Evie's Job

by Tess Mackenzie

  *

  Evie had texted her housemates from the car to find out where they were, and had Natalie drop her off there. It was a cheaper bar, in the city, one they often went to. Evie went inside, still thinking about Natalie. She went inside, and saw her housemates, and waved across the room, but went straight to the bar to get a drink.

  It was busy. There were a few people ahead of her. Evie was still standing there, waiting her turn, when her phone rang.

  Evie took it out and looked. It was Natalie.

  Less than two minutes after they’d said goodbye, before Evie had even had a drink or taken off her coat.

  Evie answered. “Hey,” she said. “Is this you trying harder?”

  “I suppose it is, yes.”

  “Are you calling to ask me out or something?”

  “Apparently so,” Natalie said.

  “That was pretty quick.”

  “Yes,” Natalie said. “Yes it is. It turned out I couldn’t wait.”

  Evie smiled. She wanted to laugh, but kept her voice even. “Oh?” she said. “So what did you have in mind to ask me to do? Like some nice harmless sexless kind of a thing, is it?”

  “If it has to be.”

  Evie stopped herself laughing again. “Okay,” she said. “So make your pitch, do your best to convince me.”

  “A pitch?”

  “Yep,” Evie said. “Sell me on it. Like at work. You must have to sell ideas to people, difficult clients and shit.”

  “Oh,” Natalie said. “Yes, sometimes.”

  “So sell me on this. On you.”

  “Right,” Natalie said, then stopped. She sounded nervous. She sounded completely unlike herself.

  “Come on,” Evie said.

  “Well,” Natalie said. “Yes. Actually, I wondered, was all. Would you like to do something one night this week?”

  “That’s not a pitch,” Evie said, and wondered if she was being too cruel.

  There was short silence, then Natalie said, “I have no idea what to say.”

  “Say anything.”

  “I honestly don’t know. I haven’t done this in years.”

  Evie glanced around, and made sure there was no-one near enough to hear her. “Say you’re rich,” she said. “And kind to me, and you have a better tummy than I do, and promise me you’ll be great fuck, so amazing I’ll never forget what you do to me.”

  “Yes,” Natalie said. “All that.”

  “So say it.”

  Another silence, then, “God, Evie, I can’t…”

  Evie relented. “Okay,” she said. “I’m sold. Do you want to do something tomorrow?”

  “Or now.”

  Evie smiled. “Or tomorrow.”

  “Yes,” Natalie said. “Tomorrow would be perfect.”

  “What would you like to do?”

  “Anything. You choose.”

  Evie thought. “A movie? Do you like movies?”

  “If you’re there, then yes.”

  “No,” Evie said. “Don’t do that. Do you actually like them? Do you like to go, or would you rather not?”

  “I haven’t in a long time, but yes, I used to.”

  “What kind of movies?”

  “I don’t…”

  “No,” Evie said.

  “This time I mean it. I’m interested in pretty much anything.”

  “Really? You really mean that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay,” Evie said. “Hold on.” She took her phone away from her ear, and looked down at the screen. She started browsing, and found a list of movie times. She looked at it, and thought for a moment, and then decided that if Natalie didn’t care, they might be better just pick a time and see what was on when they got there.

  She lifted the phone back up. “Really anything?” she said.

  “Anything.”

  “You might not like what I pick.”

  “I probably will though.”

  “Okay,” Evie said. “That’s fine. So yes to tomorrow night, and I’ll text you where and stuff.”

  “All right.”

  “I should go,” Evie said. “You’re terribly sweet, and I’m very looking forward to it, but my friends are here and there’s a bartender looking annoyed at me for ignoring him, so I’d better go.”

  “Evie, wait.”

  Evie did.

  “Are you still there?”

  “Yep.”

  “Evie,” Natalie said. “I just wanted to say, too. Anything you need, to make this work, anything you want me to do, just tell me, please.”

  Evie didn’t know what to say.

