“Must’ve been nice,” Emily said, taking another swig. Hannah immediately regretted bringing this up. She knew better.
“Okay, I’m gonna actually buy us another round of these on the way out.”
“I mean, they must be good for Hannah to get one instead of beer,” Megan chimed in.
“I think what she means is, you don’t have to get her a second one.”
“No, I want one.”
Ignoring them, Emily stuffed a slice of pizza in her mouth before wiping off the grease on her chin.
“Did your parents take you out much when you were in college?” Megan asked.
Hannah’s eyes widened, but Emily waved her off from trying to talk for her and met Megan’s gaze with a decidedly less friendly expression. “No. They didn’t,” she said, her tone clipped.
Glancing between the two of them, Megan seemed to take the hint. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
They grabbed some boxes from the counter along with a six-pack of sodas and headed back to the truck. Finding parking had been a bit of a bitch, but they’d managed to grab a spot close enough that they weren’t out of time on the meter when they pulled away to head back to the sorority.
As soon as they came through the door, April threw her arms around them, dragging Emily into it by association. “I thought you’d left,” she shouted into their ears. “You didn’t even say anything.”
Failing to pull out of the hug, Hannah said, “We wanted to hurry and start moving the stuff over.”
“I would’ve helped.”
Hannah could almost hear the gears in Megan’s head turning as she tried to decide if stuffing someone else in the back with her was worth the slightly reduced workload. “Well, then, come help,” she finally said. “We still have another load or two and then my place.”
“Oh crap,” Emily said. “I have work tonight, but I’ll leave the keys with Hannah so you can finish up if we’re not done. I forgot we were moving your stuff too.”
“I didn’t want to make a big deal of it.”
April finally released them. “Well, then, let’s get working. You’ve already eaten, right? Lunch is still on the table.”
“We grabbed Hot Lips.”
“I hate you.”
“I’d let you have some of mine, but there’s meat on it,” Megan offered as penance.
“Mine too,” Hannah added.
“Mine had mushrooms and bell peppers. You’re welcome to a few slices if you want.”
“Emily, you don’t have to do that. I just ate here. It’s fine.”
“I’ll save you a slice when I have dinner, then.”
Hannah was thrilled to see how well Emily was getting along with her best friends. Especially after how they’d reacted the previous night. Clearly, she should marry her already.
Their energy restored and more assistance gained, they loaded the remaining contents of Hannah’s room into the truck. As Megan dragged off the last box, Hannah searched for anything she’d forgotten and found the room empty. It hadn’t been her room the entire time she’d lived there—this was her first year with a single after rooming with Megan before—but it still felt like a big part of her life had been destroyed as she stared at the empty room with nothing more than a few bits of trash on the floor and a bare mattress. Her old life was really over. She had to be a grown-up now.
Trying to shake the existential angst, she followed the others, finding the truck overloaded. She’d thought that seeing the three most important people in the world to her would have helped, but she still felt her heart breaking at the departure.
Her parents would be in town next week to meet Emily and buy anything else that she was missing, but she felt as if she had a new independence she’d never experienced before. Her parents had both been busy this week and more than a bit freaked out at the idea of her running off and moving in with someone they insisted was still a complete stranger, no matter what Hannah said, but April had managed to help cool them down. As much as living in a sorority house had felt like she was finally moving out and having her own life, it had still been in the confines of college and a very controlled environment. Now, she was going to be living on her own with her girlfriend. Granted, it was in some old guy’s basement, but it was still a place of their own. She even started her job soon. She really was entering a whole new world. She hoped she could survive it.
Chapter Eight
“How do I look?” Hannah tugged at the skirt of her dress, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She’d done her makeup, styled her hair the way Alys had taught her, and done everything society and her mother had ever taught her a proper young lady should do in the morning. Unfortunately, this still left her with far too much time to worry.
“Pretty straight.”
She glared at Emily. “Straight, huh?” A few steps and her hand was on Emily’s hip. “Well, if I look straight, then I guess it doesn’t mean anything when I do this.” She rubbed the bone with her thumb before sweeping her hand back and cupping an impressively firm ass. “Or this.” She traced Emily’s supple thighs with her other hand.
“I’ve always wanted to fuck a straight girl.”
“Sorry. I’m straight.”
Before she had the chance to pull back, Emily pinned her hands against the bedroom wall. “Such a tease. You still have half an hour. Maybe I should make sure you’re soaked by the time you make it to work.”
Hannah let out a nervous squeak. That was so hot, and if it was any other day, she’d take her up on it, but it was her first day at her dream job. “That sounds really uncomfortable.”
“It’ll be worth it.”
Her cheeks heated, but she did nothing to free herself from Emily’s grasp. “Now who’s the tease?”
“Oh, I’ll absolutely follow through.”
“How about when I get home?”
Emily finally let her go and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “So long as I did a good job distracting you.”
Hannah sighed. That had been a few minutes where she wasn’t stressing over what her boss would think of her, how she’d actually be at accounting under normal work circumstances, if she could even handle being awake this early every day, and every other possible eventuality. “It did.”
