I dreamed of our conversation that night. It had been brief, but it left an impression that might last far longer that necessary. I doubted that I would meet anyone like Date Heron again. He spoke in odd sentences, jumping from subject to subject and raving things to discuss from thin air only to discard them a second later. He was everywhere and nowhere are the same time. Disjointed.
Ms Demalier had smiled at us from where she stood surrounded by people who clearly wanted her attention but received little. Her behaviour made me even more confused while Dante lef me further into the maze of his thoughts. In the end, Cal saved me from the strange meeting by announcing that it was time to go. Ayden finished his lsat social calls and we left in a rush.
The last thing I did was saying goodbye to Dante, but he just gave ma half-smirk in response. I wasn’t surprised at all; he defied convention, so why expect him to be conventional?
Sighing, I sat up in my bed and scratched an itch behind my left ear. I could hear Ayden and Cal rummage around on the other side of the door, and I knew it was time to get up before one of them decided to breach privacy to force me out of bed. Only a week had passed by since the term ended, but I already regretted my choice to leave the dorm room behind to stay with Ayden and Cal over the summer. I thought it would be easier to find a job further away from the campus, but so far no one had showed even a remote interest in hiring me. it was only matter of time before Ayden or Cal stepped into set me up with someone or something, but I wanted to do this on my own.
“Chris, are you awake?” Ayden called from the living room.
“Yeah.”
“We’re heading out. Just grab what you need from the fridge.”
“Sure.”
It was a lot easier to get up and out of the room once the pair closed the front door behind them. When they weren’t around, I didn’t have to feel like the bothersome little brother.
Sunlight poured in from the large windows in the living room warming the parquet floor beneath my feet. It was just a matter of time before I would have to leave the apartment. The rooms became far too warm in the summer months-something they hadn’t considered when buying the place. I knew Ayden had tried to install blinds, but Cal refused, saying that he couldn’t stand shutting out the sun. He had a point.
I padded over to the kitchen area and smiled as i saw coffee in the brewer. I poured a cup and sat down on one of the sleek chairs. The newspaper lay open before me, and the first thing I spotted was a review of yesterday’s concert. Deciding not to read it, I took a sip of the coffee, winced, and rose to discard it in the sink. Nothing was worse than cold coffee first thing in the morning.
Deciding on juice instead, I glanced briefly at the newspaper on the table. Did they even post job ads these days. Sighing at the prospect of yet another day spent looking for a job, I opened the fridge and scanned the content. No juice either.
Resigned to a morning without juice or warm coffee, I sat down and began to flip through the newspaper. i stalled by reading a series strip, but once I was done, I searched for the ads. it didn’t make any sense to wait for a job to land in my lap.
Waitress wanted.
Like that would work. Nope.
I read the other ones, grumbling as their catch phrases failed to excite me in the least. I crossed out a few I knew I couldn’t get, a couple I didn’t really want, and was left with three ads that I would force myself to call. The first one was the waitress job.
just as I snatched the cordless phone off the table, someone called. Few had Ayden’s home number, so i guessed it was his agent, Layla. Chin resting in my palm, I pressed the button to answer.
“This is Chris.”
“Hi, Chris!” it wasn’t Layla, but the voice sounded familiar.
“Sorry, who is this?”
“We met yesterday, I’m Lara Demalier.”
I wondered if I had to exchange pointless pleasantries with her for Ayden’s sake, but I decided not to. I had done him a favour yesterday by even agreeing to attend the cocktail party.
“Hi, Ayden’t not home at the moment, Do you want me to take a message?”
“Actually, i wanted to speak with you. I hope you don’t mind.”
Perplexed, I lost what I had planned to say. “No. I mean, no. Sorry, I’m just surprised.” I sounded like an idiot.
“Oh, don’t worry. i just couldn’t help noticing that you talked to Dante quite a lot yesterday, and-“ She hesitated. “Well, this will sound strange, but he needs someone to assist him a few weeks this summer when he’s on tour, and i wondered if you might be interest?”
Speechless didn’t cover it. The coincidence was just a small part of it.
“You’re kidding.” That probably wasn’t the best way to address someone who offered you a job, but it was the only though popping up in my mind.
“I’m not. I know how it sounds, but I’m sure you noticed that Dante is somewhat of a character. he rarely initiates conversation at these events, and I saw at least twenty young ladies who wanted to rip you to shreds for receiving his attentions.”
I frowned. “Why are you telling me this?” Why did it matter that people were jealous, especially when they had nothing to be jealous about. Dante and I hand’t talked. he talked and I listened.
“Dante is very particular in his choice of friends. If you clocked, I’m not letting this slip through my fingers. he needs someone to hang out with, someone that can watch him when he’s out party to make sure that he returns to his hotel room. he needs a friend.”
“You’re hiring him a friend?”
She let out a soft exasperated sigh on the other side. “i don’t want to see it like that. it’s more that someone must be there to keep him in line so his tour doesn’t fail, and ti’s better if it’s a friend rather than a babysitter.”
“He’s a grown man, he shouldn’t need a babysitter.” I didn’t like the way she talked about him. It was disrespectful.
“Look, if you just see past the fact that you think he doesn’t need anyone, would you consider going for a tour in Europe this summer? it will be a lot of travelling, a lot of hotel nights, a lot of flights and a lot of events like yesterday”
“You’re not really selling this one.”
“You don’t want to see Europe?” She sounded surprised.
“I’m not sure I want to do it as a babysitter.”
“Okay, that came out wrong. But, the bottom line is that I need help, and I’m basically giving you the opportunity of a lifetime here. you’ll get paid to hang out and do fun stuff.”
Hanging out with Dante didn’t sound like “fun stuff” to me, but I understood her point of view.
My eyes drifted down to the newspaper in front of me. Reading through the ads again, I knew I was being an idiot. i didn’t have anything planned for the summer. I didn’t want to stay with Ayden and Cal. Didn’t have any money to travel. The arguments piled up right on top of each other.
“I think i was to meet with him again before i decide.” I paused, waiting for her to reply when I realised something important. “Does he even know about this?”
“If he knows I’m calling you? No. Am I embarrassed? No.. Dante is Dante, and I’m dealing with him the only way I know.”
i wondered if it was time to laugh in order to relieve some of the tension between us, but I couldn’t. It was just too odd. Her observations of Dante were almost degrading, or perhaps I didn’t need an183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKyGqyGOcQ
“almost” there. It sounded like she cared, but did she?
“Than doesn’t seem like a good situation to me.”
“This is messed up.”
“perhaps, but can I arrange a meeting?”
i wanted to say no, but there were too many reasons to say yes. A change like this would never come around again, and how bad could it possible get?
“Fine,” I replied, hoping that i wasn’t making the mistake of my life.
“Wonderful. I’ll come pick you up in twenty minutes.”
“Are you kidding?”
“No.”
Obviously, you didn’t mess with Lara Demalier. I should have known when the crows parted before he yesterday. She wasn’t just anyone, she was someone- I just had to figure out who that person was, why I should care.
“Fine, I’ll be ready.”
I had no idea how I was supposed to keep that promise since I still walked around in my pants on, but in one way it didn’t matter. I very much doubted that Dante would like me this time around. He had no reason to enjoy my company as I had nothing to offer. If this was a job interview, I was failing before I even started.
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