by Aiden Bates
My cell phone rang, vibrating in my back pocket, and I answered it as I watched the last of my students through the window as they boarded their yellow buses to go home.
“Hello?” I didn’t recognize the number.
“Grady Caldwell?”
“Yeah.” Probably a sales call. When would I learn not answer these damn things? My finger hovered over the button to hang up.
“This is Amy Redford from Lakeshore U. I’m calling to offer you an interview for the professor of English position you applied for.”
“Hm?” Her words suddenly didn’t make sense. After a whole month of waiting and Eli already being contacted, surely this wasn’t a serious call? “Did Eli put you up to this?”
He’d always been a joker, but this was a bit rich.
She coughed. “Actually, we had a little scheduling mishap and we’d like to see you tomorrow afternoon.”
I checked my watch like I could see my whole calendar instead of just the second hand ticking around. “Tomorrow? And Eli didn’t get you to call?”
“No, sir. And I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
“What? No. No inconvenience. Sure, yeah. Tomorrow. What time?” I ran through my options. Maybe I could get the principal to arrange cover for my class.
“At 4:00 p.m.”
Maybe I wouldn’t need that cover after all. “I… I can make that!” Surprise sounded strongest in my tone.
“Great.” Her answering happiness mirrored what I was feeling. “So, I can mark you down as confirmed, then?”
“Yes. Yes, please. Please do that.” Holy shit. I had an interview for my dream job, and it was tomorrow. And I had no time to prepare, and I almost didn’t care because dream job. I held back my fist pump—I couldn’t do that while the woman was still on my actual phone.
“I’ll email you all the details.”
“Fine. Great. Wonderful. Thank you.” Some English professor I’d make if that was the extent of my grasp of the English language.
She laughed. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Caldwell.”
I hung up the phone with my most triumphant thumb press. Holy shit. I’d only gone and done it.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was jogging down the hall to tell the man I’d counted as my best friend for the majority of my life the best news I’d had in a long time.
“Eli! Hey, Eli!”
“Yeah?” He looked out through the doorway to his classroom.
“Dude… I did it! I got an interview, too! They just called me. I’m interviewing at Lakeshore U tomorrow.” I held my hand up for a high five. “Hey, don’t leave me hanging.”
He whirled away. “That’s great.” But his tone was flat. “Good for you.”
“Sure.” I hesitated. “This is great, right? We both have the opportunity to advance?” But something felt off.
“Sure.” He walked to his desk and began shoving papers into his bag, his movements rough.
“You okay?” My joy at my news was slowly trickling away.
“Sure, Grady. Sure. I just learn that we’re both in competition for the job I want, so I’m just fine.” He still didn’t look at me.
“But.” I stopped. But what? Eli was being kind of a dick. “You’re being kind of a dick.” There went my command of the language again. Apparently now I was just blurting out any old thought that passed through my head.
He sighed. “Yeah. Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to piss on your parade. It’s just a gut punch, you know? Like this whole wedding shit is expensive, and I was depending on this job for a pay raise.” He shrugged. “I need the money, dude.”
I took a step toward him. “I didn’t know. But is the pay increase involved really that much? Will it make a difference to the wedding budget?” I hadn’t thought past the interview for the job I’d only dreamed of. Not as far as my bank account, anyway.
“Shit, Gray. Of course it makes a difference. It all makes a difference.”
I stepped away again, rocking back on my heel at his abrupt tone.
He turned toward me, and his next words were softer. “I really need this job, Gray. Like, really need it.” He paused and glanced at the wall behind me then back to me. “Do you think maybe you could just give the interview a miss? Like just this one time? For me? I wouldn’t usually ask, but we’re friends and I need this more than you do right now, so…” His eyes glazed suddenly, and he looked at the floor.
Too many conflicting emotions swirled through me. Disappointment warred with the urge to help my friend, no matter the personal sacrifice he was asking. Regret I wouldn’t know when I’d get my next chance fought with a strange joy that I could do something for Eli that would mean something to him.
“I’ll see what I can do—let me think it all over.”
He pulled me into a hug. “Thanks, Gray. You’re a true friend.”
I nodded.
The whole drive home, I replayed Eli’s words and wrestled with what he’d asked me to do. He wanted me to throw my chance at a job to increase his chance. Only, what if I didn’t interview and he did, but he didn’t get the job after all? Neither of us would win that way.
Eli’s logic didn’t make sense. Not this time, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to do as he asked.
I unlocked my apartment door and shouldered my way through, my cell already propped against my shoulder as I waited for Rome to pick up.
“Hey.” His deep voice resonated down the line, and I suddenly felt shy.
“Hi.” I stopped, unsure what to say next.
“You call just to say hi?” He chuckled, and some of the stress I’d carried since my conversation with Eli loosened.
I answered his chuckle with a shy one of my own. “I, uh… I got some good news today.”
“Oh, yeah? I’m glad you called to tell me.” He sounded completely relaxed, like he had all the time in the world for me, and I released some more tension.
“Yeah.” I sank into my sofa cushions and grasped my phone with one hand, scrubbing my face with my other. “I got a job interview for that professor position I applied for.”
