REM // Van McCann

21. That's What You Get

"No, definitely not!" she said quickly, turning away from me.

In retrospect, that was a poor choice of words on my end. To be honest, I didn't think she'd actually fall for me. I was very different from her. She was shy and I was bold. She preferred nights in while I preferred to go out. We were very different yet for some reason, fate brought us together and we were good friends. That's how I thought she saw me. A good friend. Yes, she's beautiful and anyone would be lucky to have her as their girlfriend but I thought I'd be the last one she'd fall in love with.

I was in uni struggling to keep up in my courses, eating horribly because most of my money went to pay for school and rent, and I drove a shitty car. Not to mention how I smoke cigarettes and weed, and occasionally do drugs when I'm out with friends. I'm not the most fashionable person, wearing things until they have holes in them. I can be quite stubborn, demanding, and surprisingly moody. I've had past girlfriends tell me that which made me think I was better off on my own, though I do crave companionship.

I knew I had gone too far when she refused to look at me, pretending to pay attention to something else when I knew she was trying to calm down and hope her face was no longer red. She wanted me to stop teasing her but didn't have the courage to tell me.

"I'm sorry. I was just teasin' ya. Let's practice for the interview, yeah?" I asked, closing her notebook and nudging her arm with it. She turned around, surprised I was giving it back.

"You're not going to ask me questions from it?"

"Nope," I said, popping the p.

"But I put commonly asked questions in there—"

"Clara, you can't give them this notebook and ask that they pick questions from it. I know you memorized them so I'm going to ask you my own questions."

"Your own questions?" she asked.

"Give me a brief summary of your work history and qualifications."

"Is this one of your—?"

"Yes. Now answer the question."

She swallowed, eyes wide. She's quite terrible at hiding her reaction to things so whatever she's feeling will be visible. If you've upset her, you'll know by the way she gets all quiet and closed off. If you've embarrassed her, you'll see her face turn red and she's trying to hide from you. I'm not as easy to read because I find it difficult to express my emotions.

Her cheeks were flushed and I could see her panicking but she took my advice and didn't answer right away. She took the time to think of an answer. I know she knows how to answer it; perhaps she has answered this same question in her notebook before.

"After graduating from high school, I worked as a waitress for six months at Rob's Diner taking people's orders, bussing tables, and running the cash register. My family later moved to New York City where I worked at a dental office scheduling appointments, processing insurance claims, and generating invoices."

She stopped and I nodded, not sure if she had more to add. I never asked about her work history before so I was surprised to learn about it.

"Why'd you leave your previous job?" I continued when I figured that was it.

"My dad was relocated to the UK so I had to leave my job, otherwise I'd still be there."

"Where do you see yourself in five years?" I cursed to myself, remembering she's always moving so that was an unfair question. "I—I didn't mean it that way. You can lie. They don't need to know you move all the time." The interview was for an admin role in a doctor's office.