Page 21 of Dirty News
But no matter how I felt about her, I still had no idea what she thought of me. Sure, she had said she wanted us to be friends, so there wasthat.
Could I just be friends with her,though?
Did I even have achoice?
And what would happen if we did get together? Would we both lose ourjobs?
That wouldn’t be good atall.
I knew how badly she wanted this position, and my desire for her might put her at risk of losing it. Not only did she want it, but I thought she’d be great at,too.
No, I couldn’t put her in that position. I’d lay off her. Put her in some other place in my head. Maybe a sisterlyplace.
Who was I kidding; I’d just jerked off to thegirl!
There weren’t going to be any sisterly feelings coming from me aboutLila.
I rolled over to my other side and noticed that nothing hurt on me. The after-effects of my shower thoughts of Lila, even though they had technically been manufactured, had me feeling great for the first time in forever. My cell rang, taking me out of my thoughts. It was myfather.
“Hey,Dad.”
“You haven’t called me back. Your mom and I are on pins and needles over here. Did you get thejob?”
“I gotajob. It’s okay.” I rubbed myforehead.
“You gotajob?” He obviously didn’tunderstand.
“Right now I’ve got a slot as a sportscaster on the evening news, but I’m up for the morning anchor position too.” The moonlight poured through a gap in my curtain. I got up to close it. Sometimes even bright moonlight would give me a headache, but I opened the thick black curtaininstead.
“Up for it?” Dad asked, sounding confused. “How many others are up for it,son?”
“Only one more person. A young woman—a recent grad from UCLA.” The glowing light filled my eyes. It didn’t hurt my head at all. I imagined Lila looking at that same moon as she looked out the window of her hotelroom.
“UCLA? You’ve got this in the bag, son. You’re practically a New Yorker. Compared to her you are, anyway.” He spoke with confidence, as if he didn’t have any doubts atall.
“She’s tough, Dad. A real spitfire. And the camera loves her. It won’t be as easy as it seems.” The stars took my attention. Taking a late-night rowboat ride with Lila, the moon and stars over our heads, would be just the thing. Then back to my place to make love all night before falling asleep in each other’sarms.
Fuck, I’m turning into asap!
“New York has tons of pretty faces, Duke. Don’t let her win just because she’spretty.”
“I’m not. I’m giving it my all just like I always have. I’m just saying that she’s not going to be easy to beat.” I pulled the curtain shut. I needed to get some sleep and stop thinking aboutLila.
If I didn’t get a hold of myself, I’d end up doing something stupid. Like quitting the job just so I could have a shot withher.
ChapterEleven
Lila
The jet traveled smoothly through the sky, taking the crew and me back to New York. A successful trip to New Mexico and one hell of a great interview with Ted Turner had me feeling great about my chances of securing the morning show. I was sure Artimus Wolfe would be pleased with what I’d turnin.
“I’ll do the edits on the video then turn the interview in to Artimus this afternoon, Lila,” Ashton toldme.
“Great, thank you, Ashton.” I lay my head back on the headrest to get a little nap. We’d had to be up at three in the morning to take the company jet out to New Mexico. The interview had been at nine, and it had taken a couple of hours. My parents had met me at the airport, giving me the majority of my clothes to take back to NewYork.
Dad had given me a credit card and told me to use it to pay for a place to stay until I started getting paid. He and Mom had been supportive, and both had wished me luck on getting the anchor position before we all had had to partways.
Seeing them had made me realize how much I’d missed them. Mom had told me I had to make time to come for a visit even if it was just for the weekend. I’d promised I would, but had no idea when things would calm down forme.
