Icocked an earphone to the side and answered my phone when the caller ID readUNKNOWN. In la-la land, that wasn’t very unusual.
“Griffin here.”
“Hey, is this Layton Griffin?”
“Yep.” I leaned back in my chair, knocking my headphones around my neck.
I was actually dressed for work today—it was Monday, after all—and propped my Chucks up on the metal table to the side of my desk.
“Great! My name’s Ricky and I’m the music editor atBubblePOP...”
At the mention ofBubblePOP, my mind traveled about a hundred miles an hour, quickly rendering images of the one person I knew who worked there.
“I’m sorry, you were saying? My phone broke up,” I lied.
“Ricky fromBubblePOPhere. I know this is a bit out of left field, but the star ofSeven Sins of Serial Datingwas here this morning—”
“Katie?”
“Yeah—”
“Not sure what I can do for you, buddy,” I interrupted again. Was this a prank? Did they know about my insane obsession with Charli?
“Well, it’s a long story, but bottom line is this. The head lady here had Charleston interview Katie because she was at the premiere and all that lucky bullshit ... pardon my French, but I really wanted to go.”
When Ricky sighed loudly into the phone, I wondered if he was gay. What kind of guy wants to go to a romantic comedy?
“Anyway, Katie actuallysaid this was her most favorite sound track of any film she’s ever done, and well, I jumped at the opportunity to talk to her more about it. Yeah, I snuck down into the interview, but don’t say anything. So, Katie turned to me and gave me those baby blues, all focused on me, and mentioned the Ed Sheeran song being her favorite. She said the music guy, who was so funny and nice ...”
Nice? Yep, that’s me. Nice. Not hot, or cool, or amazing. Nice.
“She gave me some awesome quotes, and now I get to run my own story on the music page, and yay!”
The sound of his clapping came through the phone.
“Sounds cool. What can I do for you?”
I couldn’t believe Katie knew the name of my company and was able to tell this douche nozzle where to find me.
“So, Charleston interrupts the whole Katie-giving-me-ga-ga-eyes thing and pipes up that she knows you, and she thought it would be awesome for us to chat. Maybe I could ask you some questions?”
Charli gave him my number?
“Really?” I sat up in my chair, suddenly interested in what he was saying.
“Yeah, for real.”
“Sure, dude. When do you want to do it? I assume you want to collect your thoughts.”
“Um, yeah ... that’d be great. Maybe FaceTime or something?”
“Whatever you want, buddy,” I assured him.
“Cool. Charli said you’d be nice.”
Of course she did.
Nice.
Ricky and I set something up for later in the week, and I hung up as despondent as I was when the conversation began. There was a moment in the middle when I thought I’d beat it again, and then I learned I wasnice.
What did nice boys do? They took their dog for a walk, and this one walked and walked and got lost for hours.
I spent the better part of the week catching up for the hours I lost on Monday.
