Electro [hs]

Thirteen

Thirteen♀

Chloe's number goes into my cell phone. She tells me which combination of shirt and pant to wear for my job interview and when Ben comes to pick me up I feel somewhat lighter than I had in the morning. It's a pleasant feeling- not like being around Harry and his friends which makes me feel as if I'm soaring, which is both exhilarating and terrifying, which makes my palm sweat and my heart pound.

No, I just kind of float softly and gently, with a new ease towards the car.

Even Ben spots something different.

"How was it?" he asks.

I consider lying and saying it was awful, part of me still sore about him forcing me into the meeting to begin with. But that would be petty and I'm in too good a mood for that. "Fine," I manage mildly. "She helped me pick out some clothes."

"Really," says Ben, and he sounds so delighted it actually takes me by surprise. "Oh, Charlie that's just great. Just great."

Blinking, it takes me a minute to figure out why Ben sounds like it's Christmas and he just got exactly what he always wanted. Poor Ben! He's probably imagining that somehow Chloe managed to talk me out of my hoodies and sweats and into cute tops and skirts and things like that.

Back at Ben's trailer I hang the clothes Chloe actually helped me pick out in the closet. It's more than I'd intended to buy. Three shirts, two pairs of jeans, sunglasses and a black pair of sneakers. The dark shirt is my favourite; the one I could quite feasibly see Harry owning; I can't help but steal a second look at it as I close the closet door.

Part of me thinks about taking it off the hanger and casually draping it over one of the bed posts. That way, I'll see it out of the corner of my eye and it'll look as if he's stayed over. Here, in my bed. A prospect too blissfully wonderful for words. But no, that would be super weird and pathetic I have to remind myself.

But I don't stop thinking about him. Not during dinner. Certainly not when I run past his house in the evening, considering knocking on the door and calling for him. Wanna hang out? Wanna have a beer or something? I think about asking. In fact, I actually practise asking as I run. But I don't have a beer. And I chicken out at the last minute; worried no one will be home, or just Colleen will be home, or that he will be home and I'll look desperate.

So instead I simply content myself with thinking. Thinking and wondering what he'll say when he sees me tomorrow at the retirement home ahead of my interview. Whether he'll like my outfit and what it'll be like when we're actually working together.

In the morning, Niall texts and offers to come and pick me up. There's a bus, he says, that runs to the retirement home, but it's tricky to find and the timetable is all over the place. Gotta make a good impression, he says in the text. The guy who does all the hiring is a real hard-ass. The words are followed up by angry emojiis and devil faces.

Truthfully, I wasn't nervous about the interview before reading that text. Harry had said he would get me a job, and had delivered up the interview promptly. To establish my alibi as soon as possible so I could get on with partying and hanging out with the others. The way he'd put it, a job was in the bag. I never considered that I'd have to impress someone. I hadn't thought to bring a resume...or even ID.

You can't do it, says a voice in my sleep. You can't go. Not just because I was too useless to impress anyone at an interview- I'd be awkward, I'd be tongue tied, I'd fall flat. But because someone would know, they'd have to know.

But then I think again about giving up Electro. About giving him up. And it goes on and on like that, me tossing and turning all night. All through breakfast, until I'm changing, Niall's texting me to say he'd be twenty minutes and Ben is wishing me good luck.