On our third day of house hunting with no luck I felt exhausted. My body ached from all the walking and my head was pounding from dehydration. Not to mention the hunger that was causing my stomach to grumble loudly with every step I took.
"We need a break," I insisted. Trisha whined at this at first but I soon won her over. She wasn't one to say no to food. I suggested a cheap and cheerful little cafe on the other side of the street but Trisha wrinkled her nose at the idea.
"Yuck, I'm not eating that crap. You gotta be kidding me. I have a very delicate stomach. If I eat cheap sandwiches then I'll be throwing up all night long," she said. There was no reason for me to argue with her. Even if she was exaggerating, I didn't want to take the risk of her getting sick in my tiny apartment.
"OK, then where do you suggest?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at her. Trisha thought for a second and then smiled.
"We're near the beach, why don't we check out Nate's restaurant. The food is supposed to be amazing. Expensive, but amazing," she saw the worried look on my face and gave me a pitying smile, "Don't worry honey, I'll pay. I know that kind of luxury food isn't in your price range right now. It's all on me."
"That's not the problem," I said, annoyed at her little jab at my finances.
"I'm a little more worried about bumping into Nate. It's kind of awkward between us right now."
Trisha gave me a withering look.
"I can imagine. But can't you just do this for me, please? I really want to try some good food from a good restaurant. I don't care who owns it. If we see Nate we can just ignore him. It'll be fine, I promise!" she said. I said no again but she promised and promised, eventually wearing me down. I gave in and agreed to go to the restaurant.
"Just this once," I said firmly, "And if I see Nate I'm leaving."
Trisha nodded at what I said but I could tell she wasn't listening to me now. Anyway, I very much doubted that I would have the rationality and self-control to simply walk away if Nate was there. I didn't know what I would do, but I supposed that if I was meant to know that we would soon find out. I felt my heart start to pound in my chest as we approached Nate's restaurant. He won't be there, I told myself. He won't be there or if he is he'll be with some bimbo who's taken your place. It's all your fault.
I silently shushed my internal voice of doom and slapped a big smile on my face, pretending to be interested in Trisha's speculations about what the entree choices would be.
There was no sign of Nate when we entered the restaurant and the two of us were quickly seated at a booth together. I looked all around me but there was no sign of a familiar face anywhere. My heart ached in disappointment.
It didn't matter though. I was here to have lunch with my annoying cousin Trisha. Nothing more.
"What do you feel like Rubes? I'm in the mood for pasta," said Trisha.
I forced myself to sound excited about the various dishes but I didn't really care. I hated admitting it to myself but I had wanted to see Nate. Now that he wasn't here I felt ridiculously disappointed.
Despite my misery, I put on a brave face and chatted with Trisha about what we were going to order and how nice the desserts looked. I didn't bother telling her about the last time I had been here with Nate and how we had gone skinny dipping in the sea together. That seemed like a distant memory to me now. It was almost as if it had happened in another life.
A waitress came by to take our orders. She was pretty and petite, vaguely familiar though I couldn't quite place her. She recognized me a few seconds before I recognized her.
"Oh, it's you!" she said, before blushing a little bit at her impertinence,
"Sorry, excuse me I didn't mean to blurt that out. I just thought I recognized you."
Trisha gave me a funny look. The girl's back tracking wasn't exactly convincing. It suddenly clicked with me who she was and I had to swallow my pride and talk to her.
"Katie, right? Nate told me about you. I'm Ruby and this is my cousin Trisha," I said. Trisha gave Katie a curt nod though the girl didn't even acknowledge her.
"He told you about me?" she said, sounding surprised, "That's new." Trisha kicked me under the table and I knew she wanted an explanation.
"Katie and Nate are...Katie is Nate's girlfriend," I said, though every word pained me. I could tell by the way she was talking about him, by the way she was looking at me. It was true. Even that voice mail had given it away. He would probably be happier with her anyway. She seemed a little bit boring to me but boring meant less complicated, less difficult. Boring was good. I wished that I could manage to be boring enough.
Katie and Trisha looked equally shocked at what I said.
"Nate has a girlfriend? Seriously?" Trisha exclaimed. I nodded in confirmation but Katie shook her head, letting out a nervous giggle.
"Sorry Miss but you've got all wrong. Nate took me out for dinner and he's done some very nice things for me but we're not in a relationship," she sighed dreamily, "I'm pretty sure we won't ever be. In fact, he spent our entire date checking you out. It's not fun, but I'm moving on. Anyway, can I take you ladies' orders today? Today's special is the carbonara.”
I couldn't tell if the girl was lying to me or not but I figured that she had no reason to lie. I suddenly felt strange and slightly woozy. Trisha and I both ordered the specials and Katie told us they'd be ready really soon and went back to the kitchen.
"Good to see you again," she said as she was leaving.
My fingers itched above my cell phone's keypad to call Nate, but I put it away in my bag. It might happen tomorrow, but not today. Today I was going to enjoy my lunch.
