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It was still raining when she stepped outside, but this time she made no hurry to get from the building to her car. Her hair was dripping wet again when she climbed into the tiny confines of her Chevy Spark. She tossed her messenger bag into the empty passenger seat and dug her cell phone out of the middle console where she had left it before going into her interview.
She retrieved the phone and straightened in her seat, staring at her screen. She was torn between calling Shea or Paul, or just keeping quiet about it for a while longer. If she said it out loud, then it was real, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that.
Ultimately, the need to vent her frustrations and have her emotions validated won out, and she hit the send button to make the call. It rang twice before Shea picked up.
“So? How did it go?” Shea asked upon answering.
“Umm, not great. They don’t want to hire me.” Farren tried unsuccessfully to keep her voice from cracking.
“Don’t be so dramatic. I’m sure you did better than you think,” Shea argued with a dismissive air.
Farren shook her head, even though Shea wouldn’t have been able to see it through the phone. “No, Shea. He told me he’s not going to hire me. He said I would be a distraction or something. I tried to tell him I wouldn’t, but it was like he had his mind made up before I ever had a chance. There was no interview, no questions about the job, my qualifications, nothing!”
Farren wiped the tears that now flowed freely down the curves of her cheeks.
“What a jerk! You don’t want some ass-hole boss like that anyway,” Shea snapped in her friend’s defense.
Farren sniffled. “I guess not,” she said in a small voice, but didn?
??t sound convincing.
“You know what will make you feel better?” Shea asked, and then proceeded to answer her own question. “A drink with your best friend. Meet me at Charlie’s. I’ll be there in ten.”
Shea hung up before Farren had a chance to decline the offer, so she gave in, started up her car, and headed downtown to Charlie’s Bar.
***
Farren parked a short distance down the block in front of a nearby restaurant where the nearest parking space was that she could find. She got out and jogged as best she could in her soggy stilettos down the puddled sidewalk, into Charlies where she found Shea sitting at a table by the front window.
Shea already had two bottles of Blue Moon sitting on the table in front of her. As soon as Farren slid into the seat across from her, Shea slid one of the bottles in Farren’s direction.
“Thanks,” Farren muttered, watching the rain pounding the windows and thinking how she really needed to find her umbrella.
Shea eyed Farren’s soaked hair and outfit, trying to hold back a smile. “You did know it was going to rain today, right?”
“No, actually. I’ve been a little busy the past few days trying to prepare for an interview for my freaking dream job. I haven’t thought about anything else!”
“Damn. I bet Paul was thrilled about that.” Shea’s lackluster words were dripping with sarcasm. It was no secret that she did not care much for Paul, and hadn’t since he and Farren had started dating a few months prior.
At the mention of Paul, Farren remembered to send him a text, so she pulled out her phone and messaged him that she was at Charlie’s with Shea if he wanted to join them. It had been several days since they’d seen each other, so she figured she would try to see him before she went home.
Her phone chirped a short time later with Paul’s response.
“So, I take it Paul is on his way?” Shea said, rolling her eyes.
Farren didn’t respond right away but sat staring at her phone screen. Paul’s unusual response had made her stomach churn momentarily.
“It looks like it. He says he needs to talk to me about something.”
Everyone knew that ‘we need to talk’ was never about anything good, but what could he possibly be upset with her about? Sure, she hadn’t spent much time with him lately, but she had a good reason, and she thought he understood. Surely it was something innocent and nothing to get worked up over, she reasoned. He’d be there soon enough and she knew she would feel better once she saw him.
“So who is this boss guy who didn’t hire you? Do I need to go egg his car or send him some dog pooh in a paper bag?” She asked with a straight face.
Farren wouldn’t have put it past her friend to be crazy enough to actually do it.
“What? No! That’s disgusting, by the way,” she laughed.
Shea just shrugged, taking a sip of her beer. “Hey nobody messes with my Fair Child,” she said, using the nickname she had given Farren back when they were basketball teammates in seventh grade.
