Pining - Stephanie Rose Page 0,3
up with the receptionist at my first real job and complicate the first bit of good fortune that fell into my lap. I’d learned to survive on very little, so I’d train myself to ignore the beautiful girl at my new place of business.
“Josh said to tell you that my start date is Monday.”
“Great, that makes it easier. Once you fill everything out, I’ll scan it and send it over to the main office, and they’ll hold your file. Payroll comes from there as well, so I’m just the middle woman.” She chuckled, and it was fucking adorable. “I promise this won’t take long, and unless we change systems or you update your bank account information, you’ll only have to do this once.”
“It’s no problem. Please take your time. I had no idea the interview would go that fast.” I leaned back when I spotted a familiar book in the corner of her desk. The black and white outline of a sinister Joker was difficult to miss.
“Are you reading The Killing Joke?” I asked, now noticing the Wonder Woman symbol sticker on the outside of her laptop.
“I am,” she replied while separating the papers into paper-clipped piles. “Have you read it?
“A few times,” I linked my arms over my chest. “It’s a dark book. Forgive the question, but what made you pick that up?”
She leaned forward and propped her elbow onto the desk, resting her chin on her hand. “Why? Because I’m a girl, I can’t handle the dark stuff?”
I smiled at the quirk in her brow.
“Granted, it’s not my usual kind of comic story, but I’m finding it more insightful than I thought. I’m an English major at NYU, and although I love all the purple prose of the classics, I needed a palate cleanser, so to speak. My stepdad is a huge Batman fan and suggested I pick it up for a change of pace now that I’m old enough to not get too many nightmares from it. I guess we’re all only one bad day away, right?” She crinkled her cute little nose at me.
Sweet Jesus. She was gorgeous, smart, and read comics. Was she meant to be some kind of test?
Anthony, here is the perfect woman, but don’t touch her!
“We are,” I agreed. One bad day away. One bad choice. That’s all it took for life to split into before and after. In the book, one bad day away was said to be the only thing separating the sane from the psychotic.
One bad day had been all it had taken for me to flush my life down the toilet, and today was the first day I was starting to fish it out.
“Wonder Woman fan?” I asked, nodding toward her shirt.
She nodded. “Since I was a kid. I know most girls like Wonder Woman, but I’ve learned all there is to know. I’ve gotten my hands on every comic I could. This is a vintage T-shirt that I won after a vicious online bidding war.” She pulled down her shirt to show me the entire design, stretching it over her full breasts. “Ask me anything.”
Who knew a Wonder Woman T-shirt would win the new starring role in my future fantasies?
“I believe you.” I held my hands up in surrender while I bit back a smile. “I’m sure the other bidders didn’t stand a chance.”
“Nope.” She popped her lips on the p, narrowing her pretty eyes at me. “Do you read any comics?”
“Yes, a ton. Since I was a kid. I’m a Batman guy, too, but I like some of the non-mainstream stuff.”
My weekly comic book trip was the one luxury I allowed myself since I’d gotten out, and at times, my only sanity. Even when I was away, when I wasn’t reading the old comics from the library, I was sketching my heart out.
“Like indie comics?” she gasped, her eyes wide. God, this girl was killing me. “We definitely need to chat. Spawn and so many others are amazing. My stepdad and I used to troll comic book stores in Manhattan to search for good ones.”
“I’d like that.” A smile curved my lips when our eyes met again, and red stained her cheeks once more. Would a friendship be so bad? That wasn’t against the rules … maybe. I had an odd but burning need to get to know her better, but friendship was all I could give her as I didn’t have anything to offer anyone. Maybe that would change someday, but that was a limitation