Bad Girl (Alphahole Roommates 3)

Tori’s brother Wade is my graphic design Yoda. When I got the temp contract at the business courseware company that Carmichael Consulting acquired, knowing it would mean being relocated to the company that was acquiring them, I rushed back from Vegas where I was working temporarily as a wedding photographer’s assistant.

I knew next to nothing about photography, but Larry was helping me mostly because he wanted to get into my pants. And Tori’s pants hence doing that favor. Not only did I hardly know anything about photography, the same was true here. I barely knew a thing about graphic design, beyond some futzing around I did for fun. But Tori had it on good authority that if I took the temp assignment, she could finagle a way to get me relocated to San Diego and that was a good goal, so I spent weeks leading up to it cramming to learn as much about graphic design as I could and Tori’s brother Wade, not exactly a graphic designer, but a genius-level techie type that can figure things out easily has helped me fake it. I’ve called upon him a lot the past few months while taking online classes and watching countless video tutorials.

I went to school for hotel and restaurant management, not anything artsy. I can draw, always loved art and I’ve enjoyed learning this stuff. In fact, it feels like this is closer to what I should be doing.

My quirky girl persona works for keeping most corporate people at arms’ length. Bean counters and computer techno-weenies tend to leave me be, seeing me as an artsy weird girl. Thank God for Wade, though. I’m getting good, I think, but he’s saved my hiney repeatedly helping me with stuff I haven’t mastered yet. Between his help, the cramming I do on the side, as well as the fact that all the Carmichaels of Carmichael Consulting love me, I’ve been convincing enough in my role that I got hired permanently. I enjoy this job way more than working in the hospitality business anyway.

Tori thinks that staying as Ally Kingston is a bad idea and she’s told me twice she’s on the hunt for my next assignment.

I’ve turned down her last two offers, one in Alaska and the other in Tennessee, because deep down I really really want to stay here.

Is it unrealistic to want to be Ally Kingston permanently?

I hate hoping for something that seems unlikely, but I can’t help it.

I don’t want to give up my friends. Or San Diego. It fits. I like myself in San Diego way more than I like the person I left in Columbus, Ohio. That girl nearly got herself killed. That girl was gullible. But she learned, thankfully before it was too late.

***

After getting out of the shower I find the apartment thankfully quiet. Either Jude is still in bed, or he’s out and not having to face him is just fine by me.

Sadly, on my way to work I have no conversation to distract me. My usual cabbie slash friend Ash didn’t come to get me from the front of the building today – his night driver that we secretly call Pigpen is still working, saying Ash is running late so instead of fun conversation about the wedding distracting me from my Jude problem, I stare out the window.

I’m a cabbie’s daughter. Scotty King is my unofficial cabbie godfather, and Ash is one of my few San Diego friends because he drives me to work and back whenever Aiden doesn’t, which happens often because Aiden likes to start his workday with the sun. It’s often me, Carly, and Ash in the mornings and at night it’s either Ash or Aiden who brings us home as Ash typically ends his day with us as his final fare. Today I’ve got neither of them.

At least when I get to work my coworker friends Sonia and Stacy are sitting on stability balls in the atrium, looking as tired as I feel with their Starbucks cups and one there waiting for me. They’ve got big smiles on their faces as I approach.

These two are further reasons why I want to stay in San Diego.

Stacy is dark-haired, twenty-one, tall, slim, and a nerdy type who has no idea how pretty she is. She’s kind and generous and we became fast friends when I started working here.

Sonia is in her late twenties, has loads of red curly hair, freckles, an infectious laugh, curves for days, and the sweetest disposition ever. She has two daughters who love me. Sonia joined us recently from New York, a friend of Carly’s from her old office who was first moved to the Manhattan office from Buffalo and then got moved here after some drama with her ex. She’s got a new beau now and he’s super sweet, so I’m thrilled for her.