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Jack picks up the mug from the desk and looks me over. He takes a sip, and the corner of his mouth tilts into a smile. “You ready to get to work?”
“Yup.”
“You sure about that?”
“I think so. But the look on your face is making me doubt myself.”
Jack squints at my feet. “Are those avocados on the one sock?”
As soon as he says it, I know why he’s asking. “I’m not wearing my boots, am I?”
Jack simply raises his eyebrows, and I peer down to find that I am, in fact, wearing one avocado sock. The other sock is neon pink with dancing bananas on it and says,Weekend Vibes.“The store had an impressive selection of anthropomorphic foods to choose from,” I say.
“I rather like avocados.”
“Then you’d love the underwear I’m wearing. At leastthatmatches one of my socks.”
Jack chokes on his coffee mid-sip, and I realize that I have just described my underwear to mymost professional coworker.
“Oh my God, I’m going to put on my boots,” I say, already headed for the door. “If I’m not back in five minutes, it’s because I’ve died of embarrassment.”
I flee the office as quickly as I can. It was nice to be New Raine while it lasted, I suppose. But I shouldn’t be surprised she didn’t stick around long. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to be her. It always starts out great, but I inevitably lose steam once the novelty wears off. Even New Raine gets tired of my shit. I feel her pack up her motivation and disappear.See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya.
When I return to Jack’s office a few minutes later, my mismatchedsocks are tucked safely out of sight inside my boots. “That happens more often than I’d like to admit,” I say.
Jack picks up a pen from the desk and twirls it between his fingers. “Which part of what just happened are you talking about?”
I shoot him a glare. “I was talking about the shoe thing, of course.” I sink into the chair opposite the desk with a sigh. “Though the sharing of personal details no one asked for happens a lot too.”
When our eyes meet, Jack can’t keep a straight face, and the pen slips from his fingers. “I don’t mean to laugh,” he says, but the last word is mangled as the laughter he tries to hold back fights its way out. “But, Raine, it’s January. Weren’t your feet cold?”
“I was in a hurry! And I’m sorry for being late, by the way. And for being even more late because I forgot my boots. And I didn’t mean to tell you about my underwear, really. It won’t happen again. Well, I can’t promise that. It might happen again. Actually, it probably will. But I’lltrynot to do it again. It’s just I have a hard time with these sorts of things because I...” Jack raises an eyebrow, waiting for me to continue. “I have ADHD,” I say. “When I told you that I am kind of a mess... that’s what I meant.”
As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I’m on edge. I never know what sort of reaction I’m going to get when I tell people about my ADHD. Some people shrug it off like it’s no big deal, when tomeit is a very big deal. It impacts almost everything in my life. Then there are the people who don’t even think it exists. And we can’t forget the classic,Don’t we all have a little ADHD?(No, we don’t.)
He pauses in his pen twirling and sits up straighter. “Can I be honest with you?”
When I say yes, it comes out more like a question than a statement.
Jack smiles. “I sort of wondered.”
“See? I’m a mess.”
Jack is quiet for a moment, but then he starts twirling his pen again and says, “Aithníonn ciaróg, ciaróg eile.”
I know I’m not always the best at paying attention, but I’m fairly certain that wasn’t English. “I didn’t catch that last part,” I say.
“Aithníonn ciaróg, ciaróg eile,” he says. “It’s an Irish proverb. Roughly translated, it means,One beetle recognizes another.”
I don’t say anything. Jack laughs and sets the pen on his desk. “What I’m trying to say is that I wondered if you have ADHD because I have it too.”
“You do?”
He nods. “The OCD sort of overshadows it, but yeah. It takes one to know one. Like attracts like.”
“You did jump over the bar and offer me a job after knowing me for all of thirty minutes,” I say.
“An excellent decision, if I do say so myself.”
