by J. A. Huss
I open the envelope and look it over. It’s one page, three paragraphs, and doesn’t say anything weird. It all looks like legal speak for a simple NDA.
I sign, then reach out and take the silver envelope from the brick post, and before I can even say thank you, the man in black turns on his heel and walks back to the car. My mouth is hanging open from surprise as I watch the long car pull away from the curb and disappear down the street.
*******
“Wait,” my best friend, Nora, says later that evening. “A private jet? You got a top-secret invitation to interview for some random billionaire and he’s flying you to California in a private jet?”
I have to pinch myself, because yes, that’s all true.
“How?” Nora exclaims.
“Remember when I told you my dad wanted me to go to the Brown Alumni dinner with him last month?”
Nora nods, still dumbstruck.
“Well, that afternoon there was a job fair in the library, so I went just to get away from him for a few hours. And I left my resume all over that room. Maybe he got it that way?”
“So you met him? This Nolan Delaney guy? You do know who he is, right?”
“No,” I say. “But yes. I didn’t meet him and I do know who he is.” Everyone knows who Nolan Delaney is. One of the infamous Mister Browns from Brown University.
“Mr. Romantic,” Nora says. “They call him Mr. Romantic. That cannot be good. Your father is going to flip out.”
“I know. But there’s no way I’m getting this job. I mean, this has to be some kind of mistake. We just graduated four months ago. No one is hiring me to run their new resort. But it’s a free trip on a private jet to an exotic place. I should at least go, right?”
“Oh,” Nora says, “you’re going. There is no way you’re not going. I’ve never even been on a private jet and we have loads of money. You need to take pictures. Of everything. Especially that delicious Mr. Romantic. How long will you be gone?”
“It says a weekend working interview. Is that normal?”
Nora squints her eyes as she considers this. “Hmmm. I’m not sure. What do I know about working interviews? I’ve only managed to get three meetings with no call-backs since graduation. And that’s with all my father’s influence. It does sound a little unconventional. But I guess it’s a big job. He must want to make sure he hires the right person.”
“Yeah. I just can’t believe it. What if I do get it?” I have pictured it in my mind for the last six hours since the man appeared at my townhouse door with the hand-delivered invitation. It would be a huge break for me.
“Don’t get your hopes up, Ivy,” Nora cautions. “I know you’re smart and talented and he’d be lucky to get you, but I bet there’s going to be some exceptional people there.”
“I know.” I sigh. “I’m not really expecting to get the job. It’s probably some kind of mistake.” How could it not be? I have no experience and this is a managerial position.
“When do you leave?”
“Tomorrow. They are sending a car for me at six AM. I’ll be back next week. Unless they have some kind of elimination process and send me home early.”
“A Survivor job interview,” Nora says, more to herself than me. “Weird. How many people do you think will be there?”
I shrug as I refill each of our wine glasses. “It didn’t say. It didn’t say anything. Technically I’m not supposed to be telling you so much. I signed a non-disclosure agreement when I said yes. I was told to only tell my family where I was going, not who it was with.”
“Oh, my God. That is super mysterious.”
“Right?” I ask back. “It’s kind of… hot.”
We both fall back into the couch cushions and laugh. “What do you know about hot, Ivy?” Nora snorts. “Still a virgin at twenty-two. I don’t know what to do with you. Your father’s influence runs way too deep.”
“I know,” I say, biting my lip. I had a guy all set up for V-day after graduation, but I chickened out at the last minute. “All that episcopal education growing up.”
“Honey, we went to the same boarding school and it never stopped me.”
That’s all true. My father is the episcopal pastor, and dean, of the Bishop School for Girls in Bishop, Massachusetts. I grew up on that campus, in that chapel and with all the rules one might expect from being a pastor’s daughter.
“You know what I should do…” I say, the wheels in my mind starting to turn with an idea.
“What?” Nora asks, impatient when I hesitate too long.
“I should lose my virginity this week.”
