“Starving! They had that nasty chicken for lunch today, so all I ate was a banana.”
I hand her my cell and tell her to pick what music we listen to—she’d downloaded a handful of music apps on my phone when she realized it connected to the car and we had choices other than the radio—as I drive to a diner I’ve passed a hundred times but never had money to go into. It’s one of those places that are open almost 24-hours, only closing from like two am to five am to prep for morning rush or something. It gets a bunch of drunk people at night, and a ton of people before work in the morning. Right now, after school, hopefully it won’t be too busy. Not that it matters—I don’t have anywhere to be for a few hours, and Chrissy will go home to do homework.
The small lot has three other cars in it when I get there, so we park by the door and head in. There’s a sign that says we can seat ourselves, and Chrissy chooses to sit at the bar. I don’t like hersitting in chairs like this because if she has a seizure, she’ll fall off and could hurt herself. But I need to not baby her over her disorder. It’s unfair to look at her like someone who’s about to have a seizure—and I know she hates it. I’d hate it too.
“Get whatever you want,” I tell her as we look over the plastic menus.
She gasps, then grabs my arm. “Oh my god, where did you get this?”
“Oh, uh… work,” I say, letting her twist and turn my arm to look at my watch.
“This is so cool.”
“It’s just a watch,” I say with a shrug.
“No, it’s aStonewatch.”
“How do you know what that is?”
“Our English teacher has a pink one, and a lot of the kids ask about it because it’spink. You can’t find luxury watches in different shades, but that’s what this company is known for. The cool colors.”
“Really?” I ask, pulling the watch toward me. “This looks pretty basic.”
“Well, yeah, it’s their older model.”
“How do you knowthat?”
She rolls her eyes. “I just know.”
I’m shocked by her knowledge on watches, specifically Stone watches, and can’t think of a word to say. But I’m saved by the waitress, so it doesn’t matter.
“What can I get for you?”
Chrissy excitedly tells the older waitress what she wants to eat. A cheeseburger with extra pickles and no tomatoes, French fries well done, and a strawberry milkshake with a scoop of ice cream on the top with extra whipped cream and cherries.
“You’re going to get a stomach ache,” I mutter before putting in my order, which is basically the same thing, but I get the burger plain and onion rings instead of fries.
Chrissy shakes her head at me.
As I’m putting the pin code into the keypad for the gates to open, they swing wide. My cheeks heat as I drive through them. I knew I was taking a while, but damn, the pin is like ten digits long!
I park on the side of his car, a sleek, black Audi A8, and walk up the walkway to the front door. I go to input the other pin to this keypad, when the door is pulled open.
“Sorry I was taking so long,” I blurt out.
“You’re fine,” he says, stepping aside. He feels grumpy today. Maybe he had a bad day. “I was hoping you’d get here early. I… messed up yesterday,” he admits, and it sounds like it’s hard to do so.
“Messed up?”
“Could you come with me before you go to your room?”
“Uh, sure.”
I follow him into his office and take a seat across from his desk when he gestures for me to do so. He flips open a folder on his desk and grabs a pen.
“I should have had you sign this yesterday, but I completely forgot. I’m sorry.”
He offers it to me, looking completely distraught. It’s the NDA and the contract for a training period of one week.