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“Come on then, team,” she says, rising and gesturing for us to do the same. “Good job today. Go rest up. It’s a big day tomorrow.”
None of us really look at each other as we get up. The energy in the room is as sour and low as it’s ever been, all the effort we’ve been putting in for the last month suddenly catching up with us all and hitting us like a freight train. Suddenly, we’ve all realized that this is the end and that only one of us is getting out of here with what we want. This is like a gameshow, but there’s more than petty cash at risk. This will make someone’s career and force the rest of us to keep trying. Only one of us will be guaranteed it all.
Slowly, we all file out. I find myself at the back of the pack, which I hope isn’t a metaphor. As I’m about to leave, Maeve taps me on the shoulder. “Hey,” she says as I whip around in surprise. “I’m not really meant to say this, but I think your presentation was the best.”
I gawp slightly more than I mean to and she smiles kindly. “Yeah, I mean it. Bob gave you a total grilling and you aced it. He’s a nasty piece of work but you barely wobbled. It was pretty awesome to watch.”
She excuses herself with a grin, waltzing away like she hadn’t just said the kindest thing she could possibly have said to me, and I’m left frozen for a second, the adrenaline of the presentation hitting me all over again. The spark of hope inside me has been stoked into a real flame, bursting into life in a way I can’t ignore anymore. I already knew my presentation was great, but hearing it from Maeve totally unprompted…
None of the others got that. I deserve this as much as any of them. And the chance of the job being mine doesn’t seem too slim after all.
Once my body reengages with Earth, I dash to catch the others up. They’re still walking in a pack, or flock, bumbling along together because, despite all our posturing, we’re all so young and inexperienced and none of us know what we’re doing. Aiden holds out his hand to me and I allow myself to take it. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I breathe, and really mean it. A grin splits across my face and I squeeze his hand. “Yeah.”
“You did awesome,” he says, returning the squeeze.
We all pass through the revolving door, back into the bustling reality of Olympus City. It’s an average afternoon, but something irreversible has changed in all of us. The second we left Fletcher HQ, all of us became new people. Life is going to be so different with the dawn of tomorrow, and it’s twisting my stomach into knots hoping and worrying about it.
“You were great, too,” I say as we avoid some angry pedestrians.
He chuckles, shaking his head. “I tried.”
Kyle glances back at us, shooting daggers at our entangled hands. “Hey, lover boy,” he sneers, turning and holding the whole group up as if he really is the boss. “You coming out tonight? We’re all going to The Anvil later, to celebrate. At least,I’llbe celebrating. The rest of you are welcome to come and commiserate, though.”
“Shut up, Kyle,” says Aiden, rolling his eyes. “Yes, we’ll be there. To celebrate.”
Aiden drops my hand to take a step forward, pushing his shoulders back as he squares up to Kyle. He has this kind of wildcard personality; he seems mild on the surface, but under pressure, I have no doubt he’d prove himself the true boss of this situation. I guess Kyle must realize this too, because he bristles but then backs down, sneering his haughtiest sneer ever before turning back on his heel.
As Kyle walks off with the others, Aiden leans in to me. “We are going, right?”
“What makes you think we’re going aswe?” I ask, raising an eyebrow and folding my arms. If I’m going to let him in, I’m not going to make it easy.
There’s this cute face he makes when he’s thinking something over, a slight narrowing of the eyes and tilt of the head. “Well, I mean… you said maybe later.”
“It’s notlateryet,” I say.
The truth is, I’m very ready to give up and fall for him, but I’m still worried about tomorrow’s outcome regarding the job. I don’t want either of us to get hurt because I for sure will not be modest if I win.
“But you are coming out for drinks?”
I shrug. Part of me doesn’t want to because I’m so tired that all I want is to crawl into bed and sleep for a week. But the rest of me wants to let my hair down and let Aiden romance me. After all, a bar isn’t work and The Anvil is a great place. They serve the best fries in town and the atmosphere is always intimate but not claustrophobic.
With a teasing glint in my eye, I say, “I guess so. I was kind of hoping some hot guys would buy me drinks.”
Aiden nods knowingly. “Oh, I see. First one’s on me, then?”
“Deal,” I say with a grin, and when he offers me his arm, I take it without hesitation.
CHAPTER8
CANDICE
For the first time since I met these people, it feels like we’re all friends. Even Daniel has relaxed enough to smile, and now that Kyle has stopped trying to assert his superiority, he’s almost tolerable. And most surprising of all, Louise isfunny.
The bar is loud and crowded, but we’ve managed to grab a round table for us all to squeeze around. There’s a guitarist by the window, hooked into an amp that crackles every time he moves too much. He’s singing sad love songs, a vibe that’s totally incongruous with the atmosphere in the place. We celebrate as everyone else moves around us, holding their own successes and heartbreaks, unheard over the sounds of other people living.
Not that we’re being particularly quiet either. We’re downing cocktails like we want to put the bar out of business and are talking over each other at increasing volume, all of us eating and yelling and dancing whenever a song we know comes on. If only we could have acted like this over the last month. Maybe it would have made everything fun.