Nate
I had taken it upon myself to call all of the candidates who had successfully earned an interview for the PR jobs. My co-workers called me crazy. They didn't understand my motives at all. What was the point of being the boss if you couldn't leave the shittiest jobs to the little guy? I had to call well over forty people, who displayed highly variable levels of enthusiasm, in order to tell them that their resume had been impressive enough to warrant an interview. It wasn't exactly fun, though I did enjoy being able to deliver the good news to those who really appreciated it. I wondered how they would react if I told them that it was the head of the chain calling to deliver this news, but I decided against that. I wasn't that far up my own ass.
All in all it took me two hours of calling and calling to get through my long list. Luckily, it was a job I could do laying on my bed because otherwise I would have been driven nuts by the monotony of the whole thing. At the end of those two hours I had successfully made contact with every single person on that list. Apart from one person.
Ruby hadn't submitted an application for the graphic designer position. How could she, when she didn't even know that there was a vacant position? It wasn't fair really. That's why I had taken it upon myself to put her name down on the list of successful candidates. Maybe it wasn't one hundred percent fair, but it was my chain and I generally only used my powers for good. A little bit of evil now and again never hurt anyone.
My hands shook as I dialed Ruby's number. I was calling from my land line, which gave my call a better chance of not being ignore, but I still felt nervous. I willed her not to hang up on me as soon as she recognized my voice.
"Hey, it's Ruby. Who is this and how did you get my number?" she asked upon answering. Fuck, just hearing her voice made my cock hard. I had forgotten how sensual it was. I missed hearing it moan my name when she reached her climax. But I couldn't think about that now. This was a business call.
"Ruby, hi! Nate Watson here, I'm calling in regards to an application that you submitted for the graphic designer position at my company," I said, letting my business voice take over. It eased my nerves to treat her the way I had treated the other people I had called that night. It didn't matter that I knew it wouldn't go down well.
"Nate? Is that you? Why the fuck are you talking like that, are you high or something?" she said. I couldn't help but laugh at her indignant tone, but she
wasn't finished ranting at me yet, "and what's all this shit about an application? I didn't apply for a job at your company. That must be a mistake."
I composed myself though I couldn't quite keep the smile off my face. Annoying Ruby had long ago become my favorite past time and I had missed it a lot during our time apart. The best part was how easy it was.
"That's funny, because I have the application right here," I said, shuffling some random papers close to the phone so she could hear them, "Ruby Heron, BA in Art and Art history. You write great cover notes, by the way. My staff were all very impressed with how articulate you are."
Ruby seemed momentarily stunned.
"You are so annoying," she said eventually, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Can you please speak English with me and stop talking to me like I'm a customer or something? Because if you don't stop I'm going to have to hang up."
I knew it wasn't an empty threat. I had enjoyed hearing her voice so much that the last thing I wanted was for her to cut me off. If she did she might never pick up again.
"OK, OK. Sorry Ruby, I'm just playing with you. I missed you, girl," I said, feeling like an idiot with every word. I didn't want to give her time to call me an idiot so I continued, "Look, I just called to let you know that the company are doing interviews for PR positions next Friday. I know how talented you are and that the freelance thing isn't exactly keeping you in diamonds and fur coats so I thought you might want a change. So you can come in for an interview if you want. I'm not saying you'll get it, but I'm sure you would have as good a chance as anyone. The pay is really good and the work seems nice. I don't really know much about that stuff. But yeah, if you want you can come to the interview. If you don't, just pretend I never called."
I was bracing myself for Ruby to be mad at me. After all, I'd done all this without her permission. Maybe she even liked just getting by and the idea of a high paying job wasn't appealing to her. I didn't know. I didn't understand most of Ruby's motives.
But to my surprise, she was warmly receptive to my offer.
"Wow, a graphic design job? I took a lot of classes in college but I never thought that's what I would end up doing. Oh god, I don't know if I'm ready for it. Working from home is so different to working with people," she said. I was just relieved that she wasn't yelling at me but I was even happier when she agreed to attend, "Oh fuck it, OK. I'll give it a whirl. They probably won't even hire me but it will be good experience."
"That's the spirit!" I said happily. Then there was a little silence. I'm not sure what she was waiting for, but I guess I was waiting for her to ask if she could come over or something. I would have picked her up in a heartbeat.
"Nate," she said, after a while, "Thank you."
Her voice was so sweet and sincere, it made me feel really good. I just wished that she was saying those words while lying next to me on the bed rather than on the other end of a phone line.
"No worries," I said, "Your interview is at 4 o' clock so you have plenty of time to prepare. I'm sure you'll do really well."
Ruby giggled.
"I hope so. Any interview tips?" she asked. I wondered if she had figured out that I would be the interviewer.
"Wear something that shows off that butt of yours," I said. Ruby laughed and we said our goodbyes. Things were OK again. I felt good.
