Layers(28)

Knocking on the door in front of me, I hear a male voice on the other side telling me to come in.

“Hello, I’m Hayley Grace,” I say to the person sitting behind a wide screen.

“Hello, Hayley.” He stands up and walks over to me with a grin full of white teeth on his face. This smile should come with a warning hazard sign: “use leaded glasses in case of direct exposure”. He extends his hand for a shake. He’s an athletic, handsome Ken doll. My private best friend Barbie, Natasha, would drool over him. Ken doll is checking me out, and I counter with a disturbed grin. Not so professional, Ken.

“Have a seat, Miss Grace.” He gestures to an empty chair. I sit down and look around the room as I wait for him to sit as well. The walls are a subtle green tone; behind Josh’s desk is a large framed poster of the movie American Beauty. The red of the scattered rose petals is enhanced by the background of the olive wall. To my right the wall is a scattered colorful collage of framed YOU magazine covers.

“Do you like what you see?”

I’m a bit distracted by Ken doll’s question.

“The magazine cover décor.” His brows lift as he looks at the wall.

“Yes, I do. I like the style of this room and the offices.” I take another glance at the room.

“Me too. So, Hayley, you’d like to be my assistant. I’m aware of the fact that you’ve already been accepted to YOU, but I just thought we could meet before you actually begin.”

“My assistant …”

“Yes, I’m interested in the position of assistant and content specialist,” I answer, businesslike. His lips arch in a small curve as he skims through what looks like my résumé.

“You don’t seem to have any prior experience at a magazine. What makes you think you’d be the right person for me, us?” His face shows delight as though he’s amused by an in-joke.

“I do have some experience working at the university newspaper and I believe I would bring a different perspective.” I square my shoulders. He cocks his head to the side and grins my way, widening his smile at the last part of my answer, waiting for me to go on.

“I like YOU; I think it’s fresh and, as opposed to some other magazines in your genre, it doesn’t offend its readers by aiming low.”

“Care to elaborate?” Josh says, looking intrigued. His disturbing smile is finally gone, meaning he’s listening to what I have to say rather than just scrutinizing me. He straightens his posture as I proceed.

“I find the language to be rich.” I inhale. “It seems to have legitimate and well-researched news rather than low level, eye catching yellow journalism for airhead teens.” I play with the metallic band of my watch, sliding it around my wrist.

“That’s one way to put it,” he answers, pondering, then his lips curve up, pleased. “How would you feel about doing dull secretarial work?”

Trying to scare me off, Ken? “As long as it’s combined in equal measure with interesting creative tasks, I could live with it.” I flash back a smug grin.

“I see,” he murmurs, pensive. “How many hours a week can you work, Hayley? And what’s your availability?”

He’s pleased.

“I can start with seven hours a day for the next couple of months and then I’ll be able to move to full time,” I respond, looking at him, assessing if that’s acceptable to him, and then I add, “In terms of availability, I could start tomorrow.” I’m in a temporary contract with the insurance company; even a day’s notice will be fine.

“So, can you start tomorrow at ten?” Ken doll asks with a promising smile.

“Of course. I would be delighted.” I reciprocate with a nod.

“Then let’s get to the essentials: job detail requirements, salary expectations, you know, the boring stuff,” he says as he takes some papers out of one of his desk drawers.




“Anything to drink before we dig into the nitty-gritty”

“Soda?”

“Which?” He grins at me and opens the minibar next to his desk. It’s packed with different soda cans.

“I already like this place.”

He chuckles.

~~~

Leaving YOU, I text Tasha, content.

Meeting went great am in such a good mood that I will go with u tonight.

Tasha: I heart U hard.

On the way home I have an inner debate about whether I should wear my new marvelous Donna Karan dress, or just give it back altogether. I wonder if Daniel picked it up himself. Maybe I shouldn’t wear it since he gave it to me with the intent of wearing it while escorting him to the event. “Escorting,” how apt.



Daniel,

I’m not sure going to the event with you would be the right thing for me.

Hope you’ll understand.

Perhaps we’ll run into each other tonight.

H

I click send and Daniel replies immediately



Sweet H,

Too bad for me. Does that mean you’ll be there tonight?

DS



DS,

Yes, I’ll be Tasha’s plus one.

H



Sweet H,

One lucky Natasha Taylor. Hope to have the chance to talk to you in person rather than this annoying form of communication.