“Good.” Another kiss, more forceful, her hand on the small of Hannah’s back as she pulled them flush. “Though it’s also gotten me a bit riled up. Maybe we should have that quickie.”
“When I get home. My makeup is perfect, and I am not showing up for my first day all smeared.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm her libido before she went back on her word and just pounced on Emily.
Emily sighed. “Fine.”
Hannah started pacing again but caught herself and leaned against the pillar in the middle of their bedroom. The architecture of the place made it abundantly clear that it was not intended to be used as someone’s home, but the lack of windows in the bedroom was an absolute blessing for a morning hangover or for trying to sleep after a night out. Or for someone who worked nights, which was probably why Emily had rented the place. “What if I’m not good enough?”
“I’m still not a hundred percent sure what being an accountant entails, but you actually want to do the job, and that’s more than most of the people there can probably say.”
“Yeah, but they have experience.”
“This is an internship. If you had experience, I’d be a bit confused. You’ll have experience soon, and then you’ll be the best damn accountant there.” Sitting on their bed, Emily faced her, likely not wanting to risk another bout of accidental foreplay, looking at her with as much affection, pride, and confidence as a human could possibly radiate. It was hard to feel too stressed looking at that face, but by God, Hannah was finding a way.
“Maybe if I’d paid more attention in class—”
“Hannah, you had a 3.8 GPA, as you have mentioned several times in the week I’ve known you.”
“Only because April made me. If
our grades weren’t good enough, we risked being kicked out of Beta Kappa Sigma.”
Emily took a deep breath, still staring. Hannah could see she’d only proved Emily’s point, but she wasn’t about to admit it. “You still did it. You can’t have almost all As and also claim you didn’t pay enough attention in class. Hell, you also tutored Megan, and with our study sessions, I even managed to learn a thing or two about accounting. Don’t worry, I’ve worked very hard to forget it.”
“But—”
“You’re going to do amazing.” Emily approached her and rested her hands on her shoulders. “Honey, I promise, you have nothing to worry about. They’re going to love you. You’ll probably be running the accounting department by next year.”
“I really doubt that.”
“They’ll still love you.”
“What if they’re homophobic?”
“Well, then, it’s a great thing you’re straight now.” She smirked.
Hannah playfully swatted her shoulder.
“If they’re dicks to you, I’ll beat them up. Hell, I may be able to get every bartender in town to refuse to serve them, and as many accountants come to bars, that’s really hitting those assholes where it hurts.”
“I want to say that that’s an inaccurate stereotype, but our fridge is half beer.”
“Exactly.”
Hannah reached for one of the hands on her shoulder, trying to borrow what strength she could. “You really think you could do that? Make everyone refuse to serve them?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never tried. This is Portland, though. There aren’t too many homophobic bartenders. I could probably talk a lot of people into it.”
“That would be amazing, babe.”
“Well, then, it’s a promise. If they’re awful to you, I’ll make them pay…by not letting them pay anyone for alcohol. So accept that you’re going to do great, and worst-case scenario, you can find a new job while they’ll all have to find a new bar.”
It wasn’t enough to make her feel confident about the day, but it was nice to be reminded of how much Emily cared. She just hoped it wouldn’t come to that. “I know it’s still early, but can we leave now? Maybe once I’m actually at work, it won’t be so scary.”
“Sure. I’ll leave my phone’s sound on so you can call or message if there’s an issue. I’m just exhausted, and it’s past my bedtime.”
“Thank you. Should I drive myself? It’s late, and you really should sleep.”
“But I wanted to drop you off since it’s your first day.”
“Yeah, but then I can go somewhere for lunch.”
Emily considered this, eyeing her. “Fine. Take care of it, and get some gas if you can. The tank’s pretty low.”
“Of course.”
“It’ll be fine, honey. If you don’t need me, I’m gonna get some sleep. I’m really proud of you, and I know for a fact that you’re going to do amazing.”
In truth, Hannah did want Emily to drive—she was concerned that forcing herself to show up would be too much for her—but she’d forgotten how tired Emily had to be after a full night of work followed by dealing with the crazy girl running around their apartment getting ready. “Get some sleep. I’ll see you when I get home.” She swallowed, trying to feel as confident in herself as Emily did. “And I’ll be back to report how fantastically I did.”
“That’s my girl.” She kissed her, holding her tight as their lips met. “You’re gonna be amazing.”
Emily dropped into the bed like a sack of particularly sleepy potatoes, and Hannah grabbed the car keys. She could do this. She knew she could. All she had to do was prove it.
✥ ✥ ✥
It only took ten minutes sitting in the parking lot before Hannah managed to gather the courage to go inside. Emily was right. She could do this, but it required actually being in the building. Which required getting out of the car. She took a deep breath and did just that.
Having never seen the place before, Hannah was almost taken aback by how beautiful it was. The familiar sight of the Willamette flowed behind the very modern, angular glass building. A few people were on the bike trail in front of it, one sneaking a cigarette and two others huddled together, shackling their bikes to the employee bike rack. The parking lot was full of Mercedes, against which Emily’s beat-up old Nissan stood in stark contrast, further emphasized by the bit of black duct tape on the bumper. This did little to make her feel more at home.
