AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I scoff. “You might as well say ‘I know you are but what am I’. Don’t be childish.” I cross my arms tighter and will myself to relax. I don’t think I’ve ever met a more frustrating man in my life.
“Childish? You’re the one who started talking about asses,” he says.
“I was— It’s—” I start and stop and then try, valiantly, to compose myself. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re uniquely frustrating?” I ask genuinely.
“Once or twice,” he says. “I take it as a compliment. Usually it’s a sign a deal is working in my favor.”
Urgh. The douchiness of it all.
“Well this isn’t a meeting, so I don’t know what you think is working in your favor here. Unless you think this is appealing to me somehow. And in that case, let me be clear. I’m not interested in you.”
Putting it out there was a gamble, but I hit gold. I’ve found the hidden lever that triggers a reaction from Nick. For the first time his face twitches involuntarily. “Who says I’m interested in you?” he challenges.
“You did. On the train,” I say.
“Someone needs to pull up the transcripts,” he says, “because as far as I remember I was just making conversation.”
I roll my eyes at that whopper. “Oh yeah. I’m sure if I were some dude you would have moved down next to him and read his palm.”
“Maybe I would have,” he says.
“Was that supposed to be convincing?” I ask.
“Whatever,” Nick says. I’ve ruffled him. It’s obvious. And just like me, Nick seems unable to stop himself from digging the hole deeper.
“I wish it had been a guy,” he says. “I’d have had more in common with him. A guy wouldn’t have been nearly as sappy as you were.”
“Sappy?” I repeat. “Because I don’t think people are evil?”
“I don’t think people are evil.”
“That’s not what you said on the train.”
“I think people are calculating and self-interested, especially in business. And I think they’re stupid. I think they see what they want to see. They cling to preconceived notions and there’s little that can be done to dissuade them.”
“Exactly,” I say. “Just like you think that I’m naive and a goody-two-shoes, and you almost passed me over because of it instead of looking at the facts.”
“So we agree?”
“On that,” I say. “But you also said people are cruel, and I just don’t believe that.”
“Well you just haven’t met the same people I have. I hope you never will.”
I throw up my hands. “And there you go again! Implying I’m naive. I’ve met cruel people, Nick. That doesn’t mean I believe everyone is.”
Nick’s eyes narrow. “Well maybe I’ll drop my notion of your naivete when you stop thinking that everything in my life was just handed to me.”
He tries to say it lightly, but nothing can stop thinly-veiled annoyance from leaking onto his words.
I pause. I guess I had said as much a couple of times. But instead of taking it back, I just shrug. “I’m open to correction,” I say.
Nick opens his mouth, but then snaps it shut.
“This isn’t an interview,” he mutters, turning away from me and stalking down the hallway.
I follow, rolling my eyes. So touchy! And I don’t even care. Let Nick keep his deep dark secrets. I certainly haven’t wondered exactly what had happened to the man to make him act like he’s a king in a Shakespearean tragedy. I’m not curious at all.
Really.