  “I mean it,” Natalie said.

  “Yeah,” Evie said. “Okay, I will. Thank you.”

  “It’s fine.”

  They were both quiet.

  “All right,” Natalie said. “Well, I should let you go…”

  “Wait,” Evie said, then stopped.

  There were things she wanted to say too, the way she had the night before. Things it was easier to say on the phone rather than face to face.

  “Me too,” Evie said. “What you just said. Me too for that. Tell me what you need too, okay?”

  “I will,” Natalie said, her voice soft. “Thank you.”

  There was another silence.

  “Well,” Natalie said. “You should probably…”

  “Hold on,” Evie said. “Um, could I ask something?”

  “Of course.”

  There were things it was easier to say on the phone, and things it was easier to ask, as well. Evie glanced around. There were still people quite close to her.

  “Um,” Evie said. “I just wanted to know why so much. Why did you offer me that much?” She didn’t want to actually say money where someone might overhear, so instead she said, “You know what I mean, yeah?”

  “I know.”

  “So why?”

  “You’re worth it.”

  “But that worth it?”

  “You are.”

  “Because what, you just like me that much?”

  “I do.”

  Evie didn’t know where to look, or what to say. “Oh,” she said. “Well that’s okay then.”

  “How’s that bartender?”

  “He gave up and went away ages ago.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Nah, it’s fine.” Evie stood there, thinking, concentrating on why she’d asked about money. “Because I just wondered,” she said. “With that. With the how much. Was it so there was no pressure or something? So I’d have had to like whatever we did because you had…” She still didn’t want to say money. “You understand, yeah?”

  “I think so.”

  “I just thought maybe you were nervous about this or something? Nervous enough you’re looking for ways to make it easier?”

  Natalie thought for a moment. “That may be part of it, yes.”

  “So it actually would have been easier for you, if we had…?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “Are you okay? I mean, are you disappointed if we don’t?”

  “Of course not.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Okay, well I just wanted to check.”

  “Thank you, but I’m fine.”

  “Okay,” Evie said. She glanced around, and realized one of her housemates was standing beside her at the bar. “I had better go, though,” she said.

  “All right. Goodbye.”

  “Yep, bye.”

  “Bye,” Natalie said again, and hung up. Evie hung up too.

  Her housemate looked at her, and started grinning.

  “What?” Evie said.

  “Who was that?”

  Evie put down her phone away. “Just someone.”

  “Someone who makes you smile.”

  Evie didn’t answer.

  “Someone you like?”

  Evie shrugged.

  “Come on, say something.”

  “Maybe someone I like.”

  “And�
��?”

  “And that’s all,” Evie said, and waved to the bartender and got him to come back and let her order a drink.

  6: Natalie

  Evie turned up at the cinema. Natalie was almost surprised. She hadn’t been completely sure that Evie actually would.

  Evie had texted Natalie earlier, with a time and place to meet. Evie had seemed cheerful enough then but Natalie hadn’t let herself hope. She hadn’t wanted to be disappointed if Evie changed her mind.

  She shouldn’t have worried, she decided, as she watched Evie walk into the cinema’s lobby. Evie was there, and was looking around, trying to find Natalie. Natalie lifted up one hand, so Evie saw her, and Evie came over, smiling. Smiling as if she was as pleased to see Natalie as Natalie was to see her. Evie was wearing jeans and a green shirt and a scarf and carrying a coat over her arm, and seemed glad to see Natalie, and nothing much else.

  “Hi,” Evie said, and leaned forward to kiss Natalie, but Natalie moved backwards slightly.

  “Are you sure?” Natalie said.

  “Sure about what, kissing you?”

  “Kissing me in public.”

  “Because the obvious? Or because our ages?”

  “Either. Both.”

  “I’m pretty sure I’m sure,” Evie said, and kissed her.

