Page 5 of Nothing Like the Movies

It was impossible for me not to small talk when I was nervous.

“Great, actually,” she said, giving me a warm smile. “I had a meeting this morning with the AD, and we have a lot of exciting ideas for this project.”

“That’s fantastic,” I said, so excited to be part of this. “Any you can share?”

“Well, I’ll share everything with you because we’re a team, but I want to wait until they give me the stamp of approval. I don’t want to get your hopes up for what I think is a brilliant plan if it doesn’t happen.”

“That’s fair.”

“So here’s your first internship assignment,” she said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. “First of all, email me your class schedule—and your work schedule—so I know when you’re available for networking, but include which courses you’re taking and who your instructors are.”

“Okay,” I said coolly, like I wasn’t freaking out that she was talking about networking.

“Your coursework is priority because you need that degree, but I really think we need to make the most out of this internship from a career standpoint, don’t you?”

I couldn’t be cool when she said things like that. I mean, Lilith Grossman, saying that tome? Yeah, I couldn’t hold back the thousand-watt nerd-grin as I nodded. Because Lilith had all the connections I could ever dream about.

My voice was a little too excited when I nodded and agreed. “Absolutely I do.”

“If you’re willing to devote the time, I say we lean hard into creating some foundational business relationships.”

“I’m definitely willing,” I said, regretting the tiny squeal in my voice.

“Perfect. And the second part of your assignment,” she said, glancing at her watch before abruptly standing and pushing her chair behind her with the backs of her knees, “is to watch a season ofHBO Hard Knocks—any season, really.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

She grabbed a set of keys from the corner of the desk and put her phone in her jacket pocket. “I have to head out, but send me the info and watch a season of the show. I’ll be in touch in the next couple days, hopefully with all the initial project information.”

“Sounds great.”

I very nearly skipped to Epicuria at Ackerman for food after that, buzzing in anticipation of everything that was about to happen in my life. It felt like the sun was shining brighter that day, the birds were chirping louder, and I wanted to do cartwheels across campus after I ordered food and took it back to the production office.

It felt like I was on the precipice of everything finally happening, and it was impossible not to hum along to the “You Could Start a Cult” (my favorite song at the moment) that was playing in my headphones.

When I got to my cubicle, upstairs and on the other side of the building from Lilith’s office, I wolfed down a salad at my deskand edited some of the footage I’d taken of the football players on move-in day for a Reel I was making. I was still doing the grunt-work job for the athletic department, so that tiny cube kind of felt like home.

“Hey,” Clark said, dropping his stuff onto his desk. “I thought you were going to do the baseball team lift this morning.”

“I traded with Cody because I had an early class,” I said, not looking up from my computer. “So now I’m doing their practice this afternoon.”

“A lot of new freshmen,” he said, and I heard the tone of his laptop turning on. “Am I old if I say they all look like little babies?”

“They do, though,” I agreed, thinking back to my freshman year. It was all a blur now, thank God, a fuzzy haze of stress and sad songs on repeat. “It’s bizarre that we were that wide-eyed and adorable just two short years ago.”

“You can spot ’em a mile away, too,” he agreed, his keyboard clicking. “It’s even in the way they walk to class. Something about their steps screamsthis is my first time. It’s like they clench their nervous asses and it gives them a weird gait.”

“Do you know if there’s any more ranch in the fridge?” I asked, taking a drink of water to wash down my very dry lettuce.

“It’s all expired.”

“Dammit.”

“We need to go grocery shopping for the work fridge, because I also noticed there’s no ketchup or horseradish.”

I minimized my file to find another image. “Who needs horseradish at work?”

“Who doesn’t?” Clark sounded dead serious. “Horseradish is good on everything.”

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