Bianca’s phone—a brand new, very fancy one, I notice—dings loudly, and she looks down.
“Oh, fuck, my Uber is here.”
“I mean, can you wait?”
She twists her lips, pouting. “I have a… uh… I have something later.”
“Work?” I say flatly.
“A date, yeah. Look, I’m really sorry to just cut out like this, Simone. There’s… well, there’s more to it than what I can really get into right now. I promise, we’ll catch up soon. This weekend?”
“Yeah, uh, yeah…” I mumble.
Simone shoulders two of her new bags and grabs the handle on the wheel-y one before she heads past me for the door.
“This weekend, for sure.”
I just nod, still blinking and trying to process everything, when I hear her call my name from behind me, on the stairway landing.
“Simone.”
I turn, and Bianca takes a deep breath before she puts her hand out and passes me this little black business card with metallic red-gold lettering.
“I’m only allowed to refer one friend, and they have to vet you first. And I know you’re… you know… inexperienced, but the money is crazy, crazy good. If you want to try it out and stop working at that fucking coffee shop you hate so much, give the number on that card a call, and mention me.”
“Oh, Bianca, I… I don’t know.”
“Then don’t call it,” she says with a small shrug before she grabs her bags again.
“I really do have to run, but let’s for real catch up this weekend and I’ll try and give you more information.”
I swallow, nodding slowly as my pulse skips a little bit inside.
“Think about it though, okay?”
“I’ll… yeah. Yeah, I’ll think about it.”