HEART FOR HIRE ✓

Thirty Six

Trigger warning: slight mention of cyber bullying.

"Wait, rewind," Jeanette waves her hands in front of me like a traffic police officer on a busy road. "I specifically told you to ask for an explanation. You did what?"

"He took me on a date. I've been repeating it for the last twenty minutes."

"Did you consent to it?"

"Dude," Alex laughs and shakes his head at Jeanette. "Don't be ridiculous. How can you take someone on a date without their consent?"

Jeanette scoffs and glares at both of us.
"With that rich kid, anything is possible. So, excuse me for worrying about my friend who despite hearing my words of advice decided to forget them and fly away with prince charming."

"Jeanette-"

Alex shakes his head at me. "It's the mood swings. Let her be."

So, I turn to Alex instead. His fists are covered with gauze but otherwise, he looks as good as he always does.

"Mr. YouTuber, do you mind telling me why you gave me the biggest scare of my life?"

He sighs. "It was just some online bullshit. Nothing much."

"If it resulted into you being injured, I don't think it's nothing much. You can talk to me, y'know," I try to comfort him, putting my arm over his shoulder.

"Well," he pauses, reads a text on his phone and then resumes. "Some trolls thought that it was funny to drag me down and accuse me of stealing other creators' content. I had no idea who those creators are. How could I possibly steal their content?"

"Damn, that sucks."

"Haha," he lets out a bitter laugh. "That's not all. After that rumor, they kinda managed to get my brother's Facebook account. He's way better than me, he was awards, certificates and stuff he posts. So, they started comparing the two of us and they called me a loser."

"They can call me a loser all they want y'know," his voice starts dropping. "But they got Lindsay's account too. They started sending her messages to break up with me because I'm a loser blah blah. And you wanna know what's worse? She broke up with me."

"Why?" I rub his back. "Nothing in this equation is your fault."

"She doesn't want to deal with trolls, she said. She fears that soon, she will start getting death threats or something," he practically spits the words out. "I'm trying to understand her point of view, I really am. But she knew what my job was before she dated me. Now, she suddenly can't take it anymore?"

I wrap both of my arms around him and pull him close for some time.
"Have she contacted you since yesterday? And what about the trolls, what will happen if they keep spreading stuff about you?"

"Well, I just have to reach out to those said creators and beg them to help me clear my name. If they can come out and say that I didn't steal their content, maybe I'll get these trolls off my back."

"Oh, God. This is weighing on you, isn't it?"

"You have no idea," he sighs. "After Lindsay broke up with me yesterday, I punched a wall. But the pain in my heart was way more than the one in my fist. She really hurt me."

"I'm sorry about Lindsay. I wish there was something I could do to help."

"There is," he cheekily smiles at me. "Tell me everything that happened with mystery man till the end of your date."

****

"So, you basically did nothing besides eating," Alex deflates. "That's boring, I expected him to kiss you  or even much more than that!"

"But-"

Jeanette laughs out loud. Apparently, Alex was right. I can't handle her mood swings because I can swear that twenty minutes ago, she was wishing for lightning to fire me.
"I'm not even surprised," she says, picking on some chicken wings in a KFC pack I brought with me.

This woman has a terrible chicken craving.

"What do you mean?" Alex questions.

Jeanette turns to me. "Have you ever kissed anyone?"

"No," I shake my head.

"Have you watched porn?"

"Gross. No," I look away and make a gagging sound.

"Have you touched yourself? Like sexually?"

I look at Jeanette, my eyes very wide.
"Where do you even get the confidence to say these things out loud?"

"There you have it," Jeanette declares. "You aren't ready to be intimate with anyone. You don't even know the basics for starters. Did you study from a Catholic school?"

I shake my head.

"Are your parents really strict?"

I shake my head again. "They've been waiting for me to bring someone home for a while now. Wait, do I have to get lessons before we do intimate stuff?"

Jeanette looks down and shakes her head.
"The secondhand embarrassment I feel right now is too much. You don't need lessons to do that."

"But Aimee said that he is a tiger in bed and he likes experienced women!"

"Let me ask you a question," Jeanette looks at me with a serious look. "When a baby is born, does it know how to suckle?"

"No. It hasn't done it before."

"Exactly. Just like the baby doesn't need lessons to start suckling, you don't need lessons to have sex. It comes naturally like it comes to a baby," she shoves yet another chicken wing into her mouth. "Besides, you are lucky he has experience. All you have to do is follow his lead."

"You guys are embarrassing," Alex facepalms. "Are you really holding a sex education class here right now?"

"Hey!" I protest. "There is nothing bad about wanting to know. Who should I ask? Zion? No, thanks."

Alex gags in response and walks out of the break room. "I'll go contact those creators I told you about. By the time I return, make sure all that sex talk is done with."

I ask Jeanette a few more questions and she answers honestly, not leaving any room for imagination whatsoever.

"I'm happy for you," she tells me, "you have finally experienced what it feels like to be on a date. But remember everything I told you, love isn't a bed of roses."

"I'm not in love yet!"

She winks at me and leaves the break room too.
She must be joking because I'm not in love.