RULE NUMBER FIVE

   With a suppressed huff, I stare at the last of many messages I had sent since last night. A total of ten messages, all of them desperate, begging; just he way he liked it. And all of them went unanswered, he read all of them, pointedly ignoring them.

 I barely slept last night, and this morning, I almost slept through my alarm. To say I am having a rough morning is a gross understatement. I got to the venue with just a minute to spare, Cait gave me a suspicious glance, with no time to reprimand me, she nods in my direction.

 When they call my name, I steal a glance at the phone again, expecting and hoping for a response from him, but all I see is my last message,

 “At least tell me where you are.”

He read it, to his credit, he read it few minutes after I sent it.

“Mr. Sanchez?” The lady calling the names called out impatiently, no time for one more text, I hurry inside the room. For the first time in a while, I was actually nervous about the interview, the fear of failing and then losing my chance to be close to Christopher was something I couldn’t afford.

 I wipe my clammy hands on my pants before taking a seat in front of the panel of judges, Cait was one of the three. She smiled the brightest, for some reason, it calmed me down.

“Would it be okay with you if we taped this interview? We use it for future reference, nothing too dramatic.” Cait asked with a reassuring smile,

I didn’t know they did that, but I agree all the same, what else could it be used for?

And when the questions start coming, I answer them to the best of my ability, keeping my eyes on her the entire time.

 “Thank you for your time Mr. Sanchez, someone from human resources will contact you soon.” Cait announced brightly when the scheduled five minutes were done.

Relief draped around my shoulders, making them slump physically, I was one step closer to being with him. Maybe I could get transferred to wherever it was he worked. I hurry out of the room, excited to share this news with him and then I bump into someone in my hurry.

 Her bag falls, the contents spilling into the hallway. Apologizing, I help her scoop them back up, but she laughed breezily.

“It’s okay, I understand wanting to tell everyone the good news, I am assuming it is good news.” She says as we stand up together.

The sound of her care free laugh makes me look at her a little bit closer, she had her strawberry blond hair cascading down her back, and a light pink bow sitting on top of it. She looked to be around my age, and had a beautiful, inviting smile on her face. She is pretty.

 “It is, and you, good news too?” I ask, noting the interviewer tag around her neck.

She laughs again,

“Is it that obvious?”

I laugh along because it is easy to laugh along with her,

“No, you are doing a really good job hiding it.”

She laughed again, “Gosh. After I graduated from college, everyone, including my professor’s said it was difficult for a woman to find job in this field. I almost believed them seeing Shepherd’s Construction was literally my last option.” she laughed again.

 I understood that, other people telling you not to try was something I was well acquainted with. Alec, why not just find a job? What would you need a college degree for anyway? I agreed, and found part time jobs wherever I could.

 “Well, let me be the first to say, congratulations on not listening to them, Miss…?”

She covered her mouth with the back of her hand, giggling,

“Harper, Miss Ashley Harper, but you should call me Ash. And thank you.” She rolled her eyes at the Miss, however, it doesn’t seem to stop her as she continued to smile.

“Congratulations Ash. You deserve it.”

“Congratulations Mr…?”

This time I am laughing, “Alec.”

 “Well Mr. Alec no last name, would you care to join me for a celebratory drink? I have nobody else to celebrate with, and being alone on a day like this is very sad.”

 I was alone too. Once I left this place, I had no where but the apartment to go to, and suddenly, I didn’t feel like being alone, so I shrug.

 “Sure, why not.”

Ash ouu’s and ahhh’s at my truck, she says she was yet to get herself a car, so having one was more impressive to her.

 “You aren’t from around here, are you?” she asked as I drove to the address she had inputted into the navigation system.

“What gave it away? My accent?” I say with a roll of eyes, I used to have an accent, but even that I was forced to lose. You have to learn to sound like you belong here. My grandmother used to tell me.

 Ash chuckled,

“No, because everyone here is cut from the same cloth, and you my friend, are cut from a different cloth.”

I didn’t understand what that meant, but I didn’t want to seem slow to her by asking a question, she already thought I was different; if that was what she meant.

“You are right. I came here to follow my dreams.”

She nods like she gets me, maybe she does, but we weren’t talking about the same things, my dream was a person, hers was construction.

 “I understand mine, but how come you have no one to celebrate with?”

She sighed, “My best friend and I moved here together, and when you study something as complicated as Architecture, you tend to not make other friends along the way. And she got married to a man who lives way over in Hattfield.” She sounds like she was still sulking about it. Which was understandable, Hattfield was three states away.

 “Well, good thing we found each other. We would definitely need the company.” she says, snapping back into her excited mode. I didn’t want to ruin her mood by telling her I had someone else to keep me company, especially when she was clapping excitedly as the bar came into view.

 It was no resort, but it was a sizeable bar, a few cars littered around. Neon lights strung around the name; Dive bar, blinked at us, welcoming us.

 “First round is on me.” Ash clapped as she slipped out of the car.

I knew I wasn’t going to drink more than the supposed first round, since I would be driving. The roads here were busier than the ones back home, and I didn’t know it yet.

  Plus, the last time I had a drink, I had it with him. At the thought of him, my chest constricted, I missed him. Ah. I hadn’t told him I got the job. Fishing out my phone, my heart slows, and my feet pauses at the entrance.

 He had finally messaged me.

“You wouldn’t even tell me you got the job?”

My mouth dried, how did he know… Cait.. of course. Does that mean he was keeping tabs on me? Even worse, was he only going to send his own message and never respond to mine? He was expecting me to send a follow up text immediately, wanting me to beg…

 I want to do it, my fingers itched to type, explain to him that I was going to tell him. But he had been ignoring me all day. Leaving me restless.

 Shoving the phone back into my pocket, my heart raced. It was exciting as it was frightening. I find Ash easily, she was coming back to get me, and when she spots me, she smiles.

 I smile back, ready to have a wonderful night out with my new friend, just like how he was having a day so wonderful, he ignored all of my texts.

    Have a taste of your own medicine, Daddy.