Page 285 of His Virgin Romance Series

“It’s painfully limited,” she said. “Do you have any marketing experience at all?”

“Well, no,” I admitted. “But I’m a fast learner… and I’m creative and—”

“That’s right,” she said, looking down at the paper again. “It says here you have an art degree.”

“I do.”

“Forgive me, but that sounds like a rather odd choice.”

I cocked my head to the side; already irritated by her judgmental tone and the condescending way she had said arts degree. “Why is it an odd choice?”

“An art degree… well, it’s pretty basic, isn’t it?”

“Excuse me?”

“Every other person these days has an art degree,” she continued. “It doesn’t prove you’re qualified to do this job.”

I gritted my teeth, but I managed to keep my tone polite. “I happen to think that creativity and free thought is very useful… that’s what an art degree gives you.”

“Free thought?”

“Yes.”

She smiled at me, and I saw her prejudice written all over her face. Apparently, my degree wasn’t good enough for her, and that meant I wasn’t either. I stood up abruptly, deciding that I didn’t need this job that badly. It was nothing more than pride, but my pride was all I had at the moment.

“Thank you for your time,” I said.

She looked at me in stunned silence. It was only as I was walking towards the door that she spoke. “The interview is not over.”

“I disagree,” I said, with a polite smile. Then I turned and walked out of her office.

I stepped out of the building only to find myself craving a joint. What I wouldn’t give right now for a little pot. I had told the judge I didn’t use… but what else was I expected to say to a judge? I didn’t smoke up often though; I never had. It was just a stress reliever that I turned to every now and then. Of course, my preference was a good night out or a party in with good booze and music. Since I didn’t have that option right now, a joint was what I was after.

I ended up calling Zack as I made my way to the station. Zack and I had met in college during our first year. We had attended the same party, and we had hit it off. We had actually ended up living together on campus for our last two years and we’d had a blast partying it up in style. I missed those days… there was a certain wild freedom that I had experienced since joining the real world.

“Hi, man,” I said.

“Dev!” Zack said. “How’s it going? We’ve barely hung out lately.”

“That’s because I have community service to deal with, remember?”

“Fuck yeah,” Zack said. “That must be a bitch.”

“You have no idea,” I sighed. “I was actually calling to ask if you’re up for joining me for a burger tonight?”

“Sounds great,” Zack said enthusiastically. “I’m in.”

“Excellent,” I replied. “Let’s meet at Conrad’s Burger joint at like eight?”

“Perfect, see you then,” Zack replied before he hung up.

I headed to the station and found Seth in the maintenance bay. I signed in with him and then he handed me a list of things he wanted me to get done. I was walking away, about to start on the thankless tasks, when he called out to me.

“Yeah?” I said, turning around.

“How are things going with you?” Seth asked. “Have the other guys been giving you a hard time?”

I don’t know what he expected me to say… it wasn’t like I was going to tattle on them like some scared teenager. “They leave me alone,” I said shortly.

“They’re not all bad, you know,” Seth said, trying to defend them. “They just—”

“Don’t like potheads.”

“If that were true then no one would associate with me,” Seth pointed out. “They’re just having a little fun on your behalf. It’s not like they really hate you.”

I shrugged. “It would make no difference to me if they did. I’m not here to make friends.”

I headed towards the parked fire trucks and started cleaning out their insides. The whole time I kept thinking about Gabby and all the possible reasons she might not have come back here to take me up on the suggestion I had made. I was so sure she’s come back soon, and now I was left second-guessing myself.

The cupcakes she had brought went like hot cakes when I took them to the lounge room where all the firefighters relaxed and eat and just basically shot the breeze. A few of the other men seemed to know Gabby, which told me she had dropped in here at least a few times before. I had to hope that maybe she would drop by again and this time I could do a better job of impressing her.

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