late spring

chapter four: do you get deja vu?

do you get deja vu?

Pennsylvania, October 2022

"This is unsettling."

Jamie frantically stuffed papers and other documents in his bag. He whipped his head around to look at the floating being hovering on his bed. "You say this every two years."

Jack scoffed, "Don't give me attitude, you're wearing a messenger bag!"

In return, Jamie gave him a half-shrug, "It's comfortable and spacious."

"You look pretentious."

The Winter Spirit gave the newly turned nineteen-year-old a lookover. As Jamie fixed his navy three-piece suit in front of his floor-length mirror, his boyish features radiated nonetheless. As much as Jack gave him shit for his tuxedo ensembles and his excessive use of hair gel, he had to admit that he cleaned up pretty well. Must be what attending the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University did to you, he supposed.

Not to mention that the rest of the gang did as well.

OK, it was kind of suspicious that Pippa, Monty, Caleb, and Claude all got in. Sure. But it wasn't Jack's fault that all of their applications got knocked into the folders to send acceptance electronic felicitations for. The unpredictable swish and swoosh of air currents can be a bitch sometimes.

As he lowered himself to the ground, he swung his staff, resting it on his shoulder. The Spirit remembered when Jamie's room brimmed with space-themed ornaments, his toys sprinkled on the floor. Now, his room bore a pristine white wall, his wooden bed frame replaced with a gray upholstered bed frame instead. His L-shaped desk that used to occupy mythology books was replaced with a PC gaming set. (No complaints on Jack's part, he has dabbled in video gaming or watched streamers play with Jamie's PC.)

"What's this fuss about anyway?" Jack asked, tilting his head at the tumultuous commotion that was Jamie. This kid was driving him up a wall, with the constant pacing and shuffling.

"It's my first day interning at The AO Hotel, it's a really big deal."

"The Aureate Ode?" Jack's eyes widened.

"The Aureate Ode," Jamie stressed restlessly as he pulled his gaming chair to sit on. "I've been feeling like shit this past semester, I felt like I was going nowhere with my Business Management program. But I finally caught a break, my professor said I qualified for an internship at the AO."

The Guardian took a step back and sat on the corner of the bed, leveling with the kid, "So everything must be perfect today, huh?"

"Exactly." He fidgeted with the hem of his suit.

"You will do good, kiddo. If anyone is deserving of this internship, it's you." Jack reassured in a modulated tone. "I mean sure, there's probably someone much more experienced and smarter but-"

As a response, Jamie threw a pen at the eternal nineteen-year-old.

The Winter Spirit let out a hearty laugh, "Just messing with ya, but in all seriousness, that's impressive. I've only heard about good things about that place."

Jack has had run-ins with the hotel before. It was definitely luxurious, but also as modest as it could be as a five-star hotel. Big praise he had heard was that the hotel treated their staff nicely. He couldn't think of anywhere else Jamie could start his first venture in the "real" world, as they say.

Plus, he wondered if their chocolate was just as good as they say it was. More reasons to visit the little kiddo in his new workplace.

"Just walk in like you own the place!" Jack proclaimed, stretching out his arms and legs outward.