Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
TIA
L ouisa stands up as I walk across the bar towards her. I reach the table, and we hug.
“I’m so sorry I’m late,” I say as we sit down. “Honestly, I know like two people in Chicago, and I’m late to meet one of them because the other one called, and I lost track of time.”
Louisa wrinkles her nose.
“You’re not seriously considering getting back with Justin, are you?” Louisa asks.
I shake my head.
“No. As a couple we just didn’t work, there was no chemistry between us. But we got along well enough and there’s no harm in being friends. And besides, in a brand new city, I’m hardly in a place to turn my back on someone I actually know,” I tell her.
“I still think it’s creepy that he followed you here,” Louisa says.
I roll my eyes.
“For the fiftieth time, he didn’t follow me here. He took a job offer here before he even knew I was coming here. Hell, it was before I had even decided to come here,” I say.
“That’s what he tells you,” Louisa says. “But is it the truth?”
I roll my eyes again and Louisa takes the hint and laughs and pushes a glass of rose wine towards me.
“Forget Justin, drink up,” she says.
I pick up the glass and take a big sip and moan my appreciation when the cold sweetness of the wine runs over my tongue. I swallow my first mouthful and take another drink.
“You look like you needed that,” Louisa says.
“I did,” I agree. “Job hunting is thirsty work. Especially when there are so few options. I mean don’t get me wrong, there are tons of jobs I could do, but I don’t want to stack shelves or fold clothes. I want something actually related to my degree. There’s just nothing. Well, there are unpaid internships of course but I need money. I’m starting to think I’m going to have to take an unpaid internship and then wait tables or tend bar or something on evenings and weekends.”
“Funny you should say that” Louisa says. “I actually have something I thought you might be interested in.”
I feel my interest being piqued and I sit up straighter and look at Louisa, waiting for her to go on. I’m struck, certainly not for the first time, and probably not for the last time, how pretty Louisa is. She has caramel crème colored skin with dark brown eyes and dark brown curls. She has a lovely, curvaceous figure, and she is as beautiful inside as she is outside. I still sometimes have to pinch myself to believe that she chose me, Tia Lake, a self-confessed nobody, to be her best friend at college and now beyond.
“Earth calling,” Louisa says, and I snap back to attention.
“Sorry,” I say. “I was miles away.”
Louisa laughs.
“Yeah, I saw,” she says. “I was just saying not to get too excited about the proposal I have for you. It’s paid work, but it’s only an internship so the pay isn’t fantastic, but …”
“But it’ll give me experience that will give me a chance at getting a foot in the door somewhere,” I finish for her. “And might mean I don’t have to work a second job too.”
“Exactly,” Louisa agrees. “So, you’re interested then?”
I nod.
“Yes,” I say. “Let me just go and grab us some more drinks and then I want to hear all about it.”
I get up and head for the bar before Louisa can object. It’s no secret that I’m not exactly drowning in money. In fact, I have enough in my bank account for like two months of rent and bills and when that’s gone, I have nothing. Louisa on the other hand comes from money and while her father is getting a bit pissed off with her not working by all accounts, she still isn’t going to be homeless or have to choose between heating and food any time soon. For that reason, Louisa is more than happy to pay on nights out, but I like to be able to pay my way. I love Louisa and I know her offer comes from a place of her love for me, but I want to be on equal footing, not her little charity case that she drags out when she needs an excuse to feel good about herself. I know that’s not fair, but it’s how I feel, and I can’t help it.
I get served with two Aperol Spritz cocktails and go back to the table. I set one down in front of Louisa and she nods her head in approval.
“Nice,” she says after a sip. “So, this internship. It’s with a big tech company and it will be mostly working with the web development team from what I understand about it, although obviously it’s an internship so you’ll probably have to do some dog’s body work as well.”
“Yeah, I would expect that,” I agree. “What’s the catch.”
“Who said there was going to be a catch?” Louisa says. Her innocent look only convinces me that there’s a catch and that it’s a big one. I don’t answer and she sighs. “Fine. There is a catch. But it’s a teeny tiny one. You have to pretend to be me.”