  Natalie expected a quick kiss, just saying hello, but Evie opened her mouth and stayed there for a moment, kissing slowly. Evie tasted of mint, and kissed with her eyes closed, and Natalie kissed back, surprised. She still couldn’t quite believe that Evie was.

  After a minute, Natalie said, “You know everyone’s probably looking at us, don’t you?”

  “Probably. People look. I don’t care.”

  “Maybe I do,” Natalie said softly.

  Evie stepped back slightly, and looked at her. “Do you?”

  Natalie hesitated. “No.”

  Evie started to smile. “Yeah,” she said. “Of course they probably all thought you were my mum, until right then.”

  Natalie didn’t know what to say. It was completely true, but she wasn’t sure they should be laughing about it. It seemed horrible, somehow.

  Evie was grinning, obviously teasing. “Come on,” Evie said. “That was funny.”

  “Not really.”

  Evie looked at her.

  “Don’t do that,” Natalie said. “Please?”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry.”

  After a moment, Natalie relented, because Evie had been so clearly delighted by the idea. “I’m sure they weren’t even noticing us, anyway,” Natalie said.

  Evie glanced around quickly, checking for stares, Natalie assumed, and Natalie made herself not. She’d spent enough time being noticed in public that she’d stopped letting herself care.

  Evie glanced, and seemed satisfied. “Yeah,” Evie said, and smiled again. “I bet they didn’t. Not until right then.”

  “I hope not,” Natalie said, and looked herself. No-one was looking at them now.

  “See?” Evie said, noticing the glance.

  Natalie decided not to answer. “That colour suits you,” she said, meaning the green top. “You look nice.”

  “I look like I just came from uni.”

  “Because you did?”

  “Yep. You look like you went home and changed.”

  “I changed, but at work.”

  Evie nodded. “Still, it’s nice you took the time.”

  Natalie wasn’t sure what to make of that.

  “Because busy partner?” Evie said. “Every second counts? Working sixteen-hour-days?”

  “Oh,” Natalie said. “Yes. But not so much any more. More like fourteen, now.”

  “Now you’re a partner?”

  Natalie nodded.

  “You just make associates work those hours?” Evie said, and grinned.

  Natalie wasn’t sure how to answer that, so in the end she was honest. “Actually,” she said. “Yes.”

  Evie grinned.

  They stood there smiling at each other, and Natalie wondered if Evie was high. Her eyes seemed too bright, as if she had eyedrops in, and she was smiling a little too much. She was high, Natalie thought, or maybe just happy to see Natalie. Happy, or nervous, or high, Natalie wasn’t sure which, and decided not to care.

  “So,” Evie said. “What do you want to see?”

  Natalie shrugged. She really didn’t mind. They both looked at the list of starting times for a moment, and then Evie said, “Shit, I just realized. I have no idea what any of these are, so us being here doesn’t actually help.”

  Natalie looked at her, confused.

  “We’re here, to pick a film,” Evie said. “Because that was meant to be easier, yeah?”

  Natalie nodded.

  “But there’s nothing about the films here,” Evie said. “Except the posters on the walls. There’s no reviews or anything.”

  “Oh,” Natalie said, looking around. “Yes, you’re right.”

  “Course I am,” Evie said, grinning. She got out her phone, and started looking up trailers. “This?” she said, showing Natalie.

  Natalie leaned closer, to watch on the phone’s screen, and as she did she smelled Evie’s hair. A smell of shampoo and smoke. Evie must have been smoking on the way here, then had a mint to hide the taste. For some reason Natalie liked that she cared enough to bother.

  “Yes,” Natalie said. “That one, if you like.”

  “You’re not just saying that because I suggested it?”

  “Not at all.”

  “You promise?”

  “I’m not.”

  “Okay,” Evie said. “Stay there. Stand right there.”

  “All right.”

  “I mean it.”

  “I will.”

  Evie went over to the ticket counter and bought two tickets. She came back and held one out to Natalie.

  “Thank you,” Natalie said, deciding not to argue. She thought she understood why Evie had insisted. “Let me get us something to eat.”

