The End Zone

Chapter 17

On the first day of my internship, I meet at least ten different people. My boss, Chris, is a middle-aged dude who walks like he's dancing and never lets go of his coffee.

I'm quickly led to my desk where my new laptop and materials are already set up for me. There's a basket of swag on the edge that is apparently also for me. So far, this internship is pretty dang good.

Each day, I bring Chris an Americano from the cafe downstairs, which he downs by the time I'm done reading the first couple of manuscripts. It's a little torturous to come after class but on Fridays, my course schedule ends at 10 AM. I spend the entire day reading manuscripts and having meetings with Chris. He speaks fast but it just helps me learn more in less time.

I'm about to head back to my apartment for the weekend when Chris stops me.

"Miss Amelia," he says, which is how he seems to greet everyone. He holds out two slips of paper that look like tickets and gives me an expectant look.

I blink down at them. They look like tickets to a play.

"I remember you saying you've never seen a musical before," he says cheerily, still holding out the tickets.

I freeze.

He's not... asking me out, is he?

"I haven't," I say, "but-"

"Take these tickets," he says. "My wife and I were gonna take a trip to the city for the weekend but it looks like we're stuck at home." He grins. "Things change when you have kids."

"Oh," I say, mentally slapping myself. "Okay. Thank you." Despite the fact that I saved this weekend to catch up on studying, I'm so flustered, I take the tickets, mumble something along the lines of have a good weekend, and smack myself the second I'm out the door.

As I walk to the apartment from the bus stop, it becomes clear to me how few friends I have.

Mia's going to some festival this weekend, Raj has a midterm on Monday, and while I know others who may be interested, I'm not close enough with anyone to take the trip with them.

I guess I can take a trip by myself. There are some cute bookstores in the area and I don't want to waste these tickets.

I place them on the counter and head straight for the shower. I'm halfway through Taylor Swift's "Love Story" when the bathroom door swings open.

"Zack!-"

"Relax, I'm not looking," he says. Sure enough, when I pull the shower curtain aside to peep my head out, his back is to me.

"What is so important you couldn't wait for me to be fully dressed?"

"How about the state of my ears? Do you always have to sing-"

Before he can finish, I belt out the chorus, purposefully getting every other lyric wrong and not matching any tones.

"RoMeO fake mE somewhere we can SNEEZE alone. I'll see crating-"

"Okay, okay-" he says. "Look, are those tickets outside yours?"

"Yup."

"Oof, okay. I MIGHT have spilled water on-"

"Zack!"

"Relax," he says. "They're drying. I performed a life-saving surgery on them and so it should be fine... probably."

I let out a sigh and shut the water off. He grabs a towel and holds it behind his back for me to grab.

"You can turn around," I say once it's wrapped around my body.

"So, yeah," he says. "Might wanna let your date know to get waterproof tickets next time."

I shake my head at him as he smirks, reaching out to wipe soap bubbles off my shoulder. "I don't have a date," I say, hoping he doesn't hear my shiver.

"You're going alone?" he asks.

"Is that so shocking?"

He shrugs. Our eyes meet and it goes quiet as he stares down at me.

"Do you wanna come?" I ask finally. "It's this weekend."

"I mean, musicals aren't really my thing-"

"Okay," I say, moving to push past him and leave. He stretches out an arm, placing his palm against the wall to block me.

"But I guess if I don't go, you'll be alone and bored so if you insist-"

"I'm not insisting-"

"We'll leave tomorrow at nine." He flashes a gleaming smile and saunters out the door.