Page 92 of Only After We Met
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: Just what I needed!
You won’t believe it! Like it wasn’t enough that everyone thinks I got a leg up when Dean and I got our jobs the exact same way—thanks to my dad—now it turns out Dean is going out with our director of marketing. They told everyone last Friday at the endof the workday, when we were all gathered in the boardroom. Since then, they’ve spent the whole week clinging to each other like leeches. How sweet. So not only does he get treated better because of his fake smile and because he isn’t actually related to the boss; he’s also found true love. I know I sound hateful, frustrated, and jealous, but I am, sort of. It’s terrible to admit these things out loud, but… I guess that’s what we human beings are like. In theory, I know I’m being unfair. But in practice…that’s just it. Practice is a whole different story. I spend the day shut up in my cubicle eating sandwiches from the machine. (They’re awful and I’ve put on five or six pounds from that nasty sauce they have on them.) Then I go home and I’m exhausted. And I take it out on Donna. That’s the worst thing. Or on Michael. (We did run into each other; I told him to lock the door, even though I know it’s partly my fault for not knocking.)
I hate myself a little these days.
Tell me what’s up with you. Kisses.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: You still there?
Hello! Rhys! Are you alive?
I’m starting to worry…
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: [No subject]
Sorry. Dammit. It’s just been chaos these days…
I’m in Los Angeles, and I haven’t had a minute free since I got here between meetings and parties where I keep getting introduced to people with weird names I’ve never heard before. I think I need time to absorb all this. I don’t know, I just didn’t see it coming. That’s the bad thing. I miss the slow life I had in Australia, the ease, the sea, not having to get dressed in anything but a bathing suit and a T-shirt to go outside (if that); it’s almost like time’s stopped there sometimes. The good thing… I guess I can’t say I’m bored. That’s the least applicable word to my situation. Here I have something to do every day. Big things. I barely have time to think before I’m thrown into some new situation. Tomorrow, for example, I have a radio interview at eight in the evening, on a channel called Xdem, I don’t know what time that is in London or whether you’ll be able to listen to it.
As for Dean…it’s normal for you to feel that way, isn’t it? Who wouldn’t? You spent your whole life getting ready for something, then he seems to be doing better at it than you. Don’t take that the wrong way. All I want to say is, maybe your place is somewhere else. Didn’t that ever occur to you, Ginger? I know it scares you even to think about, but it is a possibility. Who knows? Look at me. Never in a million years did I imagine I’d be here, getting dressed to go to dinner with some pop singer.
46
Ginger
When I finally got the radio station’s webpage to load, I put on my headphones. Right away, I heard the presenter. The interview had already started. I tried to rewind it, but I couldn’t, so I just listened.
“So you didn’t see this success coming?”
“Not at all,” Rhys said.
“But…” Alexa added.
“Were things different for you, Alexa?”
“Why lie? It did occur to me. Rhys’s song is amazing. The lyrics are deep; the chorus is catchy. Why wouldn’t it be a success?”
“Well, before, nobody even knew who you were.”
“True, true,” she giggled. “But a girl can dream.”
“Exactly. Of course she can. So, Rhys, tell us, when did you first want to become a professional DJ? Was it a hard road?”
“Honestly, no. It was almost by chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“I never even considered it. Can I be totally honest?” He sighed, and I could almost see him smiling from thousands of miles away. “My boss, who’s now my producer, brought it up one night at theclub. I thought he was crazy. I was going to say no, but after five drinks, I forgot to.”