Mike brought the last girl in, and from her rounded eyes and the insane smile plastered across her face, I was guessing she was another fan. Great, maybe I should have skipped the last interview after all.
“Sorry for staring. I just can’t believe it’s actually you who is interviewing,” she practically squealed as Mike led her into the office. I waved off his apologetic look. I’d still give her the benefit of the doubt and interview her.
“Yes, I am the one interviewing,” I stated, keeping my tone as polite as possible. While I was always flattered when meeting a fan, a job interview wasn’t really the place for gushing. “Why don’t we get to that?”
She put her hand out, shaking mine a little too enthusiastically. “I'm Mary! It’s so amazing to meet you, Owen. Oh, um, am I allowed to call you Owen? Is that all right with you?”
“Yes, it's not a problem at all. I prefer to keep things informal,” I smiled, gritting my teeth as I took my hand back. I sat in the desk chair, watching her fidget with the sides of her dress.
“So, tell me about yourself, Mary,” I requested. Her eyes widened more.
“Um, well… I’m a big, no, a huge fan of Bleeding Heart. I've seriously followed you guys from the first album! I've got all the live DVDs, too, and um… Well, all right, I think I should talk more about my actual work experience, right?”
“Yes, please,” I replied, “I'm flattered that you're such a fan, but I really do need to hear about what you feel qualifies you for this position, if you don't mind.”
She let out a nervous laugh. “I, um… I love music. I’ve managed a few tours, um…” She bit her lip and fidgeted more. I glanced down at her resume. She actually had some legit experience with several bands, but if she was this nervous around me, how would she be around the rest of the band…or even just Talon?
“Sorry I’m so nervous. I am just a really big fan of you guys. I had no idea you would be here in person for the interview when they called me,” she apologized, a frown on her face. “I'm sorry, I really shouldn't be acting like this. It's just, it's just that... Well, wow, I never thought I'd actually be meeting you face to face.”
“Can you tell me about the tours you managed? Were they larger scale tours, local indie tours?” I asked, trying to avoid a repeat of interview number one.
“I, um…both. Uh…sorry.”
I frowned. This was not going well at all. And besides, despite her gushing, my thoughts kept returning to Nalia. She’d set the bar fairly high. So much so, it was getting rather difficult to concentrate on what this girl was actually saying. Still, I breathed in and out slowly and tried to force all of the thoughts of Nalia out of my head.
“This job would be very demanding. Three months of hard work, being stuck with us on a bus nearly 24/7. A lot is riding on this tour, so there would be a lot of pressure on you, including promotions, marketing, setting up interviews, and more. Not to mention the stress of keeping all of the band members in line and on schedule. And I'll tell you this, some of us can be a real handful, especially out there on the road. Do you think you could handle those kind of high pressure situations?”
She bit her lip, her frown deepening. I took that to be a probable no from her as she fidgeted with her dress more.
“I am crazy nervous. And, I’m doing horrible with this interview, aren’t I?” she asked, her eyes getting a little misty.
God, please no, not another crier.
“It’s not that. My concern is that if you’re this nervous around me, how will you be around the rest of the band? Working with them daily and keeping them in line, on top of all the duties that would be your responsibility. It's going to require someone who is totally unfazed by our celebrity status. Someone who is willing to look past all of that and put duty and responsibility first. Someone who is able to exercise very strict self-control.”
With that, a few tears streamed down her cheek, and she sniffled. I cursed a few choice phrases in my head and looked for Mike since the office door had been left open on this one. He was standing at the end of the hall. I shook my head and nodded for him to come get her.
“I’m sorry, Mary. I’m sure you’re good at what you do, but I think we need someone that isn’t such a huge fan to be our assistant on the road. It's just that we have so much riding on this tour, and we're going to need someone who treats us as if we're students who need to be shepherded in the right direction, not a fan who is star struck and lets us get away with anything,” I told her sympathetically and offered her a hug as she stood up to leave.
She squeezed me tight and sniffled, or was she sniffing me? Was that a thing now? When she released me, I added a little something to soften the blow because she did have decent qualifications. “Mary, why don’t you meet with one of the staffing assistants here later this week and see what positions you might qualify for at Young Records. We are always looking for bright talent in some of our departments.”
“Thank you so much,” she said, her face lighting up a little.
Mike took her away, and I felt some relief. Not just due to her absence, but at the thought of Nalia. She was my girl for the job, and of that fact I was now absolutely sure…without a shadow of a doubt.
Chapter Ten
Nalia
I couldn’t believe how well the interview had gone. What’s more, it actually was Owen Young from Bleeding Heart who conducted it. I couldn’t wait to tell Grace. She was going to freak out over the fact that I had sat across from him, and there was no doubt in my mind that she'd be super jealous.
But not as much as she would be when she learned I was set to have a second interview with him tomorrow! I could hardly believe my luck; maybe things were finally going in the right direction for me. There was no way I could have imagined all of this turning out as well as it had for me so far.
How was such a huge change possible in such a short span of time? It was just the day before that I was unemployed, scrounging my last pennies together and thinking of moving out of this town. Now, there I was, looking as if I may well be taking on a ten-thousand-dollar-a-month job, working with one of the biggest rock bands in the industry! I was practically skipping as I walked down the sidewalk to the dive bar/wing house that had been my last job location.
I hadn’t lasted very long there. The job had been a terrible idea and an absolute nightmare. I’d dreaded going to work so much that I was constantly late, and I apparently didn’t dress slutty enough for them, either. Could have fooled me, though, considering all the drunken creeps who hit on me, or worse, the completely smashed assholes who managed to grab my ass or tried to cop a feel of my breasts as I had walked by them.
Nope, I did not m