Nora laughs so loud, it echoes off the cathedral ceiling. “With who? The billionaire? You want a guy like Mr. Romantic to be your first? Please. You need to work up to a player like him, Ivy. He would fuck you inside out!”
“Don’t talk like that!” But I bite my lip just thinking about it. I admit I don’t know much about sex, but I was in a sorority in college and I was the only virgin in that house. Those girls were wild, including Nora. “He’d be perfect, though, right? An older, more experienced man. He’d know just what to do.”
“He’d hear the word virgin and run the other way, Ivy. Men like that aren’t into the whole first-time thing. He wants a yes girl. Get on your knees, Ivy, he’d say. And he’d expect you to do it. You’ve never even given a man a blow job. No, that’s a very bad idea. I don’t like it. It won’t be a good first time. Start small, Ivy. Like Richard. Why didn’t you ever do it with Richard?”
Richard. Boring Richard. He was my significant other all through college. In fact, we just broke up three months ago. “I didn’t love him. I was never going to marry him.”
“So you’re saving yourself for marriage all these years and now you’re ready to give up your V-card to a playboy billionaire? No,” Nora says, like she’s putting her foot down. “Don’t do it.”
I can feel her judgment. She thinks my idea is ridiculous. And I wonder if she thinks that way because it’s just stupid? Or if she thinks I don’t have a chance in hell of getting the infamous Mr. Romantic to ‘fuck me inside out’.
“It was just a silly fantasy,” I say, trying my best to diffuse the situation. “You know I would never go through with something like that.”
“I know.” Nora laughs. “You’re just not that kind of girl.”
Her words echo through my head. Not that kind of girl. All my life I’ve been living with that label and most of the recent years I’ve been asking myself… why can’t I be that kind of girl? My strict religious upbringing? Probably. But there’s this fear inside me. A fear of taking risks. I’ve never been a risk-taker. I’ve always played it safe.
My childhood was spent sheltered on a rambling four-hundred-acre campus in New England. It consisted of school, my parents, and chapel. I didn’t even get to live in the dorms with the other students until Nora talked my father into it in tenth grade. Those last three years of high school were some of the best of my life. And going away to Brown for college was exhilarating.
Having Richard as my boyfriend seemed so scandalous at the time. I didn’t even tell my father until we’d been dating for over a year.
But now, Richard is just so… boring. And I’m tired of New England. I don’t know anything about Borrego Springs, California, but getting that job would be the best thing to ever happen to me. Moving away would be the best thing to ever happen to me. And I love Nora to death, but she has been my only close friend for practically my whole life.
I feel like I’m missing out on things. Especially sex.
I’ve heard all her stories. And the stories of the other girls in the house at Brown. They made me watch porn with them on my twenty-first birthday and holy hell, I never masturbated so much in my life after I went to bed.
I have secretly been watching porn quite a bit since then. So I know what girls do. Maybe I’m no expert, but I’ve seen how they give blow jobs. I even took notes. Look him in the eyes—the men seem to like that a lot. Try to ta
ke him deep. I especially like how the men react to that. I love when they tip their heads back and moan. How they fist the girl’s hair and urge her on. God, I’m getting all hot and bothered just thinking about it.
Nora is chatting about the stuff on TV now, drinking her wine. But I’m picturing Mr. Romantic as he dips his face down between my legs. What would that feel like?
I almost groan with longing.
I’m not going to admit it to Nora, and maybe it won’t be Nolan Delaney, but I need to have sex with someone. I can’t take it anymore. This is my week. And hey, if it does turn out to be Mr. Romantic, all the better.
Who am I kidding? I think to myself as I take a sip of wine to hide my smile. I want it to be him. I bet Nolan Delaney fucks like a porn star. I bet he could make me writhe and moan just like the men do to the girls in those videos.
Nora helps me pack as we finish our wine, but as soon as I have my suitcases lined up at the front door, I tell her goodnight.
I have a date with my vibrator and I want to picture Mr. Romantic’s face as I make myself come.
