Under The Night Sky

Chapter 3

SOPHIA

"So, he didn't say anything about you calling him an asshole?" Katherine asked for the thousandth time.

"I didn't call him an asshole. Someone on the internet did."

I called her right when I left the interview and told her to come home as early as possible tonight because there were urgent things I needed to tell her. That was all I had to say to convince her. Several hours later she entered the apartment holding a KFC bucket and a bottle of wine in her arms.

And I told her everything. Starting with the strange meeting in the elevator, to me dropping a book in front of him and my confession of how much I hated law school. I still couldn't believe I had been that honest with him, a stranger, a potential employer. I took a sip of my wine and laughed with her.

"What's your opinion of him? I googled him and he's hot," my friend said while enjoying the junk food she'd brought.

"Yeah, I guess you could say he's hot. He reminded me of the guys you find in books, romance books, the ones we read when we were younger."

"You mean the ones we still read," she corrected, pointing a piece of chicken at me.

"Details," I laughed. "Anyway, he didn't seem as bad as he's been portrayed to be. He was quite polite and interested in what I had to say."

"Oh, come on, are you going to say it or should I do it for you?"

"Fine, he's one of the hottest men I have ever seen and he wears glasses," I confessed, not bothered by the smirk on her face. She'd known for a long time that I had a thing for men who wore glasses.

"Good luck in trying to resist him when you're going to work there."

"I'm not going to work there, he just did his job in giving the interview. I'm not what he's looking for," I managed to say with my mouth full of food.

I was planning to tell her that I was going to try other jobs when my phone started ringing and a number I didn't recognize popped up on the screen. Thinking it was probably one of our friends, I answered before chewing all the food in my mouth.

"Hello?" I said, putting my phone on speaker. My hands were too greasy to be able to hold my phone to my ear.

"Sophia? This is Ben Larsen." I almost choked hearing that voice and that name. The look on Katherine's face was pure satisfaction and I expected her to shout, 'I told you so' any second now. I spit the food in my mouth out into a napkin.

"Yeah," I answered in a whisper. "Yes, this is she."

At the other end of the phone, a car honked in the distance. It seemed that he was in a car, probably driving. So, he wasn't at work. But then, why was he calling me?

"I told you that you'd hear from us when we had news regarding the assistant position you applied for."

"I didn't expect to hear from you."

"Well, you should. This is one of the perks of working together," he said, and I could tell it was amusement I was hearing in his voice.

"Work together?"

"Yes, that's why I called you. The job is yours if you're still available," he offered, and then the hum in his background stopped. He must have gotten home. "And if you're not, I'm pretty sure we can work it out. I can top every offer that might come your way and take care of all your needs," he continued to say, mocking my words from earlier. I didn't know if I should've been amused or ashamed. "Professionally speaking, of course."

"I'm available," I answered with a raspy voice.

Just as I finished my sentence, the screen lightened, showing me that I had received a new email. I froze, looking at the sender's address. Ben Larsen.