Page 16 of The Reboot
That night was the last time he’d seen her. He had a vague recollection of inviting her to the concert at Croke Park the night that everything fell apart. But as far as he could remember, she’d made some excuse and didn’t come. He was glad now that even if she remembered him at his most obnoxious, at least she hadn’t seen him at his absolute lowest, most abjectly pathetic. Then again, she probably had – the whole world had seen that. He cringed at the thought of her looking at that photograph, the image that had gone viral and brought his whole world crashing down.
He hadn’t thought about Ella in a long time. He wondered what she was doing now. Last he’d heard she’d been about to start her PhD. She was probably a professor or something by now. He’d considered calling her sometimes in the intervening years, apologising for how he’d been that night. In group they’d talked about going back to people you’d hurt in the past and apologising for the pain you’d caused them. He’d mostly thought about his mum and nan, of course, and he’d done all his apologising to them at first. Then he’d gone on to Charlie, Alex and Liam. He’d even tried with Zack, but it hadn’t gone down well. And occasionally, Ella had nudged at the edges of his mind and he’d wondered if he should call her too. He didn’t flatter himself that he was a big part of her life and that his apology would mean anything to her. She’d probably long forgotten that night by now, and she’d find it odd that it still preyed on his mind. But he hated that he’d been such a shit to her the last time they’d met when she’d never been anything but kind and caring with him, and it bothered him that she didn’t know how sorry he was.
He’d never had the nerve to call her in the end. It seemed too weird to apologise to her after so long – too little, way too late. But he still regretted it and it niggled at his conscience whenever he thought of her. Maybe he should still do it, he thought, as his eyes drifted closed. On the TV, Oh Boy! strode onto the stage of the Aviva, waving to a crowd of screaming fans as they took their home town by storm.
The next morning he woke up exhausted and bleary-eyed, but with a new sense of purpose. He had a goal now. He’d spent last night steeped in nostalgia, longing for a past that was out of reach. But now it was all happening again, and maybe he could have a second chance. He could get that life back, but this time he’d do it right. He wouldn’t waste one second of it, and he’d enjoy the hell out of every moment.
He knew he had some fences to mend. He had Charlie on side, and he still spoke to Liam occasionally. He’d never openly fallen out with any of them, not even Zack, but there was still a lot of resentment bubbling beneath the surface – and you didn’t have to dig too far down either. It wouldn’t be easy, but he could get it all back – everything he’d loved, everything that had been great about his life then. Including Ella, he thought, suddenly overwhelmed by that old urge to talk to her and only her. He’d definitely call her this time. Maybe…
6
Ella was just finishing transcribinga podcast for a client when her phone rang. The caller ID showed a number she didn’t recognise, but she answered tentatively, hoping it might be an enquiry about her virtual assistant services. She could do with some new business.
‘Hello, Ella?’
‘Yes?’
‘Hi! This is Dylan from Citizens of the Wild. How are you doing?’
‘Oh, hi! I’m fine, thanks.’ She was surprised to hear from him. It was almost a month since her disastrous interview, and she certainly wasn’t expecting them to call to tell her they weren’t hiring her.
‘So, the thing is, we were wondering if you’re still looking for a job. You’ve probably found something by now, but just on the off-chance…’
‘No, I’m still looking,’ she said quickly, intrigued.
‘Okay, great! So are we. We did take someone else on, but they didn’t work out.’
So maybe asking people what they’d do if they got stuck in a blender hadn’t been such a great way of assessing interviewees after all. Who knew?
‘So, if you’d be interested, we’d love for you to join the team.’
‘Oh! You mean…’
‘We’re offering you the job – if you’d consider us, that is,’ he added with a little laugh. ‘So, would it … interest you at all?’ he asked after a pause when she was too stunned to speak.
‘Yes! It does. I’m very interested. Thanks. I’d love to join the team.’ Gah! She was babbling.
‘Great! That’s brilliant. Do you have any questions?’
‘I don’t think so.’ She knew she should have questions, but it eluded her what they were.
‘Okay, well—’
‘Oh! What’s the salary? And the hours? And when would you want me to start?’
Dylan chuckled. ‘If you’d stayed to the end of the interview, we’d have gone into all that.’
‘Right. Sorry.’
‘Look, why don’t you come in for a chat and we’ll go over everything.’
‘When you say a chat…’
‘Don’t worry. There’ll be no more wacky hypotheticals. We were impressed with you.’
‘You were?’
‘Well, up to the point where you told us to shove it and walked into the stationery cupboard.’