  Evie grinned and shook her head, and slipped one hand into her jacket pocket. She lifted something out slightly, enough so Natalie could see a bag of candy, then opened her coat and showed Natalie she had bottles of soft drink inside it.

  “Oh,” Natalie said, wondering if this was going to get awkward if they were caught. “We could have…”

  “Not with the prices they charge. No way.”

  Natalie didn’t know what to say.

  “Just no,” Evie said. “Let’s go.”

  They went into the theatre, and sat up the back, because it was mostly empty. Evie dumped her jacket beside herself, and put her feet up on the seat in front. She seemed quite pleased with herself. “Empty,” she said, looking around. “Which is on purpose, because it’s been out for ages, so I knew there wouldn’t be a crowd.”

  “That’s smart.”

  “Yep,” Evie said. “I think of everything.” She held out her bag of sweets.

  Natalie smiled, and took one. “Thank you.”

  Evie passed her a bottle of soft drink, and Natalie decided not to care. She opened it, and sipped. It was warm from being inside Evie’s clothes.

  “And for this,” Natalie said.

  Evie looked at her and grinned.

  *

  The film was about dead artists, with lots of English scenery, and in an odd way was exactly what Natalie would have expected Evie to pick, if she’d thought to try and guess beforehand. It was brooding and slow and fairly sad, and Evie talked all the way through it. Evie talked, but Natalie didn’t mind. She could listen to Evie and the film at the same time, and the theatre was mostly empty so they were well away from other people. Evie ate sweets and talked with her mouth full and whispered things to Natalie which Natalie didn’t really need to know about the artists, and what had become of them, and who had ended up suffering tragically.

  “How do you know all this?” Natalie whispered back at one point.

  “Maybe I’m just smart.”

  “Maybe,”
Natalie said. “Are you?”

  “What do you think?”

  “Yes?” Natalie said.

  Evie shrugged, almost enigmatically. Natalie didn’t quite understand why.

  “Maybe,” Evie said, grinning. “But also, I started off thinking I was going to do intellectual property law.”

  “Oh,” Natalie said, and thought. “All right. I don’t quite see…”

  “So I did an art history course, a music theory course, and a film course. To show how I had this polite interest in the creative shit I was going to protect. And it was fun and everything, except then I got interested in bankruptcy and tax and changed my plans.”

  Natalie nodded. They sat there for a while, watching the film.

  “Um,” Evie said. “I just said I was interested in bankruptcy law.”

  “Yes you did.”

  “I said I was interested in tax law, too,” Evie said.

  “I heard.”

  “You’re not saying very much about that.”

  Natalie looked over, puzzled.

  “I’m so interested,” Evie said. “That I’m thinking about sleeping with you just to learn more. About the legislative basis of our tax system.”

  Natalie looked over at her. “You’re not really.”

  “Thinking about sleeping with you?”

  “Thinking about it because of tax law.”

  Evie grinned. “Not really because of tax law, no. But that isn’t the point.”

  Natalie was confused. She wondered if Evie was teasing her somehow, but she couldn’t quite work out how. She wondered if Evie was high. She’d thought earlier that Evie might have been smoking pot. It might be why Evie wasn’t making much sense now. Natalie wondered, but wasn’t sure how to ask, and whether she should, and whether it was even right to just dismiss what Evie was saying because of that. It didn’t really feel like it was.

  “All right,” Natalie said. “What is the point?”

  “That I said it, and you didn’t laugh. That’s all.”

  “Oh,” Natalie said. “Why would I laugh?”

  “Most people do.”

  “Because you got interested in tax law?”

  “Yep.”

  “I do tax law.”

  “Yep, I know.”

  “So why would I laugh?”

  “Yep. That was kind of my point.”

  Natalie looked sideways. Evie was watching the screen, but she seemed to be smiling. Natalie couldn’t quite tell in the dark theatre.