Cold and Dry

Cold and Dry

Levi Jaeger straightened his tie in the elevator. The numbers ascended on the digital panel before him. He smoothed back his hair in the distorted brass reflection of the handrail. Taking a deep breath, Levi stood up straight. His face itched from shaving off his beloved beard this morning. “Surely trimming it up nicely will make me look professional enough,” Levi had argued with his father on the phone. His old man just laughed and reminded him, “Hobos have beards. Maybe you should interview with them?” The elevator doors dinged, and Levi walked toward the receptionist to check in.

***

           On the floor below, Julie Richards answered her desk phone.

           “This is Julie.”

           “Good morning, Julie,” Olivia, the chief marketing officer, cheerfully shouted. Julie winced. Olivia never understood that phones required inside voices, especially from morning people. “I want you to sit on the content creator interview I have in ten minutes.”

           Julie blinked. This is a first. “What did I do wrong?”

           Olivia laughed. “Nothing! I just thought this would be good experience, and since you will be working directly with the person who lands the position, I figured you would want someone you like.”

           “Thank you for your consideration,” Julie replied. She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her pounding temples. She had some other couples over at her house the night before and drank too much. Cody reminded her that whenever she drinks wine she gets nasty headaches the next day, but Julie thought it would just be a normal Monday at her desk.

“Awesome,” Olivia yelled in Julie’s ear. “We are in conference room B. Don’t feel pressured to talk too much, but ask any pertinent questions that come to mind. I’ll send you the guy’s resume.”

           Julie’s email dinged, and her jaw dropped.

***

The receptionist offered Levi some water.

           “Yes, please. Ma’am,” Levi added. The lady nodded and disappeared behind some cabinets. He loosened his death grip on the folder in his lap and exhaled another breath. Stay loose, man. You’ve got this. Just wow them with your accomplishments and personality. He smiled as the receptionist returned.

           “You have remarkably white teeth,” she commented.

           “Thank you, ma’am.” Levi never smiled this much. His grandmother would be proud that all those dollars on braces were not wasted. Levi downed the drink in one swallow and set the glass on the table. Just as he leaned back against the sofa, a lady walked up to him with her hand extended.

           “Levi?” She asked. He nodded and shook her hand, careful not to crush her delicate fingers. “Good morning, how are you?” Her cheerfulness helped Levi relax a peg.

           He grinned and replied, “I’m well and happy to be here.”

           “We’re happy to have you. Follow me.” She led him down a set of steps. “How was the drive?”

           “It wasn’t too bad. Bit of traffic on ninety, but I slipped through before the worst of it. Navigating downtown Cleveland was difficult, but I managed to find a parking spot and helped an older woman find the bank I passed.” Levi closed his mouth before his word vomit overwhelmed her. This lady didn’t need all those details.

           “That’s awesome. Good for you.” She opened a door and waved him inside. It was a small conference room, designed to seat ten people. Two of the chairs were occupied on the other side of the table. One was by a man in a black suit. He had slicked back blonde hair and a goatee. Dammit, Dad. His facial hair alone would have been surprising, but the other person caught Levi so off guard, he thought, Is this some kind of sick joke? 

***

           Julie could not believe her eyes. How does he look the same after seven years? She hadn’t seen Levi Jaeger since the last day of junior year in college. She remembered their first encounter well because she thought his name was pronounced like Jay-ger when she read it aloud. He had laughed it off and thanked her for not calling him Jager-bomb. “Though, if you want to get a drink, I’d be happy to accompany you.” Within two encounters they were a couple. She remembered their last encounter with even more clarity.

           “Everyone, this is Levi Jaeger,” Olivia said as she took a seat between Julie and Chris. “I figured we’d just introduce ourselves with our names, titles, and one fun fact before he tells us all about himself. I’m Olivia Hill, chief marketing officer, and I hiked the Appalachian trail.” Levi looked her in the eye and nodded. He had a small smile on his face, but it looked stuck. He must be as surprised to see me as I am him.

           “I’m Christopher Williams, but please call me Chris. I’m the media officer, and I have a cat that drinks out of the toilet.”

           “That’s not a fun fact about you,” Olivia chided him.

           “But it’s true,” Chris protested. He sighed. “Fine, I like to restore old sports cars with my brothers.”

           “That’s awesome,” Levi replied. Julie bit her tongue. He doesn’t know the first thing about cars. I had to change a tire for him when we went to see The Avengers. He turned to her but avoided direct eye contact.

           “I’m Julie Richards,” she said, putting more emphasis on her last name. Surprise flickered across his face before he regained his composure. “I’m the director of content marketing, and I love to paint.” She waited for him to acknowledge the painting she gave him on his birthday, but he just nodded.

           “What do you paint?” he asked. “Recently I have gotten into painting miniature figures for a game I play with my cousins.”

           So, you aren’t letting them know we have a past. Good. “I typically paint animals and such, but I have done a few commission pieces.”

           “She gave me a truly badass painting of Arnold Schwarzenegger, standing on a T-rex, holding a minigun while shooting zombies. It hangs proudly in my living room,” Chris said.

           Julie just smiled and stared at Levi. What have you been up to these past few years?

***

           Levi felt like a truck hit him, backed up, and ran his ass over again. What on earth are you doing here? He hadn’t seen Julie since the last day of junior year of college. Her last words were that she never wanted to see him again. Then she went and got married?

