Page 16 of Ten Rules for Faking It
[6]
Everly hitched her canvas bag farther onto her shoulder and walked toward the back entrance of the station. It felt like she’d just left, and now she was back. The day after her birthday had been a gong show—according to the morning show deejay, she’d broken the internet—or at least the station website.
They’d had tech guys scrambling to fix things because there were so many visitors to the site, their social media had blown up, and Everly couldn’t log on to the email. It was… overwhelming. It made it that much harder to avoid thinking about what she’d shared over the airwaves. It did keep her distracted from the chatter and teasing bouncing around the break room and the media booths.
“Hey,” Stacey called out. She was hurrying over from where she’d parked her car. Dressed in a gorgeous blue sundress, she personified the termCalifornia girl.
“Hey. How was your date last night?”
Stacey grinned. “Yummy.”
Everly laughed at the way her friend waggled her eyebrows. “You let him stay the night?”
Stacey narrowed her eyes. “You have your rules, I have mine. No sleepovers. I don’t need to be tied down. Well, actually—”
Everly laughed and lifted her hand. “Don’t. I don’t want to know. How come we’re being called in early?”
Stacey unlocked the door and shrugged. “Don’t know. Chris said he wanted to talk about our segment.”
Everly’s skin itched. What about it? Maybe he was pissed they’d turned the other morning into aMaury Povichepisode. He’d seemed okay when he’d brought her dessert, which, in and of itself, was strange to wrap her head around. Why had he?Pity brings out kindness in people.She didn’t want it to mean anything more than what it clearly was: Her boss brought her something to ease the sting of a fantastically bad day. Maybe he wanted to be friends.Maybe he was softening you up to fire you.Though, firing really called for more of a good shiraz than sweets, but maybe he didn’t know that.
“Your negative thoughts are makingmybrain tired,” Stacey grumbled, bumping her shoulder against Everly’s.
“You’re tired because you didn’t sleep all night. You’re not so young anymore. You need more sleep.”
With another cheeky grin, Stacey bumped her hip this time. “You need someone who makes you want to lose sleep.”
Rule eight:Date men who make you feel things. She didn’tneeda guy, or particularly want one right now. Next time, though?It won’t be the same old, same old, make me laugh and come out of my shell so I can avoid digging deeper and figuring out what I want.
What shewantedwas to know why Chris hadn’t shown up for work yesterday and why, though she didn’t mind and often did, they were coming in early.
“Jesus, I canfeelthe worry vibrating off your skin. Chill, Ev. We’re fine.”
“He probably just wants to talk damage control,” Everly said.
“Damage control? You blew up the internet. He probably wants to thank you for putting the station on the map.”
Rolling her eyes, Everly opened the door and held it for Stacey. “I wonder what would have happened if you’d gotten to sing on-air. Today could look very different for both of us.”
“I would have been discovered as the next sexy pop sensation,and you’d have to do the show alone,” Stacey answered, taking the stairs ahead of her.
“I’m sure. They’d do a special on you about how you were wasting your amazing ass… ets and talents in a deejay booth.”
Stacey glanced back over her shoulder, completely into the idea. “Some people would have suspected because my speaking voice is already so sexy.”
“Lucky thing I spoke in time to stop that from happening,” Everly said.
“Destined to be together. Hey, you can pitch the podcast idea today.” Stacey held the door at the top of the stairs open.
Everly bit back her groan. “One thing at a time. How about that?”
“Thatwould be boring.”
The small lobby of the station was quiet at this time of the day. Their receptionist wouldn’t be in until later in the day. Awards from long ago filled one portion of the wall beside the window that looked out on the parking lot. To the right was a large sunshine logo with the station numbers inside. They could definitely use some brand updating, but she hadn’t mentioned that idea to Chris because she was usually too busy trying not to get tongue-tied around him.You could mention it to the whole group. It could be the new thing you try.
Everly spent many of her off hours at the station, working on programming, contacting guests for interviews, or updating social media. That way, when she and Stacey had their weekly meetings, they could focus on the content of the show.
Maybe Chris just wanted to switch some things up, build on the momentum of a wider audience from her…Hmm, let’s call itthe Unfortunate Incident. TUIin close circles.
