Following Me(27)

Brennan was dangerous and attractive and caring…and she would have none of it. She had to shut down her brain when her thoughts began to venture in that direction. It would only do more harm than good. Eventually, she would have to return to St. Louis, and she didn’t want guilty feelings on her conscience as well.

Without further ado, Devon began walking around the city, filling out applications wherever she could. Not many places were hiring at the moment. So many of them had already filled up their staff for the summer tourist season. The places that had signs up in the windows were looking for more experience or offering low wages or not hiring immediately. Anything that could possibly get in the way did.

Devon returned home empty handed and plopped down on the couch in the living room, propping up her feet on the coffee table. She was exhausted from another day of searching for jobs. It seemed like a futile mission. She was convinced she would never find anything in time to pay rent at the end of the month. She had already been scouting for two weeks, and the month was dwindling away. After three unsuccessful interviews out of at least a hundred applications, Devon was spent. She didn’t know what else to do. If she couldn’t get a job, she couldn’t stay, which meant she had bullied her best friend at a time when she needed her the most for nothing.

She pulled up Netflix on the PlayStation and started flipping through the catalog of TV shows. She had never been a big TV fan before, but this was also one of the first times in her life she didn’t have anything to do. Hadley was always at work, and when Garrett was here during the day, he would usually be locked away in his bedroom.

Deciding on the first season of Heroes, Devon kept her phone close by just in case someone decided they wanted to give her a job, and then she vegged out. After she made it all the way through episode two, Garrett made an appearance outside of his bedroom.

“What’s up, Dev?” He pulled out a snack from the fridge and then took a seat next to her.

“Just praying that someone calls me for a job,” she said, turning on episode three. Then, thinking better of it, she offered Garrett the remote. “Do you want to watch something?”

“No, Heroes is fine. Just so you know, the first season is addictive, but the other ones suck. You should probably stop now,” he said.

Devon just shrugged, not having anything better to do. “I think I’ll let myself get sucked in.”

She swallowed hard, hearing herself say that out loud. Wasn’t that always her problem? She always let herself just get sucked in to things, and then she couldn’t or wouldn’t want to find a way out. Even now that she was out of it, she couldn’t believe it had all happened the way it had. She sometimes wondered if Chicago was the dream, and her dreams were reality.

“So, the job search isn’t going so well?” Garrett asked, offering her a carrot from his plate.

“Ugh,” she grumbled, tossing her head back. “It’s the worst possible thing ever. Why do businesses even advertise that they’re hiring if they’re not actually hiring? Or better yet, if they already have someone else in mind, why do they waste your time by setting up an interview with you? It’s total bullshit.”

“That’s the worst. What kind of jobs are you looking into?” he asked sympathetically.

“Everything. Anything. I’ve scoured the newspapers, craigslist, and all over the f**king Internet. I’ve walked up and down the streets, checking for new signs. I think I’m pretty familiar with the landscape now,” she said, half-joking. “There’s just nothing out there. Most places aren’t likely to hire someone they don’t know who doesn’t have a degree. Even a lot of the serving jobs…well, most are full, but they want someone who will be here after the summer. And when they see that I went to Wash U, they don’t believe me when I say I’m not going back to St. Louis for school.”

Devon wasn’t sure where it had all come from. During the last two weeks, she had been so frustrated from trying to a find a job and having no one to talk to. Hadley was avoiding her as much as she could, Garrett was mostly absent, and Brennan was completely out of the picture. It was nice to just talk to someone.

Garrett pursed his lips. He seemed to be contemplating her scenario before speaking. She didn’t know what he was going to say about it, but it couldn’t be worse than what Hadley would likely say.

“I mean, I hate to say it, but it has only been two weeks,” he looked sympathetic.

“I know,” Devon relented. “I just have to pay you rent soon, and I don’t have the money.” She sheepishly looked down.

“Hey,” he said, his hand landing on her knee, “don’t worry about that. I’m sure we can arrange something.”

Devon didn’t know if she should hear the hidden meaning in that or not, but she chose not to. This was Garrett, and he was madly in love with her best friend. There was no way he was insinuating what she thought he was insinuating. To avoid accidentally spilling her thoughts, she didn’t dare open her mouth.

“I’m sure you’ll find a job soon, and in the meantime, feel free to stay as long as you like. I’ve made do without the rent this long, so I think I can manage otherwise. I trust you to pay it back when you actually do get a job. Don’t stress yourself into the ground over it,” he told her, pulling back his hand.

Devon felt like a shitty person. Was she a completely wrong judge of character? Or was she just so used to people being horrible and taking advantage of any situation that she had assumed someone like Garrett could be like that, too?