. Of course we want you to stay. You could help us make great progress. There is no personal bias here.” 

Sure, that last part might have been bullshit, but the rest of it was absolutely true. There isn’t any harm in stretching the truth. 

Josh was running out of excuses and patience. He might as well just quit and end this now. Even if whatever Alex said was partially true, he knew it was all just to keep regular contact with him. 

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be of much service to you anymore. I’ll be fine without the extra pay.” Josh stood up to leave.

Fuck. Alex could feel his grip on him slipping. He knew he still had control over him. He knew Josh still needed the money. He shouldn’t say this, but he was running out of options. He needed to keep Josh here. 

“Joshua, you know you can’t leave. Think about it. You have $233,453 of student loans left to pay back. Your job might pay well, but you only earn $70,000 a year. Even if you spent the entirety of your income on your student debt, you could still have over $100,000 left. And you know that’s not possible. You need to survive. You can get another job, but with your loans increasing in interest every year, it’s going to be hard to get a head start on them.”

Every word he spoke made Josh’s skin crawl. He hated how the truth was that he couldn’t survive without this job. He hated that Alex knew so intimately these details of his private life. He hated that Alex was right. And most of all, he hated that now they both know that he can’t leave. 

“You earn $1,000 here on a bad day. $1,000 can get you through a lot of groceries without cutting into your salary.” 

Josh was looking at the floor, but he could still feel Alex’s disgusting smile. He couldn’t think of anything to say back. Alex was right; he couldn’t leave. They both stood in silence for a moment. 

“I’m sorry.” Alex spoke up again. “I know this is stressful. But I promise you, you’re in good hands here. We won’t let anything happen to you.” Alex sounded as sincere as possible, but there was always that hint of malice in his voice. He made it so easy to want to trust him, but Josh knew very well that he couldn’t. 

“You can leave now. I think we’ll be very productive from now on!”

Josh stood up and it took everything in his power not to storm out or take out all his anger on Alex’s neatly arranged office. He hated his false positivity. He was about to leave when Alex’s voice stopped him at the door. 

“You’re scheduled for next Monday at 7. Be sure you make it!”