Learning To Network and Other Valuable Lessons.

I have borrowed some lines from your story ‘Learning to Surf and Other Valuable Lessons.’  I’m a surfer, so I loved your one-shot for that reason, but I adore all of your other stuff too.  This is the story of yours that I come back to, over and over.  I hope you see this as the tribute it is meant to be!

I haven’t re-written your story.  I’ve made a new one about college interns at a corporate summer beach party by using your words. I hope that’s ok!

The lines in bold are the ones that I’ve re-cycled, and I’ve used one sentence in each 100 word drabble.

Have a wonderful birthday!

~*~*~*~*~*~

I watch him as he comes out of the surf, and I simply cannot believe my bad luck.  But why should today be any different?  When it comes to this fucking summer, all I keep getting is bad luck and Jasper Hale.

He’s such an annoying dick.

Interning through the summer break was meant to be my way into the newsroom.  Instead, it’s been a fucking nightmare because of him.

He’s always hanging around me

Every time I come up with a story, something exciting, he’s there.

I distance myself from him.

I think he wants to steal my stories.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I had hoped that this company beach-party would be a way to get closer to the other reporters.

In the newsroom they guard story ideas fiercely.  It’s usual practice to tell no one which leads you are following up, which stories you are chasing.  Someone will try to steal your fucking thunder.

I try to chat, mingle, network, but I hate it.  I just want to sit in my room and write.

He laughs, and it's easy, comfortable.

Hearing Jasper’s laughter, as he helps some kids build a sand-fort, makes me so pissed.

He isn’t even trying to get noticed.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I stand on the outskirts of a group.   I’ve only been in the office for the last four weeks but already the hierarchy is very clear.  The top-dogs are at the center, with their glamorous partners beside them, drinking and laughing.

The lesser mortals circle them, looking for opportunities to shine.

I don’t fit in.

Alice -- the office misfit -- notices and calls me over to a smaller group.  We chat, she is kind.

I start to relax a little until Jasper wanders over.

His gaze flicks over me casually, and he turns back to her, "Another stray?”

~*~*~*~*~*~

For the next hour he is completely fucking unbearable.

I eat some chili -- he mocks me when I need some water.  I agree to swim with Alice -- he laughs at my shorts.  I put on sunscreen -- he tells me that my paleness hurts his eyes.

In the water, he finds tiny jelly fish and scoops them onto his surfboard

"Climb on up here, beautiful.”

He must be fucking kidding.

Alice tells me that if I were a girl, Jasper would tie my braids to the back of my chair.

“He likes you,” she whispers.

“He’s showing off.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

We walk along the tree line, collecting sticks for a fire-pit.  Jasper tries to drag a log bigger than himself.  I snort, rolling my eyes at Alice.

She shouts back to the idiot, “Edward will help.”

I don’t want to, but it’s important to look like a team-player at these events.

Jasper sits down on his log -- a long way from the others – he says he’s not interested in networking.

It’s like he doesn’t even want to become a reporter.

He’s interested in something else, he says.  His breath huffs across my face.

He's spicy red chili and beer.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I didn’t know that Jasper’s father works for the paper.  He’s interning to keep him happy, but he’d much prefer to work outdoors -- he hates the office.  It’s lonely there, even though there are so many people.

He thinks that it’s not healthy to be under such pressure to perform.

I nod, thinking.

He wonders if I’d meet up with him one evening.  Maybe back at college.

He whispers, “you’re the only reason I show up.”

I tell him that I really don’t know him at all.

He winks. “That's why we're going out, because that's how relationships start.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

I feel like my luck has changed.

I don’t care about office politics anymore. I relax, and our editor doesn’t file my copy in the trash like usual.

At lunch, Jasper is worried.  He’s going to change his major – journalism isn’t for him.  I tell him that when he speaks to his dad, I’ll come with him.  

Under the table, he squeezes my feet between his.

We go back to the office together, smiling, and kiss quickly in the elevator.

I still have a lot to learn, about relationships, about myself. But I think we've made a good start.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Have a great day!

Kate x

(Conversed)