Chapter Two - Ivy
The next morning I’m a bundle of nerves. Nora gets up to see me off, looking blurry-eyed and a little hungover in her pink nightie. I wish I had something like that to wear for Nolan when I have sex with him this week.
Mental note. Buy lingerie as soon as I get to California. I don’t know how, but I need it. My first time is going to be perfect. Candles, flowers, and sexy underwear.
Additional mental note. Don’t call him Nolan in person.
A door slams outside and I peek out the window at an older man walking up towards our townhouse. He came in a shiny black car and he’s wearing a crisp dark suit.
“Well, I guess that’s my ride.”
“Hey, babe,” Nora says, giving me a hug and handing me a travel mug of my favorite coffee. “Have a good time, OK? And text me pictures.”
I nod as the doorbell rings. “I will, I promise.”
“And don’t do anything too crazy,” Nora says.
“Do I ever?” I say, opening the door.
Nora laughs. “No, never. I’m not worried one bit.”
“Miss Rockwell?” the driver asks.
“That’s me.” I smile.
“Let me get your luggage.”
He does, and I follow him down the walkway, looking back to wave at Nora, my stomach all aflutter. I’m going to enjoy this week. I might not come back home with a job, but I will come home more experienced.
The driver sets my case down on the sidewalk and opens the back door of the car for me. I slip into the soft leather seat and get settled with my purse as he loads my yellow carry-on into the trunk. I don’t need much for a weekend. I packed a bathing suit because it’s summer and I’m going to California. I’m wearing my nice cream-colored linen suit. I picked it out last spring and this is the first chance I’ve had to even put it on. And a few other things. That’s about it.
When he gets in, he glances back at me in the rear view mirror and says, “You’re flying out of a private airfield.”
“OK,” I say, a little too quickly. I’m nervous.
“I just didn’t want you to wonder where we were going.” And then the driver shoots me a warm smile. “Top-secret stuff like this can make a young girl like you anxious.”
Hmm. What does that mean? Do I look so sheltered and scared that this complete stranger picked up on my innocence?
I need to do something about this. I realize I have no hope of getting this job, but I will need a job. If a driver who’s known me all of two minutes can pick me out as one of the weak ones, how will I ever impress big, important people enough to give me a chance on the business world?
Ivy Rockwell, you need to grow up. And not just in the sex department.
I make a vow to myself. This week is an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and I’m going to accept every invitation that comes my way. I need to see more of the world. I need to do new things. I need to put myself out there and take risks.
Welcome to Opposite Ivy Weekend. Where every time I get the urge to say no to unfamiliar things, I will say yes. And every time I get the urge to say yes to familiar things, I will say no.
I think I saw this on an old episode of Seinfeld once, so it has to work. And the next time I have an interview I’m going to walk in there with an air of worldliness.
I bite my lip as we drive.
Can I really remake myself in one weekend?
I think I can. No one there knows me. They know nothing about me aside from what was on my resume. And on paper, I look pretty good. Honor student at an exclusive private school growing up. Ivy League education at Brown. I graduated magna cum laude, which is very hard to do at Brown. They have a strict policy about giving out awards of distinction.
I have loads of hours under my belt for various Fortune 500 companies during my summer internships and I was a mentor sister to ten underprivileged girls in the entrepreneurial program in the New England area.
In fact, maybe I do deserve this job? I don’t have a lot of outside experience, but I am smart, hard-working, and…
Wait, Ivy.
You can’t sleep with the boss and get the job.
No, that would be the definition of awkward.
I let out a long breath as I take in the drive. So which one do I want more? The job? Or the sex? The odds of making either one come true are low. Very low, I admit. But if I don’t try…
I smile as I think about last night. I pictured Nolan Delaney’s face the entire time I was masturbating. Yeah, him. I think I want him more than the job. But if there’s no way I’m going to lose my virginity to the infamous Mr. Romantic, then I’ll take the job.
