Page 8 of Dirty News
Well, I wasn’t going to roll over and hand her the job. No way inhell!
So, I put my laser focus on that pad of paper, picked up my pen, and started writing. And only fifteen minutes later, I had my perfectly-worded introduction that I’d use to make the city of New York fall in love with me all over again when I greeted them on the first morning my showaired.
Yes, I was already calling it my show. Ballsy, Iknow.
Welcome to WOLF’s morning news with your anchorman, Duke Cofield.I could already hear the announcer, a young female voice, saying those verywords.
Pen down, paper in hand, I got up, giving Lila a little smirk as she continued to write away. I saw many lines drawn through sentences on her paper, telling me she wasn’t finding it quite as easy as I had. “You’re done?” Her tone was quiet, worried, yet still sexy asshit.
“Yeah, I’m done.” Walking away from the table, I went to get the crew rolling. “You guysready?”
“Sure,” a gawky young guy said as he and the other two young men got up from the table they’d been sitting at, playing a game of cards as theywaited.
“So, throw me your names. I don’t want to be calling you guys, ‘hey you’ all the time.” I pointed to myself. “I’m Duke Cofield. I’ll be doing the evening news as the sportscaster. And hopefully, I’ll also be the morning news anchor. So that means we’ll be working together alot.”
Scrawny camera guy walked to his camera. “Ty.”
The chubby sound guy picked up the long stick with the furry mic on it. “Joe.”
“And I am the assistant producer, Steve. Nice to be working with you, Duke.” He pointed at the small desk just behind me. “Do you want to sit at that desk to filmthis?”
“Sure.” I took a seat in the office chair, gave my paper one more read through, then nodded. “Okay, we can rollnow.”
“Three, two,” Steve said, then held up one finger before turning it into afist.
I knew it was time to start. “Hello, New York.” Holding up my hand, I had to stopthem.
“Okay, cut,” Steve said. “Whathappened?”
“I wanted to say ‘good morning,’ not ‘hello.’ So, let’s start over.” Shoving my hand through my hair, I tried to focus a hell of a lot better than I apparently had been. I didn’t want a one-minute recording to take allday.
“Okay, three, two,” Steve said again before holding up one finger then thefist.
“Good morning, New York. This is Duke Cofield, your new anchor at your new station, WOLF …” My eyes moved off to one side as Lila started walking ourway.
“Cut,” Steve said, ending yet another attempt at making the shortvideo.
Lila’s eyes went really big as she realized she’d been the cause of the short take this time. “Oh, I’m sorry, guys.” She stopped and took a seat right away. Which should’ve been okay. But I could see her out of my peripheral vision. Her shiny hair, her bright eyes staring atme.
I knew she had to be hoping that I’d screw up this first, simple task. She had to be trying to intimidate me, and I knew it. But would I be petty enough to do anything aboutthat?
Hell,no!
“Three, two,” Steve beganagain.
“Hi, this is … Fuck!” My mind had just about gone blank. I looked right at Lila. “Do you think you could leave,Lila?”
“Well, I could, Duke. But you should have at least a small audience, don’t you think?” She flashed this quirky little smile that made her look too cute, but I knew she was baiting me, so I didn’t think she looked that damn cute at all. “After all, you will be in front of millions of viewers every morning if you get this job. Nerves of steel are required. At least I think theyare.”
“Fine. Stay.” I read the words I’d written once more before giving Steve anod.
There he went again. “Three,two.”
And I looked right into the camera with a determination that would surely see me through. “Good morning, New York. I’m Duke Cofield, your new anchor for your new network, WOLF. You might remember me as the linebacker for the New York Jets, your hometown football team …” The smell of lilacs filled my nostrils and I cut my eyes for only a second to find Lila running her fingers through her long blonde ponytail, releasing the pleasant scent on purpose. “Okay, that’s enough. Out you go,Lila.”
“What?” She looked genuinely confused. “Butwhy?”
“You know what you’re doing. And I’m not about to keep letting you mess me up with this little ploy.” I pointed at the door. “You can wait out there while I do this. No more playing around, trying to make me messup.”