“You did?” Rome let out a loud whoop. “I never doubted you, dude. I knew you could do it.”
“It was a long wait to find out, though.” I let out an exhale.
“Yeah, it was.” I could almost picture him shaking his head. “Did they say why?”
“Something about a scheduling mishap.”
Rome chuckled again, and I pressed my phone closer to my head, leaning into the sound. “Sounds like Eli missed a night saying his prayers to me.”
I barked out a laugh. “I don’t think he’d be that desperate to keep me from interviewing.” I hesitated, and Rome jumped on my pause.
“You don’t sound so sure…?” He left it hanging like a question.
“Oh, it’s just—” I toed off my shoes as I spoke.
“Just what?”
I lowered my voice like Eli was somewhere nearby and might hear me. “He… Eli asked me not to interview?”
“He what?”
I nearly shot off my couch at Rome’s bellow, and I pulled my phone away from my ear.
“That little shit. He asked you to throw your chance at getting this job? Why the hell did he do that?”
“He wants the job. Says he can’t afford his wedding without it.”
“Oh, of course he does.” Rome’s voice dripped with anger. “Of course he does. And how is he going to guarantee getting it, even with you out of the running? This guy, Grady, this dumb guy Eli, the guy we’ve called a friend, he doesn’t think. What a fuckwad.” He spat the last word.
“Huh.” Again, welcome English professor me. The guy with limited capacity for language.
“Gray.” Rome sighed. “I’m sorry. Forgive me for what I’m about to say, but you would be a class A fool to turn down your chance to interview.”
I nodded. That was pretty much where my thinking was going, too.
But Rome wasn’t finished. “And Eli is a grown man. We’v
e known him forever, and he never changes. Maybe he’s bitten off more than he can chew with trying to nail this interview, and his way of fixing that is to remove you as competition. And if he can’t afford his wedding, that’s really all on him.” He blew out a sigh. “Look. I don’t know if you feel the same, but don’t turn down the interview. Don’t do it unless you really feel in your heart and soul that’s what you have to do for you. Don’t do it for Eli. I know you’d regret it.”
“Yeah.” He was right. His words resonated with a deep need in me not to give up on this. I couldn’t guarantee when the chance would come along again, and I didn’t want to spend my life regretting the things I hadn’t done. If I didn’t try, I’d never know. “Thanks, Rome.”
“For what?” His tone was lighter, and I snuggled with my phone again, letting my head drop to the couch cushion.
“For always being real with me. You never let me get away with doing less than my best.”
“Oh, Gray.” He laughed quietly. “That’s what friends are for.”
My heart ached with a sudden rush of affection.
“And you know,” he said, “if Eli needs setting straight, I’d be more than happy to do the honors there, too.”
I pictured him cracking his knuckles, and I laughed. “I know you would.”
Although Rome had always called Eli his friend, he did that for me. There was really no love lost between the two of them, and they really only tolerated each other because I liked both of them, and neither could talk me out of it. So, the three of us were less like the Three Musketeers and more like three corners of an unbalanced triangle where one side had a permanent break in it.
“Any time, Gray. Any time,” he murmured.
I hung up with Rome, but the smile on my face faded fast as I studied my blank phone screen. That had been an easy phone call—so easy. But now I needed to call Eli and let him know I would still be attending my interview.
I pressed the buttons to dial his number and blew out a sigh as I waited for it to connect.
“Grady!” He sounded happy and suppressed a second sigh.
“Hey,” I said. “I just wanted to let you know I’d thought about the interview thing—”
“Really? That’s great!”
His interruption startled me—I’d had a whole speech planned in my head—and I stopped speaking as he continued.
“You’re such a great friend. I knew you wouldn’t let something as little as a job interview come between us.”
I took a breath, guilt threatening to overshadow the high talking to Rome had left me on. I hated letting Eli down. His disappointment always infected both of us.
“Well, that’s the thing.” My tone was hesitant.
“Oh?” And his tone was suddenly sharp.
“Yeah, I’ve decided I should give it a try, right? Like I won’t know if I don’t give it a shot. So I thought maybe—”
“Well, that’s just great, Grady. After what I told you and it’s still about you?” Eli blew out a frustrated breath, and I could picture the face he usually made when things weren’t going his way.
He was probably making it now.
“You’ve surprised me,” he added, and I swallowed against a sudden rush of irritation.
I’d spend a good portion of our friendship doing things Eli’s way, even to my own detriment sometimes, because I assumed some degree of mutual feelings. But maybe I’d been wrong about that. Shit. Maybe I’d been wrong about a lot of things.
“I just couldn’t give up my dream, Eli.” I still managed to sound apologetic, but at least I wasn’t actually backing down.
“Yeah.” The disappointment in his voice weighed heavily on me, and I thought back to Rome’s excited tone and his encouragement. “Well, good luck, I guess.”
I raised an eyebrow. Once more with feeling, Eli. “Thanks, you too.” Then I said goodbye and hung up.