One of the cyclists waved, and she responded in kind as she walked inside. The email had said to talk to the receptionist in the lobby. She’d been expecting something small, maybe even a little dingy, not…whatever this was. The pretty, chic, oddly backlit desk area looked more like something from a mid-century depiction of an airport than any truck-manufacturing plant had the right to. It looked so nice that it almost went all the way around to being unsightly but stopped just short. Hannah should’ve dressed up a bit more; judging by the disco ball-like lights off to the side, her dress from the sorority’s last seventies theme party might have been more appropriate.
Too distracted by the screens showing advertisements for a few dozen different things, including her school’s mascot—go, Vikings—it took Hannah several seconds to notice the woman waving her over. “Good morning. How may I help you?”
“Hi, yeah, I’m supposed to be starting my internship here. Good morning. I’m not really sure where to go? It’s for accounting.”
“Orientation is going to be right this way,” she said, gesturing off to the side. “There’s breakfast there. When you’re all done, you’ll be split up to your own departments.”
“All right, thank you so much. I’m really nervous. What was it like for you?”
She offered a warm and substantially more genuine smile, the robotic facade cracking. “I’m still pretty new here, but it’s been really nice. I think you’re going to like it, though I don’t really know anything about our accounting department. If it helps, one of our lounges looks over the river, and it’s an absolutely gorgeous view. It’s how I managed to sell a friend on working security here.”
“That does help a little.” At least there was something that offered some familiarity and comfort, both of which were far too scarce. “Well, I should find the orientation before I’m late.”
“You’ll need to go straight down the hall, and it’ll be on the left. You can’t miss it.”
The first thing Hannah noticed when she turned into the open doorway was the tray laid out with croissants, bagels, English muffins, and an assortment of Danishes for the handful of interns milling about. The three-month internship program was apparently held yearly and was a big part of their recent recruitment and, of course, a way to take advantage of paying minimum wage for fully qualified employees. Hannah grabbed a couple croissants and probably too many Danishes and found a seat with a blond boy and another red-haired girl. Despite what TV and movies said, there actually could be more than one redhead in a room at a time.
As soon as she took a bite of her food, the lights dimmed, and a projector lit up the back wall with the introductory page to a slideshow bearing the words “Welcome to Muller Trucks.”
The following hour and a half was spent going over the conduct code, sexual harassment rules, corporate policy, company goals, and how they were to conduct themselves as representatives of Muller Trucks. Hannah listened, rapt by the barrage of information. As it was her first time really dealing with this sort of thing, since her old waitressing job had involved none of it, it was an exciting novelty.
When the presentation finished, Hannah sent a quick message to Emily, letting her know how everything was going and how excited she was before she followed the presenter’s directions to the accounting department.
A thin man wearing glasses, the picture of an accountant, called her over. “Ms. Olsen?”
“Yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Hannah Olsen.” She held her hand out.
He glanced at her before turning back to his computer. “
Okay, the program will walk you through everything. You’ve got a cubicle right there.” He glanced to the empty stall next to his. “Ask if you have any questions.”
She didn’t even know what she didn’t know. She’d never professionally accounted before. She hadn’t even amateur accounted outside of school and wasn’t entirely sure what that would entail. She’d done her own taxes the previous year, but that hadn’t involved much since she hadn’t been working. “You don’t have any other instructions for me?”
He eyed her again, looking more annoyed. Apparently, questions were a sure way to make her eventual review go poorly. She would have to figure everything out herself. Maybe someone else would be more accommodating if she needed anything. Without another word, she took her seat and attempted to log on only to find that she didn’t know her password.
Should she ask him or try to figure it out?
A rapping sounded on the cubicle wall not occupied by her grumpy supervisor. “Don’t mind him,” a woman’s deep voice said with a slight accent she couldn’t quite place. Hannah wheeled her chair back to see her neighbor. Glinting brown eyes and black hair poked around the corner, along with a playful smile. “I’m Isabel. I take it he didn’t bother to give you your log-in info?”
She shook her head. “Oh, and I’m Hannah.”
“Nice to meet you. Give me a minute.” Her chair slammed back against her desk as she strode the few feet to the still-unnamed man. “Mate, she kind of needs the log-in info if you want her to work. You can’t expect people to do everything without a word. I swear, Miranda is gonna kill you when she gets back from maternity leave.”
Hannah heard a huff and could imagine his eyes rolling behind those thick lenses. “Fine, whatever. I think it was emailed to me. I’ll forward it to her.”
“You don’t see the problem there?”
“Then I’ll forward it to you.”
Hannah could almost hear the words the woman wanted to say. She even took in the breath to say them. Something to the effect of “That’s a serious breach of security, and you know full well that it’s against company policy,” but she must have thought better of it and she let him do as he wished. “Fine.” A second later, the wheels of her chair squeaked, and she was grinning at Hannah again. “I’ll have your info in just a minute. I’m so sorry about him. This isn’t even his department. He’s from marketing, but he’s got the most experience with the internship program, so they wanted him to help you.”
Thor: Daughter of Asgard Page 6