Karyn.”
Warm Eyes chuckled.
“I know. You are pretty much famous around here.”
“Uh, okaaayyy. Not really sure how I’m supposed to take that.” I realized that I was still holding his hand and gently pulled mine from his grasp.
“There’s not necessarily a way to take it. You got the most coveted internship in the program. Every year, one lucky intern is chosen to work with the Marv Jenkins. This is usually the intern who is offered an actual reporting job when they graduate, not a copy editing job. There have been physical fights in the past over that internship, threats, blackmail, you name it. Somehow, you managed to avoid all of that by not even being interviewed. You are an enigma.”
Now I was confused and more than just a teensy bit pissed off.
“How the hell do people know that I haven’t gone through an internship process? Was it on some sort of memo to the entire building?” My eyes started darting around the room, taking in the way that other people’s eyes shifted slightly but quickly when mine landed on theirs. I hadn’t realized that people were looking at me.
Holy uncomfortable.
I tightened my hand on my purse and took a small step backward towards the door. Warm Eyes reached out and gently placed his hand on my arm.
“It was more a simple deduction of observation. Something you wouldn’t have known if you didn’t go through the normal steps. And there are so many steps. Basically, to make this succinct, you weren’t at any of the interview stages. All of the interns that were brought on had seen each other before. All but you.”
Huh. Okay, so that made sense and seemed a lot less creepy.
“So how do I keep them all from looking at me like I’m an interesting specimen in a laboratory, or stop them from thinking that I spread my legs to the top?”
His eyes widened at that last part.
“Not everyone thinks that. Actually, anyone who knows Jenkins knows that was not the case. That man has been married forever and is crazy devoted to his wife and kids. It’s more they are wondering if you are a relative or a prodigy. And they only way to stop rumor, is to mingle and let them get to know you.”
With that, he looped his arm through mine and started to walk forward. He looked back over his shoulder at me when he realized I hadn’t started moving with him.
A raised eyebrow asked his question for him.
“Look, dude. While I appreciate the intel, the fact of the matter is I don’t even know who you are, and Mommy told me to never go somewhere with a stranger.” I added an intentionally childish lilt to my voice with that last bit, to lighten up my words a bit.
He grinned and disengaged his hand from my arm, and executed a Prince Charming bow that would have had Disney suing for copyright infringement, had he been alive.
“Brian O’Conner, at your service, ma’am.”
I felt a smile growing on my face, as he looped his arm back through mine. He leaned in and put his lips close to my ear. I did my best to hide the warm shudder that involuntarily ran through my body as he whispered to me.
“By the way, I was Jenkins’ intern last year.”
“That makes you like my brother from another mother or something. Let’s go conquer the world together.” I squeezed his arm with mine, grateful to have someone who has stood where I stood, if not by the same means.
As we passed by people, I could hear conversations screech to a halt and their stares become more blatantly obvious. Ugh. Truthfully, I was a shy person. I know it didn’t seem like that to most people because I could turn it on and off and act like the life of the party if I had to. However, I chose newspaper journalism, not the Channel 8 television news. I didn’t really like walking into a room full of people who I didn’t know. I was more a ‘small intimate gathering with a few close friends’ type of person. I was slightly more introvert than extrovert, and completely fine with that. This was my personal hell,
Warm Eyes chuckled.
“I know. You are pretty much famous around here.”
“Uh, okaaayyy. Not really sure how I’m supposed to take that.” I realized that I was still holding his hand and gently pulled mine from his grasp.
“There’s not necessarily a way to take it. You got the most coveted internship in the program. Every year, one lucky intern is chosen to work with the Marv Jenkins. This is usually the intern who is offered an actual reporting job when they graduate, not a copy editing job. There have been physical fights in the past over that internship, threats, blackmail, you name it. Somehow, you managed to avoid all of that by not even being interviewed. You are an enigma.”
Now I was confused and more than just a teensy bit pissed off.
“How the hell do people know that I haven’t gone through an internship process? Was it on some sort of memo to the entire building?” My eyes started darting around the room, taking in the way that other people’s eyes shifted slightly but quickly when mine landed on theirs. I hadn’t realized that people were looking at me.
Holy uncomfortable.
I tightened my hand on my purse and took a small step backward towards the door. Warm Eyes reached out and gently placed his hand on my arm.
“It was more a simple deduction of observation. Something you wouldn’t have known if you didn’t go through the normal steps. And there are so many steps. Basically, to make this succinct, you weren’t at any of the interview stages. All of the interns that were brought on had seen each other before. All but you.”
Huh. Okay, so that made sense and seemed a lot less creepy.
“So how do I keep them all from looking at me like I’m an interesting specimen in a laboratory, or stop them from thinking that I spread my legs to the top?”
His eyes widened at that last part.
“Not everyone thinks that. Actually, anyone who knows Jenkins knows that was not the case. That man has been married forever and is crazy devoted to his wife and kids. It’s more they are wondering if you are a relative or a prodigy. And they only way to stop rumor, is to mingle and let them get to know you.”
With that, he looped his arm through mine and started to walk forward. He looked back over his shoulder at me when he realized I hadn’t started moving with him.
A raised eyebrow asked his question for him.
“Look, dude. While I appreciate the intel, the fact of the matter is I don’t even know who you are, and Mommy told me to never go somewhere with a stranger.” I added an intentionally childish lilt to my voice with that last bit, to lighten up my words a bit.
He grinned and disengaged his hand from my arm, and executed a Prince Charming bow that would have had Disney suing for copyright infringement, had he been alive.
“Brian O’Conner, at your service, ma’am.”
I felt a smile growing on my face, as he looped his arm back through mine. He leaned in and put his lips close to my ear. I did my best to hide the warm shudder that involuntarily ran through my body as he whispered to me.
“By the way, I was Jenkins’ intern last year.”
“That makes you like my brother from another mother or something. Let’s go conquer the world together.” I squeezed his arm with mine, grateful to have someone who has stood where I stood, if not by the same means.
As we passed by people, I could hear conversations screech to a halt and their stares become more blatantly obvious. Ugh. Truthfully, I was a shy person. I know it didn’t seem like that to most people because I could turn it on and off and act like the life of the party if I had to. However, I chose newspaper journalism, not the Channel 8 television news. I didn’t really like walking into a room full of people who I didn’t know. I was more a ‘small intimate gathering with a few close friends’ type of person. I was slightly more introvert than extrovert, and completely fine with that. This was my personal hell,
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