Although Eli liked me to do things his way, and has never been scared to get pretty pushy, that was just his big personality—one of the things I loved about him. He was always overconfident, overenthusiastic and like someone’s naughty puppy. He did a lot of stuff and he got away with a lot of shit, too, because he made people smile while he was doing it.
But this was the first time I’d seen him like this—actively sulking because I wasn’t following his game the way he wanted it played. Hopefully this job wouldn’t come between us.
I sighed and closed my eyes as I threw my phone to bounce harmlessly on the cushion to my right. I had some prep to do if I wanted to make a good impression tomorrow.
As I drove to the university, I dialed Rome’s number on my hands-free. I needed to hear some encouraging words after Eli had avoided me most of the day and been tight-lipped when he couldn’t manage that. He’d already had his interview, but he’d left work early and not returned.
“How’s it going, Gray?” Rome’s voice reached me like a soothing balm for the anxiety buzzing around my head.
“Oh, you know.” I chuckled. “Pretty nervous.”
“Nervous?” He sounded confused. “But why?”
I chuckled again. “All the usual reasons. Will they like me, am I a good fit, am I qualified enough, do I have what it takes… It’s a long list. It’s been a long time since I interviewed.”
“Grady.”
The way he said my name almost stopped my heart. Serious and sweet all at once.
“One, they wouldn’t have called you for an interview if they didn’t think you have what it takes, and two, what’s with this lack of confidence? You’re the exact kind of person they want to teach at that level.”
I laughed.
“No, listen to me.” His voice suddenly became urgent. “You relate really well to the age group and you seem to understand them and their limitations versus when to challenge someone—”
“Ah, the perils of too many brothers,” I murmured.
“Exactly!” Rome said. “But you’re at least used to interacting with their demographic, and you’re still cool enough to get away with relating to them on their level. You’re passionate about the subject and you can control a room. If you can handle third graders, I’m pretty sure you can handle a group of adults. You treat people equally—and you give second chances. You’re funny, and people always respond to humor, and if you’re wrong, you say so. You don’t cling to a belief system if something shifts, so your students will always know you’re a reasonable guy. It goes so much further than beyond how good a teacher you’d be—and I know you’d be great. It’s the human you are that will make all the difference to those guys in that classroom.”
I smiled as I listened. “Okay, and who are you talking about now?”
“Gah! Grady. Do I need to drive over there and give you an in-person pep talk before you see how truly worthy you are?” His exasperation made me laugh again, and when my cheeks warmed at all of his words, I was glad he couldn’t see me. I’d never see myself as Rome saw me.
I pushed the car into park and looked up at the building in front of me. “I’m here.” My voice came out softer than I’d intended.
“You go and get ‘em, Gray. I know you can do this. Your mom practically grew you—grew all of you—to be overachievers. You so have this.”
The pride in his voice propelled me up the steps as I slipped my cell phone away, and it echoed in my ears as I introduced myself and was shown to a waiting room. It lingered in my head as I finally sat in front of the search committee and, man, there seemed to be a lot of them. Too many that I could reliably guarantee a fart joke to carry me through.
Luckily, I’d done my research, I anticipated the right questions, and I hoped I had the right answers. Everyone I’d met over the course of my interview had a warm smile and a firm handshake for me at the end. I never knew how much I needed to impress the search committee, so I’d given them my vision for what I could do with the role, and how I could benefit the department.
As I left, I almost bounced down the steps, thoughts of
my interview colliding with thoughts of Rome. I’d relied so much on the good feeling he gave me to carry me through. No one but my family had ever been so supportive, and his words meant a lot.
He’d make someone a great boyfriend, and my chest tightened.
Feeling this good was probably what it would be like to be his boyfriend for real.
8
Rome
“So, where do you want to go?” I glanced at Gray as he sat in the passenger seat of my car.
There was a fresh tension in his face, and it could only be because of the interview.
“You okay? You look like you think if you smile, your face might crack.”
He turned to me, and a slight furrow formed above his nose. “What?”
“You look worried.” I wanted to reach out and take his hand, but again, no one to impress or pretend for inside my car with just the two of us. Shit, to hell with it. I touched his fingers, and he twitched like I’d startled him. I didn’t dare hope he felt the same spark I did. “Don’t borrow trouble, Gray. When do you find out the results?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. They said they’d be in touch in due course. But fuck knows what that actually means.”
I smirked. Not a lot, in my experience. I did a lot in due course at work. Depending on my priorities, it was a long time or no time at all. If I added in the demands of a faculty and the red tape attached to universities, it sounded like a never-ending timeframe.
“Let’s forget it for tonight and grab something to eat. Any preferences?” I shifted the car into drive.
“Hot Toddy’s?”
I laughed. “I was kind of thinking food first, Gray. Aren’t you hungry?” I was, but as I glanced at Grady again and my cock twitched, I realized my hunger was for more than food. That was a dangerous thought. “Diner?” I asked. Maybe I needed melted cheese and deli meat sandwiches and hash browns to take my mind off the guy in the seat next to me.
“Yeah. Wherever.” He shrugged.
I ran through my options. Not the ridiculous silver spoon place Eli favored, and maybe not somewhere like Baked In, either. That seemed too casual. “Burger or sit-down meal?”