Ruby
Thank god that Trisha had just moved out of my place the evening that Nate called about the interview. If she had been there to eavesdrop, I would never have heard the end of it. She'd finally found a nice, affordable place on the other side of town that she was allowed to move into almost imminently. The night before she left we had had what Trisha called a 'girly night' which basically involved getting drunk and talking smack about boys. What this actually meant was that Trisha got drunk and bitched about her husband while I sipped one small glass of wine and kept my mouth zipped. I kept my own smack talking to a minimum, except when she prompted me. Even then, none of my shitty men stories were about Nate. Trisha had picked up on this.
"Nothing to say about Nate?" she slurred, and I shook my head. She nodded sympathetically and nearly fell over. Luckily I was able to hold her up before she slid right off the sofa.
"Ah, I understand. The wound is too fresh. Don't worry! I've felt that way before. I feel that way now, actually. It's not fun but you'll get over it. We both will."
She sounded like a total moron after one too many bottles of wine, but I did my best not to laugh at her. She was going through a tough time herself. Making fun of her wouldn't help with anything, though I desperately wanted to.
"Ruby, I'm being serious now," she said, spitting as she spoke. "You have to promise me, no wait, pinky promise me that you won't do anything with that bastard again. You know it's not right and anyway, the look that comes on your face every time someone mentions his name obviously means he broke your heart. So you have to promise. No more pussy for Nate!"
She held out her pink finger and I knew better than to argue. I wrapped my pinky around hers.
"No more pussy for Nate," I agreed.
His call was a shock that I hadn't even managed to brace myself for. I had his cell phone number saved from a while ago and hadn't quite developed the strength to delete it yet. I thought that if he called me that I would see his name flash up and be able to emotionally prepare myself. I may even have the strength to send his call straight to voice mail. But he called from a land line that my phone didn't recognize, so I thought nothing of answering the call. Hearing his voice was a shock, especially when it was combined with that terrible business voice that I had never heard him use before (though the latter was also somewhat sexy when combined with the former). My first thought was that he was looking for a booty call. My second thought was that I didn't know if I could trust myself to say no to his booty call.
It wasn't a booty call that Nate was offering me though. It was a job. The job of my dreams, really. OK, so it wasn't the actually job, but it was an interview. I was OK at interviews. He even said that I stood a good chance. He talked about money and how he knew that an actual livable wage would change my life for the better in so many ways. The fact that he would go out of his way to help me like this touched me, and I didn't quite know what to say. How could you even thank someone for such an incredible gift? All I could think to do was accept the offer and if I got the job, I'd be the best graphic designer they had ever had.
"Thanks again, Nate," I said, and I hung up before I gave myself the chance to say anything else. It was a little rude, maybe, but manners had never been Nate's top priority anyway. I was sure that he wouldn't mind. Anyway, I didn't trust myself to talk on the phone for much longer. My feelings might spill out all at once and Nate would know how much I had missed him and how I felt like a total idiot and how I really, really missed kissing him and touching him. For now, that information was best kept classified.
Besides, I had made a promise.
Chapter Nine
Nate
I pondered if I should send Ruby a good luck text on the morning of the big day or not, but I eventually decided against it. That would be showing favoritism and besides, if things went as well as I was hoping then she wouldn't need my luck. Anyway, the graphic design position was one of the few which didn't have thousands of applicants. Ruby only had a few competitors. I had to give them all a fair chance, of course, but if there was any way that I could give Ruby the job over them and not be a complete bastard then I would.
Ruby's interview was the last of the day so getting through the ones before her was a strain. I asked all the right questions and nodded at the right times but my eyes barely left the clock. I was counting down the time until she would be sitting before me with her portfolio and a pair of shiny high heels, giving me her best 'hire-me' face.
I asked every candidate, no matter what job they were going for, the same questions. Tell me about yourself. Why do you want this job? What do you have to offer that you competitors don't? They were borin
g questions that received equally boring answers, but I noted them all down anyway.
Ruby's competition came and went without leaving any major impact on me. One girl's portfolio was OK and she had the right experience, but she was no Ruby. There was no one else like Ruby. Maybe that was why I wanted her so much. There was no one else in this office, or in the world, like her.
Ruby
I tried my best to be prepared for the interview, I really did. I ironed my outfit the night before and spent the whole week getting my portfolio together. It looked good. I would look good.
I wasn't sure if Nate would be involved in the interview process or not. It seemed unlikely. As the boss he probably had much more important, interesting things to do than spend the whole day asking people boring questions. It's not something I would want to do so I couldn't imagine that Nate would want to do it. Still, by the sounds of things he had at least put in a good word for me. All I could do now was make sure that I lived up to his colleagues' expectations of me. I hadn't been at a job interview in ages and they had never been my favorite thing in the world, but I would do my best to blow my interviewer out of the water. At least, that's what I thought.
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