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‘What is your finest moment, then?’
I don’t even have to think about it. ‘I got a spot on a really prestigious internship this summer. I worked really hard for it. Too hard, probably, but …’
‘Congratulations.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Wait, that wasn’t a bit of a farewell party, was it? I haven’t lured you away from your own “goodbye andgood luck” celebrations with the mere promise of cheesy chips, have I?’
I burst out laughing, my hand tightening around his arm reflexively.
I’m sure the girls in my uni halls would have thrown a party for me when I moved out a few weeks ago.Goodbye and good riddance!they probably thought.
‘No,’ I say. ‘Tonight was more of a “hello” thing. Meeting the other interns. I’m at Leeds for uni, so I’m just in London for the summer.’
‘Ah. Obligated fun. I get it.’
‘Is that why you were out tonight?’
‘Yeah – a friend’s birthday.’ He tosses me a smile. ‘They won’t miss me, I’m sure.’
‘You guys aren’t close?’
He hums, unsure, and instead of giving me a direct answer just says, ‘Everyone heading different places for uni and figuring their lives out was always going to change things, I guess.’
‘Has it changed you? I – I mean …’ I don’t even know if he goes to uni. I don’t even know how old he is. For all I feel Lloyd is a kindred spirit, I also don’t know the first thing about him.
‘I’ve never been much for a night out. Family stuff, you know? Between my dad and working with him through the summers and …’ He draws a sharpbreath, making a visible effort to relax before smiling at me again. ‘But I guess I don’t need to explain that kind of thing to you, if you’re spending your summer on an internship programme that you worked too hard to get.’
I know he’s trying to distract me before I pry into something he doesn’t want to talk about, but it works. I’ve been bursting with pride ever since I got that ‘Congratulations!’ email, wanting to tell anyone and everyone about it.
‘They take a really small proportion of applicants,’ I find myself saying, ‘so it was kind of a long shot, but I really thought I had a chance, you know? I ticked every box on their list. I didsomuch research, prepping for all their rounds of interviews. I had all these extra-curriculars from school and I even took on an extra module at uni studying computer science just to try and build out my CV, and let me tell you, Isuckat computer science. It was a real slog.’
‘But you did it,’ Lloyd says, sounding impressed. Or maybe I’m imagining that, and he’s doing a good job of hiding his real reaction and he thinks I’m a try-hard dork who needs to get a life. I’d like to think he is impressed, though.
‘I did it. Out of everyone who applied, they pickedme. Even if I had to lie on my application that I was asecond-year, but it’s not like I lied about anythingimportant.So …’
He laughs. ‘So. Why lie, though? Why not just wait till next year?’
‘This way, I can do another internship next summer. Plus, if I hadn’t got in this year, I would’ve had another shot at applying next year. It’s all going to help me be in a better position when I apply for jobs after I graduate.’
And it’s not like I had plans for the summer anyway. At least a full-time job, however temporary, will help cover up that fact so my family don’t worry about me being too much on my own.
Aloud, I add, ‘And it was obviously really worth all that extra effort this year, because now I’m on the internship programme.’
‘How do you know it’s worth it if you haven’t started it yet?’
I blink, not understanding the question.
Of course it’sworth it. Arrowmile are famous for making electric vehicles; they have a rent-a-scooter initiative near my university, and in the last couple of years they’ve won numerous industry awards. This internship will help my CV stand out, and it’s a good networking opportunity. They even pay their interns a decent salaryandcover our accommodation, which iswhy there’s so much competition for a place on their programme. And at the end of the summer, all the interns give a presentation on their work over the last twelve weeks to senior managers and board members; if you impress them, you get fast-tracked for anactualjob with them when you graduate. This internship could be a total gamechanger for me.
Lloyd stares back for a moment before shaking his head and saying, ‘So you lied to get your dream job, you don’t get out much, you don’t – normally – leave your friends behind to go for food with some random guy … Tell me something true about you, Annalise.’
Annalise. I like the way my name sounds, when he says it.
I always go by Anna. Everyone always shortens my name anyway, and at some point, I defaulted to it, too. I don’t know why I told him my full name instead of ‘Anna’, like I’d normally do.
I’m glad I did.
