It Takes Two, page 11
“Oh please, he can’t do that,” Glen scoffs, catching the glare from the always-grumpy front desk man as he continues his pacing. “This isn’t even his production company.”
“I know,” Ian agrees. “He’ll probably pitch a fit, but you were pretty much a flawless employee the rest of the project. You know all of us will attest to that.”
“Thank you.”
“Yeah, and speaking of which, can you please explain what this mystery emergency was already? What, did you see you left your shower water on or something?”
But Glen is hardly listening anymore. “Gotta go, I’ll talk to you later,” he says before quickly hanging up and running up to the person who is finally walking out of the closing elevator doors in a plain, white button-up dress, her book bag slung over one arm. He’s spent all this morning and most of last night rehearsing what to say to her today.
Jazmine looks startled when he runs up and stops her in her tracks, and he realizes he perhaps bounded over a little too aggressively.
“Hey,” he breathes, his brain momentarily deciding to forgo all the prepared speeches he was going to give her.
“Good morning,” she greets him, smiling politely in that bashful way of hers that makes him smile as well.
“Are you still doing all right?” he asks first, happy to see she looks fully back to normal.
“Yeah.” She nods assuredly. “I slept pretty well last night, thanks to you.”
“Oh, good,” he tells her, grinning in relief. “So…” he quickly digs up the speech he had come up with, “look, I feel really bad about just barging in on you last night and acting like a huge… creep.” Her lips curl up like she’s stifling a laugh. “I hope I didn’t upset you or anything.”
“No.” She shakes her head, her eyes wide, the sharp blue of them glowing again. “No, you were… I didn’t mind.”
“Well, I thought maybe to apologize for acting like a weirdo, I might make it up to you by taking you out sometime?”
At his words, she immediately turns red, but can no longer bury the grin that fights its way across her lips, making him smile even wider.
“I don’t…” She laughs nervously, or maybe with disbelief; he can’t tell. “Um… where did you want to go?”
“I could take you out to dinner somewhere. Anywhere you want.”
“Well…” She blushes again, her hand reaching up to run nervously through her wispy blonde hair, “I don’t really know where a good spot to eat would be.”
“Right,” he remembers. “Good point. So, would you trust me to find a good place?”
“Sure.”
He loves how much he is making her blush.
He asks her what day and time is best and she says Saturday evening, so he offers to meet her at her apartment at five and she agrees. After all of that is sorted, he lets her run off to catch her bus, still looking flustered and blushing. But hopefully in a good way.
***
The strange events of last night had been sharp in Jazzy’s mind when she woke up the next morning. She thought about it as she ate her breakfast and got ready for school. She thought of how she should feel shaken up or horribly mortified at what had happened, or maybe even freaked out over how a perfect stranger somehow was looking close enough into her window to see how upset she was. In fact, she considered that she maybe should have asked Glen what he was doing looking at her from a building across the street in the first place.
She can’t explain why she let a stranger into her home before spilling her guts to him as if he were a dear friend. But she is shocked at how okay she feels. Talking with Glen had been… nice.
Nice seems too small a word for what it had been. Glen had listened to her. He understood when she spoke to him. He somehow knew, without knowing her at all, when to just let her talk and when to offer her comforting words. She doesn’t know how he did it, as if he could read something in her that even she didn’t know she needed. He also didn’t seem to be laughing or rolling his eyes at her in his head, which she feels most people would if they heard her complain about her very privileged life.
She had worried that she would have a breakdown if she saw Glen again, certain that it would trigger the embarrassment she knew she should be feeling. But seeing him this morning had been anything but horrendous. And had culminated in her being asked on a date.
The last and only time she has been asked out anywhere was to the prom. So being asked to dinner by someone is… exciting? Or terrifying? She can’t really decide. She’s too busy being confused by it all.
Liza and her friend had said he was attracted to her, but she didn’t even give the notion a moment’s thought. Even after they had danced together, and the girls insisted even further that he was “definitely into her”, Jazzy just couldn’t even think to believe it. Glen liked people like Liza. People who knew what they wanted, who had their whole lives figured out, who were older and well into this whole adulting thing. Not someone as confused and bumbling as her.
After giving it some thought throughout the day, when she is supposed to be paying attention to her classes, she firmly decides to think of this as a platonic date since she can’t fathom that Glen would be interested in her as anything more than a friend. They really don’t know each other, and she is sure he is only trying to be polite after what had happened last night.
Speaking of friends, she wonders if she should tell Liza that she is spending time with her ex-boyfriend. It does seem like something she should maybe mention, but she has no idea when she would bring it up. Does she send her a quick text saying “hey, I think your ex and I are sort of friends now”, or ask her to lunch to lay it down a little more gently? She has no idea. Jazzy has never in her life had to deal with things like this before. Things bigger than her schoolwork or saving up for college.
