Don't Say Anything

90. Chex Mix

Will’s POV

“But he didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, so Washington just let me do the rest of the talking while Matt got drunk. He never does too well at those events. I think he must get really nervous or something.” I finish up telling her about the time she missed at the convention even though she’s told me she’s trying to work ten times.

“Do your homework,” Jessi says throwing my pencil at me from across the table.

“It’s finished!” I protest turning around my laptop so she can see the screen with an open document pulled up.

“We get back from a week in Paris and you’re done with all your homework in an hour?”

“I can write a thousand word essay in thirty minutes,” I brag putting away my textbook. “I didn’t think you had a lot to make up.”

“Just studying.” She taps her pencil against the armrest on the couch. “But you’re as distracting as ever.”

“Would putting a bag over my head help?”

“I meant you stories,” she says laughing.

God, that laugh.

“You’re enjoying them. Don’t lie. We both know you can’t.”

“So what did Washington and Arizona say to you after the event was over?”

I knew she was listening.

“They thanked me for staying to pack up some of the sculptures, since Matt had to go home early, and said they would bring me up in their next corporate meeting with Brown. Things will definitely be happening soon, Rosie.”

“Who’s Brown?” she asks setting down her pencil.

“The CEO of World of Art. Everything will be set in stone once he hears my name.”

It feels like I’ve been waiting forever to get this job. I remember telling Jessi I would get it in no time soon after we met. That seems like a lifetime ago.

“Will, that’s great! And what happens after that?”

“More work. I’ll stay on track to finish college early, so I have a degree under my belt in case anything happens. I’ll have to learn all the responsibilities that Jack has, but I don’t think that will take too long.” I’m almost positive his job is easier than mine. “But it’s the job I’ve been working for since I was sixteen. I thought I would be forty years old before I got it.”

“So then you’ll move out?”

“I would have had to wait until early next year without the pay raise, but it’ll only take about two months if everything happens soon.”

I expect her to be excited again, but her smile fades.

“You’re not moving far away, are you?”

“I still have to work downtown, Jess. If anything, I’ll be moving a little closer to the office, because I won’t be on campus as much.”

“Well that’s good.” She still doesn’t seem reassured. She can’t possibly think that I’m moving away from her, can she?

“What is it?”

I move around to the other side of the table so I can sit next to her.

“Nothing. It’s just, I’m going to miss this house. I never even lived here, but sometimes I feel like I do.”

“So you’ll fall in love with the next house I live in. It’s definitely not going to be so huge and over-the-top, but our good times won’t be tainted with the lonely memories I have in here.”