I look at gorgeous, Latina Louisa and then down at myself. I’m the picture someone would paint if they were asked to draw a person who was the opposite to Louisa. Firstly, I am so white, milk feels sorry for me. My hair is a light blonde, a natural shade that almost no one believes is natural, and my eyes are bright blue. Where Louisa is short and curvy, I’m tall and willowy. I definitely got my mom’s Scandinavian looks.
“Who the hell is going to believe I am you?” I say.
“No one at the company has seen me,” Louisa says. “There’s no reason why they won’t. And this way, we both win. You will get paid for doing the sort of thing you want to do, and I will get my father off my back because he will think I’m doing the internship. And the reference at the end can easily be used by both of us, we just need to make a copy and change the name.”
I can feel myself on the verge of saying yes, although it still feels like I’m not getting the whole story.
“It pays eight hundred dollars a week after deductions,” Louisa says.
“Ok. I’m in,” I say.
Fuck the catch. That will pay for my rent which is almost fifteen hundred dollars a month – a bargain for a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Chicago I am assured by Louisa – and leave me with enough left over for utilities, food, and maybe even a bit of a social life.
“Congratulations on the new job,” Louisa grins. “You start at nine o’clock on Monday morning. I’ll text you the address and the details. I’d say don’t be late, but you’re meant to be me, so feel free.”
She laughs and I roll my eyes and laugh with her. When we stop laughing, Louisa goes to the bar and this time, we’re drinking something called a Mellow Marshmallow. It’s sweet and a bit coconutty and I like it. While she was gone, a question came to my mind. I’m about to ask it, although I’m not sure I really want to know the answer.
“Louisa, I have to ask. This internship. It’s paid which is practically unheard of. Even the odd paid internship I’ve heard of pays closer to six hundred dollars a week and this is eight hundred dollars after deductions. Is there something I should know?” I ask.
“Well, now that you mention it, there was something about disposing of dead bodies, but it’s only now and again, and you probably won’t have to do more than one or two,” Louisa says with a grin.
I laugh and shake my head, and she turns serious again and shrugs one shoulder.
“I assume they are paying a bit more than average because they think it’s actually going to be me and my dad is on the board of directors,” Louisa says.
My mouth drops open. I think I would have preferred the first explanation. There’s no way I can take this job now. It explains why Louisa was careful not to mention the name of the company. I didn’t notice at the time, but I do now. If she had mentioned it was Sold sooner, it would have been an instant no from me. I have already purposely avoided looking for any positions at the company after learning Enrique is on the board because I didn’t want it to come out that I knew his daughter, and have it look like that’s why I got the job. Now, she’s suggesting I should pretend to be her there. How could that ever work?
“I’m out,” I say. “You told me no one at the company knew what you looked like. I think your dad might know your face. And he knows me too.”
“That’s the beauty of it. He and my mom leave tomorrow for a cruise around Europe. The internship will be done by the time they return. My dad will hear how wonderful I was, because obviously it’s you and you rock, and you will have some high powered job by then,” Louisa says.
“I don’t know,” I say, looking down into my almost empty glass.
“Look at it this way. You pretending to be me isn’t a crime. The worst thing that can happen if it does come out, is my dad will be pissed at me, which he is right now anyway and you’ll get fired, meaning you won’t have a job, which you don’t right now anyway. See what I mean? In the worst case scenario, things go back to how they are right now, that’s it. And in every other scenario, everything gets one hundred percent better for both of us,” Louisa says.
She grins at me, nodding her head ever so slightly as I think. I don’t even know why I’m thinking about it. Or at least pretending to be. The money sold me, but I can never say no to Louisa anyway, although this is the first one of her schemes or ideas that I can see seriously backfiring on us. But fuck it. I am actually going to give this a shot.
“Nine o’ clock Monday morning. Sold, here I come,” I say.
Louisa whoops and then drains her drink and motions for me to do the same. I finish it up and Louisa gets up, pulling me up with her and leading me out of the bar.
“But Monday at nine o’clock is almost thirty six hours away. So, let’s go to a club and dance and drink and celebrate your new job.”
“That is the best idea you’ve had in ages,” I say with a grin, and I turn towards the road and flag down a passing cab, and we get in it to go to the club.