           “Alright, Levi,” Olivia continued. It took all of Levi’s willpower to focus on her and not stare at Julie. She hasn’t changed much. Certainly, she’s put on weight, but after seven years, who hasn’t? Her brown hair is shorter, and there’s something off about her. She’s not as lively as in college. But, damn, she’s still gorgeous.

           “Why don’t you walk us through your resume?” Olivia asked. Her cheerfulness had shifted into serious work mode somewhere during Levi’s observation of Julie.

           “Right. Right. Well, I recently worked as a college admissions counselor at my alma mater. That job mainly consisted of approving applicants to the college, marketing the school at high school events, and speaking with families about the advantages our university had over other schools.” Did I really just say school three times in one sentence? Julie continued to glare at him like he crawled out of a sewer. The blonde guy—He said his name was Chris—wrote something down. “I was part of the social media team, taking pictures, recording and editing videos, and connecting with our audience within an hour of their questions or comments.”

           “What platforms did you use?” Julie asked.

Levi nearly jumped out of his seat. Why isn’t she acknowledging that she knows me? Shouldn’t that make her ineligible to interview me? Something about being too close to the person? “I used Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, but mostly focused in on Instagram and Twitter. We were making plans to delve into Tik-Tok, but we didn’t really want China having access to our data. Oh, and obviously YouTube.”

“You mention that you had prior experience with video editing,” Chris commented. “Can you tell us more about that?”

“Sure. During my senior year of college, my family moved to a little redneck town in central Ohio. There was literally nothing to do there, and when the COVID apocalypse hit, we were all confined to our homes. I had my phone and a tripod and decided to get into video editing. I started off as a gaming channel, because I love watching gaming YouTubers. But then a crazy idea came to me: What if I started smashing stuff with a Thor ax I made the year before? I am good with voices—” Levi switched into his redneck persona he used on camera, “—and I decided to start smashing!” Olivia and Chris laughed. Julie raised an eyebrow. “The channel did okay, got up to like fifty subscribers, but I burned out on coming up with things to smash.”

“What kinds of things did you smash?” Olivia asked.

           “Mostly fruit, but one time I killed a television I found in the tree lawn, and a buddy of mine gave me some iPhones to destroy. Those suckers are tough.”

           “And what was the point of all this?” Julie asked. “Why do this?”

           Levi blinked and put his hands in his lap. “Oh, it was just for fun. I was bored and decided to pick up a new skill.” There you go again. Always criticizing me and my ideas. Can’t wrap your head around anything fun unless it involves going clubbing, drinking, or painting. Between the criticisms and lack of compliments, I wonder how your husband puts up with you.

           “So, what steps have you taken to go above and beyond at your former places of employment?” Olivia asked.

***

           He’s making an absolute fool of himself, Julie thought. Levi shifted in his chair. I bet his palms are mini swamps. Never could hold my hand for long. Whenever he gets nervous, he turns into a perspiring wreck. A real man like Cody would be able to stay calm under pressure. Time to get you out of here.

           “At the college, I shouldered most of my boss’s burden when she went on maternity leave last fall,” Levi said. Funny, because I remember you always saying you despised kids. “I processed twice the number of applications and operated all of the social media accounts,” he continued.

           “And how did the metrics fare for that?” Julie asked.

           “There was an increase of connections and followers on Instagram, and Twitter largely remained the same.”

           “And the others? What about Facebook and LinkedIn?”

           “The admissions department decided to focus on where we were growing and what we thought prospective students would be using,” Levi said carefully. He looked to Olivia and Chris. “Based on our data, most high schoolers simply aren’t on Facebook and LinkedIn, so they told me target the areas we’d get results in.”

           Damn. He sidestepped that better than I expected, Julie thought. How do I finish him off?

           “So, why are you leaving the school?” Olivia asked. She had been taking notes throughout the meeting. “Why do you want to come here?”

           “I actually left the school already. The college has been struggling since the COVID apocalypse, and because of the drop-in birth rate in 2014, I’m anticipating a massive restructuring of the college system. I felt it was a good time for a change, and I seem to be a perfect fit for the position. I have experience in digital media and marketing. I’m a quick study, and I am a diligent worker.”

           Gotcha. Julie asked, “So, what’s to stop you from leaving us in a few years down the road?” Levi blinked. “If you’re the kind of person who gets out of dodge before trouble hits, how can we count on you? How do we put our trust in you after what you said?”

***

           Shit, Levi thought. Shit. Shit. Shit. She’s trying to make sure I don’t get the job. Is this all because I wouldn’t sleep with her back in college? Across the table, Julie glared at him. Oh yeah. That’s definitely it.

           “Well, I…um…” Levi swallowed. He rubbed his palms against his pants and took a deep breath. “I made a judgement call and decided to stand by it. Maybe I was wrong, and maybe things would have been different. I believe any man—or woman for that matter—should stand by what they say and endure the consequences.” A silence lapsed in the room after his words.

           “Well, I think we’ve learned enough,” Olivia said. She seemed like a referee inside a cage match to Levi. If she didn’t know we knew each other beforehand, I’m sure she has a good idea now. Chris looked like a man who had seen too much.

           Julie glowered at him.

***

           That’s your answer? All the hell you put me through, all the years of doubting myself and questioning why I wasn’t good enough, and that’s your fucking answer?

           “Thank you for coming in today, Levi,” Olivia continued.

           “Thank you for the opportunity to interview with you all,” Levi said with a broad smile.

Julie put her papers in order and stood with Olivia and Chris to shake Levi’s hand. When they touched, Julie was astonished.

           His palm was cold and dry.