After classes today, she goes home and finds a decent enough outfit to wear (though she’s sure Liza and her friends would have her change out of it without more than an immediate glance) and decides to wear her hair down and straighten it. This required her to purchase a straightener from a nearby beauty product store, and she has never used one before in her life, but all week she has caught sight of her stringy, frizzy hair when she sees her reflection and figures she should at least try to get it to lay nice if she is going out to dinner.
The whole debacle strangely makes her think of Glen’s own, rather crazy dark hair that fans out in a funny way as if it has a mind of its own. She’s never really thought to take much consideration of his physical appearance. She knows he’s a few inches taller than her, he’s usually wearing jeans and a different shaded T-shirt every day, and he wears those dark sunglasses a lot, even when he’s inside the building.
It was only that night at the club, when they danced together, did she take in the state of his wild-looking hair, his equally dark-brown eyes that she only got flashes of through the strobing lights, and shape of his strong jaw that was often inches from her face in the dark closeness of the dance floor. The only time, she realizes, that she had been brave enough to look him in the eye for more than just a couple seconds at a time.
The memory just makes her feel bubbly and flustered all over again.
***
Glen spends his first official day at the film studio mostly giving people their scripts and passing along instructions to everyone. He gets to help here and there with lights and props, and even the cameras, which he is hoping people take notice of since he is particularly skilled with them, he thinks.
He also helps with keeping the costumes clean and ready for use, which is certainly a new venture. He doesn’t know what he’s doing there at all, but he acts like he does, mostly by following what the other costumers seem to be doing.
Jessica Reed is strict and direct, and Glen feels bad for some of the more meek-looking workers who take her way too seriously. He tries to lighten the mood when he can by throwing them some words of encouragement and helping them out with whatever they’re working on, if he can. He actually finds himself wishing Ian were here. He’d always be able to make everybody laugh.
It’s nearly the end of the day, and Glen is breezily working on gathering all the props needed for tomorrow’s shoot and sorting them where they need to be, when Jessica approaches him, her loud shoes alerting him to her presence so that he needn’t be startled out of his wits when she is suddenly behind him.
“Can you work all day tomorrow?” she asks him, looking down at her phone and typing something very important looking.
Glen is slightly horrified at the question. So horrified in fact that he nearly drops a plastic vase of fake flowers right onto the ground.
“Tomorrow… tomorrow, like the very next day after today?”
“Yes, tomorrow, Saturday,” Jessica answers sharply. “We’ve got several people on the makeup crew not coming in and we need extra hands.”
Glen may not have worked professionally before, but he is not so inexperienced to not know how bad it looks to say no to the boss on his first professional job. Especially after he just sold himself so hard on how eager he is to put all he has into this. Obviously, the only word out of his mouth should be yes.
But he also remembers the look on Jazmine’s face when he had asked her out to dinner. He’ll look like a flake if he backs out on her, especially at the last minute. Would she think he changed his mind, or was just messing with her? He doesn’t even know when he can reschedule.
“I can work until 4:30,” he answers Jessica, looking her confidently in the eye when she raises her intimidating gaze away from her phone. “But I have a… prior commitment after that, I’m afraid.”
He uselessly hopes she doesn’t assume this is a recreational commitment. But since he is a twenty-five-year-old bachelor and it’s a Saturday night, he’s sure she can guess. Though her expression barely shifts, and she only looks at him for a moment.
“All right,” she answers, glancing back down at her phone before turning on her heel. “Well, I guess that will have to work.”
She hardly looked bothered by his reply on the outside, but Glen knows that people like her keep things like this in mind. And that he just shoved himself further back in line for another possible opportunity. Meanwhile, who knows what Tony Arulo will be yapping about him to whoever will listen.
It’s no big deal though, he assures himself as he gets back to work. He’ll just have to work harder. In the meantime, as he gets to know Jazmine better, he will be able to explain to her what it is that he does so that she will understand if he has to postpone any future plans they may or may not make together. But he refuses to cancel at the last minute on anyone. Especially someone he is really looking forward to spending time with.
Chapter 13
Glen has to run the entire way back to the apartment building right after work on Saturday, knowing the bus will be late and take too long anyway. He doesn’t break his pace once and arrives at the building with only two minutes to spare. He’s not quite sure how he did it, but his lungs are currently paying the price. He wishes he had enough time to run up to his apartment and get himself together, but he figures a quick brushing over himself will suffice.
So, he straightens out his clothes and pushes his hair down as much as he can, though it is never going to sit right anyway, and he checks to make sure the cab driver is on the way after he gets into the elevator and is on the way up to Jazzy’s apartment. He already wore the nicest button-down shirt he has and black jeans to work, since he knew he wouldn’t have time to change.
It is 5:01 when he knocks on her door. Not awful, he thinks. Usually he likes to be right on the dot, but he can let it slide tonight. And the thought is especially gone from his mind once Jazmine answers the door.
Her dark blonde hair hangs straight and long down her shoulders, even shining slightly in the light from the hallway. She wears a light peach-colored top with rippled sleeves that reach just above her elbows and a layered white skirt with a pair of matching sandals on her feet.
