I dreamed of our conversation that night. It had been brief, but it had left an impression that might last far longer than necessary. I doubted that I would meet anyone like Dante Heron again. He spoke in odd sentences, jumping from subject to subject and grabbing things to discuss from thin air only to discard them a second later. He was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Disjointed.
Ms. Demalier had smiled at us from where she stood, surrounded by people who clearly wanted her attention but received little. Her behavior had made me even more confused while Dante had led me further into the maze of his thoughts. In the end, Cal had saved me from the strange meeting by announcing that it was time to go.
The last thing I did was say goodbye to Dante, but he'd just given me a half-smirk in response. I hadn't been surprised at all—he defied convention, so why expect him to be conventional?
Sighing, I sat up in my bed and scratched an itch behind my left ear. I could hear Ayden and Cal rummaging around on the other side of the door, and I knew it was time to get up, before one of them decided to breach privacy to force me out of bed. Only a week had passed by since the term had ended, but I already regretted my choice to leave the apartment behind to stay with Ayden and Cal over the summer. I'd thought it would be easier to find a job farther away from the campus, but so far no one had showed even a remote interest in hiring me. It was only a matter of time before Ayden or Cal stepped in to set me up with someone or something, but I wanted to do this on my own.
The bed creaked when I rose, reminding me that I wouldn't be able to bring anyone home if I wanted to keep things quiet. Not that it mattered—I hadn't been interested in anything remotely sexual since Mom died.
"Chris, are you awake?" Ayden called from the living room.
"Yeah."
"We're heading out. Just grab what you need from the fridge."
"Sure."
It was a lot easier to get up and out of the room once the pair closed the front door behind them. When they weren't around, I didn't have to feel like the bothersome little brother.
Sunlight poured in through the large windows in the living room, warming the parquet floor beneath my feet. I would have to leave the apartment, eventually. The rooms became far too warm in the summer months—something they hadn't considered when buying the place. I knew Ayden had tried to install blinds, but Cal had refused, saying that he couldn't stand shutting out the sun. He had a point.
I padded over to the kitchen area and smiled as I saw coffee in the brewer. I poured a cup and sat on one of the sleek chairs. The newspaper lay open before me, and the first thing I spotted was a review of yesterday's concert. Deciding not to read it, I took a sip of the coffee, winced, and rose to discard it in the sink. Nothing was worse than cold coffee first thing in the morning.
I glanced back at the table. Did they even post job ads these days? Sighing at the prospect of yet another day spent searching for a job, I opened the fridge and scanned the contents. No juice either.
Resigned to a morning without juice or warm coffee, I sat and began to flip through the pages. I stalled by reading a comic strip, but once I was done, I searched for the ads. It didn't make any sense to wait for a job to land in my lap.
Waitress wanted.
Like that would work. Nope.
I read the other ones, grumbling as their catchphrases failed to excite me at all. I crossed out a few I knew I couldn't get, a couple that I really didn't want, and was left with three ads that I would force myself to call about. The first one was the waitress job.
Just as I snatched the cordless phone off the table, someone called. Few people had Ayden's home number, so I guessed it was his agent, Angela. Chin resting in my palm, I pressed the button to answer.
"This is Chris."
"Hi, Chris!" It wasn't Angela, but the voice sounded familiar.
"Sorry, who is this?"
"We met yesterday, I'm Lara Demalier."
I wondered if I had to exchange pointless pleasantries with her for Ayden's sake, but I decided not to. I had done him a favor yesterday by even agreeing to attend the cocktail party.
"Hi, Ayden's not home at the moment. Do you want me to take a message?"
"Actually, I wanted to speak with you. I hope you don't mind."
Perplexed, I lost what I had planned to say. "No. I mean, no. Sorry, I'm just surprised." I sounded like an idiot.
"Oh, don't worry. I just couldn't help noticing that you talked to Dante quite a lot yesterday, and..." She hesitated. "Well, this will sound strange, but he needs someone to assist him for a few weeks this summer when he's on tour, and I wondered if you might be interested? Ayden mentioned that you're on the lookout for a job."
Speechless didn't cover my reaction. I wanted to strangle Ayden for telling her about my situation, but most of all, I was stunned.
"You're kidding." That probably wasn't the best way to address someone who offered you a job, but it was the only thought that popped into my mind.
"I'm not. I know how it sounds, but I'm sure you noticed that Dante is somewhat of a character. He rarely initiates conversation at these events, and I saw at least twenty young ladies who wanted to rip you to shreds for receiving his attentions."
I frowned. "Why are you telling me this?" Why did it matter that people were jealous, especially when they had nothing to be jealous about? Dante and I hadn't talked. He talked and I listened.
"Dante is very particular in his choice of friends. If you clicked, I'm not letting this slip through my fingers. He needs someone to hang out with, someone who can watch him when he's out partying to make sure that he returns to his hotel room. He needs a friend."
"You're hiring him a friend?"
She let out a soft, exasperated sigh on the other side. "I don't want to see it like that. It's more that someone must be there to keep him in line so his tour doesn't fail, and it's better if it's a friend rather than a babysitter."
"He's a grown man, he shouldn't need a babysitter." I didn't like the way she talked about him. It was disrespectful.
"Look, if you just see past the fact that you think he doesn't need anyone, would you consider going for a tour in Europe this summer? It will be a lot of traveling, a lot of hotel nights, a lot of flights and a lot of events like yesterday."
"You're not really selling this one."
"You don't want to see Europe?" She sounded surprised.
"I'm not sure I want to do it as a babysitter."
"Okay, that came out wrong. But the bottom line is that I need help, and I'm basically giving you the opportunity of a lifetime here. You'll get paid to hang out and do fun stuff."
Hanging out with Dante didn't sound like 'fun stuff' to me, but I understood her point of view.
My gaze drifted down to the newspaper in front of me. Reading through the ads again, I knew I was being an idiot. I didn't have anything planned for the summer. I didn't want to stay with Ayden and Cal. I didn't have any money to travel. The arguments piled up right on top of each other.
"I think I want to meet with him again before I decide." I paused, waiting for her to reply, when I realized something important. "Does he even know about this?"
"Does he know I'm calling you? No. Am I embarrassed? No. Dante is Dante, and I'm dealing with him the only way I know how."
I wondered if it was time to laugh in order to relieve some of the tension between us, but I couldn't. It was just too odd. Her observations of Dante were almost degrading, or perhaps I didn't need an 'almost' there. It sounded as if she cared, but did she?
"That doesn't seem like a good situation to me."
"He knows what he has to know, and, to be honest, I doubt he wants to know more. The ideal solution would be if he invited you himself, but I don't think that will happen."
"This is messed up."
"Perhaps, but can I arrange a meeting?"
I wanted to say no, but there were too many reasons to say yes. A chance like this would never come around again, and how bad could it possibly get?
"Fine," I replied, hoping that I wasn't making the mistake of my life.
"Wonderful. I'll come and pick you up in twenty minutes."
"Are you kidding?"
"No."
Obviously, you didn't mess with Lara Demalier. I should have known when the crowd had parted before her yesterday. She wasn't just anyone, she was someone—I just had to figure out who that person was, and why I should care.
"Fine, I'll be ready."
I had no idea how I was supposed to keep that promise since I was still walking around in my boxers, but in one way it didn't matter. I very much doubted that Dante would like me this time around. He had no reason to enjoy my company as I had nothing to offer. If this was a job interview, I was failing before I even started.