I’ll know right away if he’s even interested, right? Our eyes will meet across the room. He will look me up and down like he’s hungry, mentally undressing me in front of everyone. He’ll find ways to get me alone, make excuses for his fingertips to brush against my bare arm.
That’s how it works. I’ve read it in books.
So if I don’t get any of those signals today, then I’ll just go for the job. Problem solved.
The driver drops me off right on the tarmac of a small private airstrip where a jet is waiting. “Wow,” I say, getting out with the help of the driver. “It’s kinda big.”
“It’s a long trip, miss. Needs to be big to have enough fuel for a non-stop.”
That makes sense. But. Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a plane this size. It looks massive. “Does he fly everyone around like this?” I ask the driver as he gets my carry-on out from the trunk.
“Only the ones he wants to impress, miss. I have you returning Sunday. But they’ll call me and let me know the exact time. Have a good time and good luck.” And then he tips his fancy driver hat at me and someone is there to take my case.
I smile at the driver and redirect my attention to the new guy. He says, “I’m Jerry, Miss Rockwell. I’m in charge of getting you safely to Borrego Springs per Mr. Delaney’s orders. It’s a long flight, I’m sorry to say.” We start walking towards the jet and I suddenly have a case of the butterflies. “But there’s plenty of entertainment on board. TV, gaming, if you like that. A full kitchen if you’re hungry and an office if you feel the need to work. If you get tired, we have two bedrooms to choose from.”
“Holy shit,” I say before I can stop myself.
“I know.” Jerry laughs. “Believe me, I’ve been working for these guys for eight years and I’m still not used to it.”
“These guys?” I ask. “You mean, like, all the Misters?”
“Yeah. Don’t let them scare you. They’re good men, not exactly what the reporters made them out to be.”
“So they’re still good friends. That’s nice.”
“Well,” Jerry says, waving me forward to ascend the stairs up to the jet door first, “not exactly. They hardly ever talk these days. They all went their separate ways a while back. But they purchased this jet to
gether as a show of solidarity eight years ago when the charges were dropped.”
When I get to the top of the stairs I step inside and have to take a breath. It’s like a house in here. A narrow one, for sure. But it’s just as wide as the townhouse I share with Nora. And better equipped.
We enter what looks to be a living room, complete with flatscreen and a long sectional couch. There’s a bar, with a bartender, who smiles and says, “Hello,” as I gawk at him.
“Hello,” I say back, a little timid, even for me. Stop it, Ivy. Be assertive. I walk forward to the bartender and stick out my hand over the shiny burl wood bar. “Nice to meet you. I’m Ivy Rockwell. What should I call you?”
“Jonathan,” he says with a smile. “Now, what can I get you to relax?”
A drink. He’s asking me what I want to drink. I don’t really drink, but I’m Opposite Ivy now. So I say, “What do you think a girl like me drinks?”
He tilts his head at me, grinning. “You don’t look like a drinker, Miss Rockwell. Would you like a sparkling water?”
I let out a small laugh, like I’ve seen powerful women do in movies and TV. “Well, I’m flattered you think so, Jonathan. But I like…” Shit. The only drink names I know are the stupid ones the sorority girls used to serve me in the house. So I choose my father’s drink. “Cognac.” I say it with as much confidence as I can muster.
“Really?” Jonathan says with raised eyebrows. “I’d have never guessed that one. My grandfather drinks cognac. In fact, I think Nolan’s father drinks cognac too.”
“Well,” I say, forcing myself not to wipe my sweaty hands on my business skirt, “I like to keep people on their toes. And it’s a man’s world, right? Might as well try to fit in.”
“Hmm,” Jonathan says, turning towards his bar and looking up at the top shelf. “I have this.” He reaches up and pulls down a very pretty bottle and grabs a glass at the same time. “I typically serve this in a balloon snifter, but that’s far too manly for such a pretty young woman. So the tulip snifter it is.” He pours a small amount as I fidget and look over my shoulder. Jerry is standing behind me, my case already stowed, smiling.