It is completely within her style, more conservative and almost old-fashioned looking. But Jazmine looks really nice. And he is sure to tell her so immediately.
She looks down bashfully after he says it. “So do you,” she says before looking shyly back up at him as she closes the door behind her after stepping out into the hall.
The ride down to the lobby starts off pretty silent. Glen already knows how quiet and unsure of herself she seems, so he knows he will have to be the one to take charge in the conversation tonight.
The cab arrives just seconds after they step outside. When Glen glances back at Jazmine to tell her that’s their ride, he notices she has her arms wrapped around herself and she’s shivering. She didn’t bring a jacket with her.
They’re getting into the cab now, but he tells himself to remember to offer her his jacket if they are ever outside again tonight. It’s warm when they get into the cab.
The driver starts off after they’ve gotten in since Glen had already given the directions to where they are going. Now, he supposes, is the moment of truth.
“So are you going to ask me where we’re going?” he asks, looking over at Jazmine. She seems to be looking all about the cab with wonder, as if it’s extremely different from the inside of any other car.
“Oh,” she speaks, looking worried. “I’m sorry, I hadn’t… I should have asked.”
“It’s all right,” he laughs. “That wasn’t an accusation. Have you ever heard of the Rainforest Cafe?”
Glen had not only picked this specific venue because it’s by far one of his favorites, but also because it’s a nice way to gauge whether someone is the kind of person he wants to be with. Someone who’s fun.
As he had predicted, her eyes light up with interest.
“I have!” She laughs, sounding surprised with herself. “I… we’re really going there?”
So that’s one point in his book.
“It’s fun,” he tells her. “By far the best place in town that’s within my price range.”
He almost wants to take that last part back until Jazmine agrees with him.
“It’s hard to find affordable things here,” she concurs. “I thought maybe the more money I started making, the more I could afford, but that didn’t turn out to be much.”
Once silence fills the cab, Glen decides it’s time for the obligatory small talk. He asks her if she has any family in the area and she tells him all her family is either living across the country, or in Washington where her mom lives.
“Does your family live here?”
“No,” he answers briskly, doing his best not to let the irritation that always comes over him when thinking about his parents show. “They live in Colorado. I don’t see them anymore.”
She doesn’t ask anything more about it.
The rest of the ride is quiet, but comfortable. Glen is unable to tear his eyes away from Jazmine, seeing how intent she is on gazing out the window, her head turning in every direction to follow every single building they pass. He wonders if she has never really been this far into the city. She doesn’t seem like the adventurous type.
The moment they arrive at the cafe, Jazmine is entranced. He actually has to jog to keep up with her when she strides right out from the cab and inside, her eyes as wide and bright as the neon sign flashing above them against the darkening sky.
He sees her just ever so slightly come out of the shell she surrounds herself in as she walks through the lobby towards the dining room, staring all around her with a small smile of awe crossing her small shining lips. And as he breathes in the warm, pleasantly humid aroma of the place, he can’t deny the nice hum that goes through his head as well.
Her neck cranes to look at the ceiling of thick leaves and plants that mix with a painting of a midnight-blue sky splattered with wisps of clouds and sparkling little stars. Strings of lights twist through the foliage, lighting up life-size animal statues that decorate each seating area, everything from elephants, tigers, and gorillas, to parrots, lizards, and monkeys.
They sit at a booth in a section of the room that is tucked away in a cave-like enclosure and away from everyone else, where a large fish tank lights up the little circle of space, showering it in a calming blue glow that illuminates the shadowy dark rocks around them.
They order drinks first, and after the waiter has walked away and Glen turns back to Jazmine, he sees she is still looking around and marveling at the place, the sounds of rumbling gorillas and chirping parrots echoing from outside the small cave they sit in.
“How are you liking the city so far?” he asks her, bringing her attention back to the table.
“Oh… well, I haven’t really seen much outside school and the building, but it seems pretty nice.”
“Are you afraid to go out on your own?”
“I guess,” she acknowledges. “I don’t really know where I would go anyway. And I don’t have people to go with, so…”
“You don’t have to have people to go with,” he tells her. “I go places by myself all the time. And you know… you could always ask me to go with you. If you need someone.”
This makes her smile to herself.
“So what are you studying in school?”
“Library Science. I want to be a research assistant.”
Glen is taken aback by the intelligent-sounding title. Maybe even a little intimidated. Just how smart is this girl?
“Wow. So, you wanna help with scientists doing research? Like, in a lab and everything?”
“No.” She giggles. “It’s sort of like a librarian. You know, you help people find all the resources they need to complete a project.”
“Oh… Okay, yeah, a library person. I didn’t know they really did anything else except help people find books.”
“Oh, there’s all kinds of things they do. I’d love to start off doing something like that, but then move up to helping people on bigger projects… I love all of that, hunting down all of the tools to help figure something out. And a lot of the time, you get to work in the archives too. You know, the articles and books and artifacts that have to be preserved. I’d love to work in places like that.”
