“Is tomorrow good for you?” I ask with much more confidence than I’m currently feeling.
“Uh, great. Do you want to come to the house at nine tomorrow morning and I’ll show you the ropes?”
“That would be perfect.” I give a determined nod and look back down at my plate. There will be time to freak out about this later. Right now, I just need this brunch to be over so I can make a tactical retreat from this situation. As if answering my silent plea, the waitress shows up with our check, sending everyone at the table reaching for their wallet. Everyone except Amanda.
“You’ve got this, right, honey?” She smiles at her daughter. Bianca opens her mouth to respond right before Dante jumps in and says he can cover the three of them. Yeah, I’m definitely not getting motherly vibes from her, and I just hope that this move doesn’t leave my best friend broken in its wake.
???
“You know, you don’t have to take the job if you don’t want it.” I turn to look at Hollie, who’s relaxing on the couch digging into a pint of Ben and Jerry’s next to me while Bianca is still out with her mom. Just another ten hours until I have to be at Dante’s place for work. Not that I’m counting.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I saw your face, Vi. I know you. When Bianca brought it up it looked like you would rather walk on hot coals. It totally threw me when you said you were interested.” I should have known Hollie would pick up on my discomfort. She can be annoyingly perceptive like that. While I might notice things and keep them to myself, Hollie has no problem bringing what she’s observed to the forefront and talking about it. Talking about things is not my specialty.
“I just wasn’t really thinking about a regular office job, that’s all. I thought I could find something that was connected to my degree but maybe this is a good thing. You said it yourself, at least I know who my boss is. I won’t end up with a jerk that’s awful or takes advantage of me.”
“Yeah, but what about the thing?”
“What thing?”
“The thing where you’re totally crushing on Dante.” I can feel my mouth hanging open but I can’t seem to close it. Over the past four years, I have done everything I can to keep my attraction to Dante out of the public eye. I thought I had done a good job of it until now. “Don’t act so shocked. I told you I know you, Vi.”
“You can’t tell B,” I rush out. Oh god, if she finds out, she’ll kill me. This is her dad. Her dad that she’s trying to push back together with her mom. She can never know, she’ll hate me.
“First, you know I would never tell your secret to anyone. Not even B. Second, I really don’t think she would care, I mean, it’s just a harmless crush, right?”
“Of course it’s just a crush! It’s not like I want anything to happen between us.”Lies.“I could never be with someone as old as him.”Lies.“And I’m really excited to be going out with Tyler.”More lies.“Plus, I could never do that to Bianca, and could you just imagine what my parents would say?”Truth.
“Hey, no need to tell me, I believe you.” She laughs. “I just want to make sure you’re all right with this and we didn’t push you into anything.”
I let out a sigh and settle back into the couch. Even though I’m embarrassed, it’s nice to have someone to talk to about this for once.
“It’s fine. Actually, it’s better than fine, it’s great. A job that won’t be too taxing while I concentrate on grad school with a boss I already knowandhas flexible hours. The likelihood of me finding something that’s a better fit than this is pretty slim. I’ve been working on getting rid of this stupid crush anyway. What better way than having him boss me around. I’m sure that will take this from crush to annoyance in no time.”
“That’s probably true.” She says while pointing the spoon she’s using to devour her ice cream at me. “Take it from me, the girl with the most infuriating boss in the world, a few times of him ordering you around without saying thank you will get rid of that crush real quick.”
“Uh-huh.” I’m not so sure about that. She won’t admit it, but Hollie is crushing hard on her aloof rich boss. But who am I to point that out to her?
Just as I’m about to turn my attention back to the television that’s been droning on in the background of our conversation my phone buzzes on the coffee table. I pick it up and the corners of my mouth turn up when I see who it’s from. “Speak of the devil.”
“Is that Dante?”
“Nope, Tyler.” I swipe open my messaging app to see what he’s said. “He wants to go out on Friday.”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“Absolutely,” I say with more conviction than I’m feeling at the moment. “This is just the thing I need to help me get over my Dante thing.”
“And Tyler seems nice,” Hollie adds encouragingly.
“He really is,” I say, forcing a smile. This is a good thing for me and I’m starting to look forward to going out with Tyler. I quickly type out a reply letting him know that Friday sounds great and that I’m looking forward to it.
Tyler:Not as much as me.
With a genuine smile on my face this time, I place my phone back down and pretend to go back to watching the television. Maybe this will all work out. I have a job that will potentially help me get over my impossible crush and I have a date with a genuinely nice guy. For once, maybe things are starting to go my way.
FOUR