Page 53 of Business Casual
His cheeks flame pink. “It was one time,” he mumbles.
It was three times, and it was discussed at length during a townmeeting. It also made the printed version of the phone tree newsletter. I stare at Jeremy. “Did you do something weird to the coffee?”
I hope not. I’ll never recover. I get lattes from the café three days a week.
He sighs and rolls his eyes to the sky. “I was giving out free drinks to people.”
“How many people?”
“A lot of people.” He scratches his finger behind his ear. “I might have been…writing my phone number on take-out cups.”
“Whose take-out cups?”
“Everyone’s take-out cups.”
“Ah.”
He hums, shoulders curved in. “Ms. B said I needed to stop shooting my shot with everyone who walked through her door. So she fired me. And if I don’t find a job, I won’t be able to afford my rent.”
“Don’t you live with your parents? Aren’t you going to NYU at some point?”
“I’m taking a gap year. And my parents started charging rent when I graduated. They said it builds character. Look, can I come inside? People are staring.”
One person is staring. Gus is standing in the open door of the fire station two blocks down, eating a bear claw and watching our entire interaction. He waves happily when I glance over at him.
I wave back. This town, I swear to god.
“You worked for my brother, didn’t you? You really want to work for another Porter?”
He shrugs, apathetic. “It was a good learning experience.”
According to Beckett, it was certainly an experience. “Why do you want to work here, Jeremy?”
“Because I have no idea what I want to do,” he says quickly, somehow sounding more like an adult than I’ve ever heard him before. “Because I’m tired of people thinking I’m some screw-up kid. I don’t even have to be a receptionist or whatever. I can do small thingsaround the studio. Whatever you need help with. I just want—” He rolls his shoulders back and tips his chin up, confident. “I’d like to explore doing different things before I have to settle on one thing for the rest of my life.”
All right. Rest of his life seems a little dramatic, but I understand what he’s going for. “You want to explore reception work?”
He shrugs. “Reception work. Tattoo stuff. You know. All of it.”
I watch him carefully. He seems earnest enough. And I know what it feels like to be buoyed by all the excitement of graduation until you float down and you’re left with nothing but stark terror at the wide-open world in front of you.
“I’m also really good at social media,” he adds.
Yeah, I’ve seen what he does on social media. “Good” is probably a stretch. I step back and hold open the door. Jeremy’s whole face lights up. I hear a single clap somewhere behind me. Nessa again, letting her opinion be known.
I ignore her.
“We’re still going to have an interview,” I tell Jeremy. “And I’m still going to think about it.”
“Okay. That’s fine.”
“I’m going to want references.”
He winces but nods again. “That’s fine too.”
I sigh and let him the rest of the way in. Maybe this can be my good deed for the…year. Maybe this good karma will carry me right through to a successful launch. What did Vanessa say I have? A bubble-wrapped heart? Maybe this is the first step to unwrapping some of it.
“Do you think I could get some tattoos for free?” Jeremy asks.
