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For a while, it was light and carefree. The movie wasreallybad, which made us feel like collective victims. Or soldiers sitting in the same foxhole. August and I riffed the movie as we went. We were good at it by now. But Ginny had a few moments where she made a joke that left both of us laughing out loud.
“Do we have snacks?” she asked. “I could use some snacks.”
August leaped to his feet. “Snacks. She asks if I have snacks, Mikey.” He went to the kitchen and returned with armfuls of food. “Popcorn. Tortilla chips. Oreos. Dried pineapple chunks. Take your pick.”
“Sorry for doubting you,” she said while eying her options.
“Popcorn,” I answered. He tossed me the big bag of pre-popped stuff, cheddar flavored.
Ginny grabbed a handful of Oreos and nibbled on them. When she was done, she scooted closer to me on the couch. So close that our legs were barely touching.
I felt like a nervous teenager. She had that effect on me. Legs touching? It was about as innocent as it got. But I felt like I’d been getting every signal in the book from her tonight, from the moment she walked through the door. Plus, last time she was here, we kissed. How could I not wonder what she was thinking?
It was tough to focus on the movie, rather than side-eye the gorgeous redhead on the couch next to me.
Before we knew it, the end credits were rolling. Not surprising since we were only watching half a movie. I waited to see how Ginny would react to the situation. She continued munching popcorn while shaking her head.
“That was tremendously bad. The product placement with Coke and McDonalds was so in your face!”
“E.T. had Reese’s Pieces, but they were more discreet about it,” I agreed. “WhereasMac and Mehad an entire birthday scene in McDonalds that had nothing to do with the plot.”
“I see why you guys like doing this. Making fun of bad movies is great.”
Ginny still wasn’t making any move to get up. I glanced at August, and he glanced at me.
“More wine!” he said, hurrying into the kitchen. “I’ll open a bottle of something nice, so we can compare against your Two Buck Chuck.”
“I won’t say no to that,” she replied, flashing me a grin. “So, what’s the deal with your dad?”
“Whelp, it was a fun night,” August said from the kitchen. “Time for you to leave.”
“I’m not ready to leave!” she argued, twisting around on the couch to face him. The motion caused her arm to rest on my shoulder. “Come on. Tell me about your dad. He’s the CEO but I’ve only seen him come into the office once or twice.”
“He’s at the age where he’s coasting,” August said. I heard a cork pop. “Between a very mild case of dementia and a preoccupation with his golf game, he rarely comes into the office. But he still collects a paycheck from the Community Foundation, and likes to throw his weight around.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Well. He has strong opinions on the candidates we hire.”
“He made a comment to me about that!” Ginny suddenly exclaimed. “I had no idea what he meant.”
“The other candidate who applied for your job?” I chimed in. “Apparently he’s the son of someone that August’s dad plays golf with. He was very upset we didn’t just hand the job to him.”
“That’s what Dad gets for telling us about itafterwe’ve selected someone,” August muttered. He brought the wine bottle over and refilled everyone’s glasses.
“What I’m hearing is that I was lucky to get hired,” Ginny surmised. “If your dad had made his desires known, you would have gone with his golfing friend’s son.”
August and I answered at the same time. “No,” I said.
“Yes,” August replied.
I gave him a glare.
“What?” he replied. “You were both strong candidates. Pretty much a tie. My dad’s opinion would have overruled our tiebreaker.”
Ginny took a long sip of wine and cocked her head to the side. “What was your tiebreaker?”
August answered without hesitation. “You’re really fucking hot.”
