Rafe spenthis day away from the dorm. He attended his sedimentology and physics classes, then did homework at the library. He was grateful for the chance to bury his head in schoolwork. It was dark by the time he left the library. On his walk back to the dorm, he went over things to say to Eamonn about what happened. Maybe some guys could just shrug it off, say “duuuuuude,” and laugh about it. Rafe was not one of thoseguys.
“What happened was animal. Chemical,” Rafe said to himself as he walked down the sloping hill. “I read this article that said guys are sexually attracted to the scent of each other’s sweat. We were sweating. It makes perfect sense that this would happen. But it happened, and…” Here was where Rafe got stuck.It happened now let’s never speak of it again?Too harsh.It happened and now it will never happen again?Toosevere.
Rafe entered his flat and went to the kitchen for some tea. Eamonn sat at the kitchen table, hunched over hislaptop.
“Hey.” Rafe rushed to the tea kettle. The lines he had for this conversation vanished and left him with the verbal skills of agoldfish.
“Y’alright?” Eamonn mumbled, eyes focused on hisscreen.
“Yeah.You?”
“I bloody hateapplications.”
“What are you applying for?” Rafe filled the tea kettle and lit thestove.
“My uncle’s company has a management trainee program, so I’m going to dothat.”
“That soundsgreat!”
Eamonn didn’t seem to share Rafe’s sentiment. “I have to fill out this application with past work experience and what I hope toaccomplish.”
“I hate those questions. I wish I could just say ‘I like your company because you’re hiring.’ Don’t you have a résumé or C.V. to go off of for the firstpart?”
Eamonn blinked at him like a deer in the headlights. “You don’t need a C.V. to work in a warehouse or run a paper route. I have no relevant experience. I’m wasting my time.” Eamonn pushed his computerback.
“You’re in luck then.” Rafe took a seat next to him. “I am the résumé whisperer. I’ve applied for summer programs, research programs, internships, externships, and college, obviously. I am a master at spinning nothing intogold.”
Rafe took Eamonn’s computer and looked at what he had already. He’d been a dishwasher, box folder, and paper delivery boy. All great and noble positions that unfortunately carried little weight in the professionalworld.
“You have ample experience, but you’re problem is you’re being too honest,” Rafe said. “You need to give the people what theywant.”
“I’ve never worked in an office. It looks ratherboring.”
“Don’t put that down on this. First, we should make your C.V., in case there are other jobs you want to apply for.” Rafe logged onto his email and pulled up one of his old résumés and copied theformatting.
“You’ve done a lot!” Eamonnsaid.
“That’s just how it seems.” Rafe had never worked hard like Eamonn had at his old jobs. His responsibilities had included making copies, fetching coffee, transcribing interviews, and lots of dataentry.
Eamonn shuffled closer to Rafe, his familiar combo of cigs and cologne commingling in Rafe’s nose. Rafe tried to ignore how close his beautiful face was. They had a résumé tocreate.
“Some people say you should have an objective at the top of your résumé. I call bullshit. If you’re applying for a job, then they know what your objective is. That’s just wasted space. It looks like your most recent job was working at the box factory warehouse.” Rafe read what was on Eamonn’s application. “This is the same company with the management program,yes?”
“Yes.” Eamonn jumped up and took the screaming tea kettle off the stove. “It’s myuncle’s.”
Eamonn did not sound thrilled about benefitting from nepotism. He poured them both a cup of tea. There was something hot about a guy making himself tea. In America, he would be looked down on for doing something so girly. But when Eamonn did it, it was the perfect mix of masculinity and vulnerability. Eamonn caught Rafe looking at him. He whipped his focus back to the laptopscreen.
“Right. So you worked in the warehouse. What did youdo?”
“I folded boxes. I carried bundles of boxes to storage. I helped fill orders for clients. I got to ride the forklift a fewtimes.”
“So you assembled merchandise, organized and maintained the inventory storage system, liaisoned with clients, and operated complex machinery to streamlinedistribution.”
“Holy baskets of cunts. Did you just come up with that?” Eamonn’s eyes bugged out wide in disbelief. Rafe wanted to swim laps inthem.
“I told you I was the résuméwhisperer.”
“You’re the résuméalchemist.”
