Broken Things

Chapter 18

SPOV:

"What time is your interview?"

"I'm on my way there now," I said. I looked at the time on my watch and it read 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon. My interview was in a half an hour but knowing New York traffic, I would probably be there right on time.

"I'm really nervous," I confessed. I was currently looking through my portfolio for the hundredth time, just to make sure I had made the right decisions. It had taken me all of the weekend and most of the week to put it together and even now, I was having doubts.

"You're going to be great, Stevie," Harry reassured. "They would be idiots not to take you on."

I smiled at his words and found myself wanting him there with me. It hadn't  been very long but it had already felt like eternity since the last time I saw him.

"I hope so but I should go. I need time to prep myself before I get there."

He laughed, "Alright, love. Let me know how it goes."

"Okay. I wish you were here."

"So do I."

We hung up and I put my phone in my bag. I let out a sigh to calm my nerves. Before I knew it, the cab was slowing down and finally stopped. I gave the man my money and hoped that he didn't notice how much I was shaking. 

When I got through the door, I informed them of my appointment and they told me to have a seat and wait just a moment. My legs bounced up and down until I noticed and I stopped, placing my hands on my knees. My heart thumped in the pit of my chest as I spun my ring around my finger.

"Stevie?" a voice came through. I looked up and a woman with bright blue eyes and red lips was smiling at me. I stood and gathered my things, thinking about my actions as I went so I didn't seem to be too hasty. When I approached her, she stuck out her hand. 

"I'm Gemma. We spoke on the phone," she introduced herself as I shook her hand.

"Oh yes. It's nice to have a face with the voice."

"Well, I do apologize for having switched up on you."

"It's totally cool," I said distantly. My eyes wondered among the hundreds of issue covers that lined the hallway. Quickly, I refocused my attention as I followed her into an office. 

I made it through her questions rather painlessly and I found that she was really easy to talk to. She was laid back and funny. We shared a lot of the same opinions and from what she told me, she was pretty impressed with my portfolio. Thank God. After flipping through it one more time, she looked up with a smile.

"So when can you start?" My eyes widened and I was pretty sure my heart stopped for a good five seconds.

"What?"

She laughed, "When is best for you? You're very impressive for your age and you can only grow from here. You have great potential and we need to pick you up before someone else does."

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. I looked around for someone to jump out and tell me I was on an episode of Punk'd. 

"Oh my God, are you serious?"

"Of course, Stevie," she reassured once more.

"Well I can start anytime. I'll have to call and make a few changes to some of my customers but-".

"No need. We'll just have you start Monday, that was you have time to get things figured out. Is that okay?"

"Of course, that would be fantastic!" It felt as though my heart was going to explode. I couldn't believe it.

"Great! I'll send you an email for a time and we'll go from there."

"Thank you so much, Gemma." I wanted to say more but I stopped myself. I didn't want to make myself sound desperate because I wasn't. I knew that I had deserved this job and I was proud of myself.

"No problem. I'm excited to see what you can bring."

I thanked her again and left her office, trying to hide the ridiculous smile that was currently plastered on my face. When I got into the cab, I called Harry to inform him of the news. I waited for the rings but it immediately went to voice mail. I tried one more time, only to be answered by an automated voice mail once again. I frowned as I hung up. I was slightly disappointed that I wasn't able to tell him right away but I couldn't even imagine how busy he was. It surprised me that he had found time to talk to me today, considering that his show was in a couple days.

I put my phone in my lap and thought about how I was going to celebrate. Maybe Amanda had stopped slacking and caught up enough to hang out for a bit. Once again, my phone was back in my hand and I began to text her while the taxi moved through rush hour traffic.

"Oh my God! I can't believe you got it!" Amanda said after I told her the news. She had been my best friend through college where we had met in an art class. It felt like we hadn't seen each other in ages, but she was still pretty busy with school and of course, I was constantly all over the place.

"You've been dreaming of that job forever," she said as she stirred her straw around her drink.

"Ah! I know! The shock as yet to sink in." 

We laughed. I was glad she was able to make it. I needed someone to tell. I had never heard back from Harry but I tried not to think too much into it. 

We caught up as the night went on. We had picked to go to a low key restaurant that we had gone to while I was still in school. It brought back a lot of memories and we reminisced over dinner.

"Besides your job, what else is new? How's that love life coming along?" she giggled before taking a sip from her straw.

"Uh," I uttered stupidly. I didn't know what to tell her. I couldn't just come right out and tell her about Harry. I didn't think the whole 'I'm dating one member of the biggest bands on the planet' would go over too well. I came out of my thought and she was still waiting for an answer.

"Um, there's someone, I guess," I said to my beer bottle.

"Well who? Do I know him?" I choked on my sip, making it go up my nose. I coughed and sputtered until I was able to regain a bit of dignity.

"I do, don't I?" she laughed.

"More than you think." 

She went off on twenty-one questions and I fed her bullshit answers. Eventually, she gave up and groaned at my stubbornness.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I better."

We continued to talk about various topics until we both decided that it was getting late.

"I have a test tomorrow afternoon," she said as we stood from the table.

"So I assume you're about to have a cram session: party of one?"

"Oh, you know it." We laughed and said our goodbyes, ending the night with a hug and promises to keep in touch.