Chapter 4
Chapter Four
CASH
Onyx has been in my room every night for the past week.
As soon as my brother falls asleep, he’s knocking on my door.
We sit on my floor, listen to music, and talk about nothing and everything.
He doesn’t leave until the sky begins to lighten to gray.
By then, I’m so exhausted that I barely manage to climb into my bed.
That also means I’m sleeping until noon or later.
Not today, though. I have an interview at ten. So I’m up, groggy, and walking to the dock as I stare at my phone in my hand. Maybe I mentioned my interview often during our late-night visits… or maybe I mentioned it once, and he remembered. A text from Onyx stares up at me. It doesn’t stay much.
OG
Good luck!
My heart races wildly at those two words. That means he remembered. That he’s… thinking of me? Oh my god.
I stop at the lockers and stare for a very long time. I hear the ferry approaching, so I type out a quick thank you and then put my phone on do not disturb so it doesn’t ring and vibrate all day in the lockers while I’m away.
After locking it in with my fingerprint, I race to the security checkpoint so they can touch me all over to make sure I don’t have any electronics on me and barely make it to the ferry before Tad pulls up the plank. He raises an eye as I wave my gratitude.
With a heavy sigh, I drop onto a bench and watch the world around me. I’m not in a suit. I don’t even own a suit. In fact, I don’t think most people on the island own suits. Whatever would we wear them for? This is an island resort, not the corporate grind.
I’m early when I arrive at the excursions’ headquarters. There are numerous excursion booths throughout all four guest islands, but this is the big office where the managers are. There are pictures everywhere, and I love to look at them. Especially the ones of the boats.
Tammy looks up as I walk toward the first desk. “Here for another interview, Cash?” she asks with a bemused look.
“Yep.”
She laughs. “Have a seat. I’ll let Navy know you’re here.”
“Navy?” I repeat. “Not Mr. Tillman today?”
“He was called away for something.” She shrugs. “You know Navy, don’t you?”
“Yeah, of course.” I leave out that I know him from the bar. That’s the only place I’ve ever seen or interacted with him. I’m not sure that being bar buddies is the kind of tone we should set for an interview.
Tammy nods. “Have a seat.”
I do as I’m told and grab one of the viewbooks filled with excursion pictures to thumb through while I wait. Naturally, I pause on all the ones having to do with the water. I think my blood is actually saltwater.
“Cash?”
I look up and meet Navy’s eyes with a grin. “Hi,” I say and jump to my feet, setting the book on the table as I do. I meet him at the door, and he grips my shoulder fondly. “Nice change in the routine.”
He snorts and leads me back to a familiar office. Either he’s borrowing the manager’s office, or this is simply the office they conduct interviews in. I take a seat in my usual chair and wait for Navy to begin.
Navy has a laptop in front of him, and for a minute, he stares at the screen before meeting my eyes. “This is your fourth interview?”
“Yep.”
“You’ve refused the previously offered jobs.”
“If they’d give me the job I want—the one I tell them I want and the only one I mark off that I’m looking to be considered for on the application—we wouldn’t have to keep doing this,” I point out.
“We hire based on our biggest need.”
“Then don’t list the openings you’re not actually looking to fill,” I counter.
He laughs and leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest as he looks at me. “I’m going to be honest with you. They’re not in a huge hurry to fill the boat tour position. Yes, the positions are open, but they’re not critical.”
“Then this is a waste of everyone’s time. They should take that job off the site.”
Navy nods slowly. “Why not just accept a job until they’re actually looking for that position?”
“I’m not desperate to work, and I’m not willing to settle. I want to follow my passion, and it’s not scooping ice cream or cleaning up vomit.”
He raises an eyebrow in amusement. “None of those are in the job descriptions.”
“You know what I’m saying, Navy.” I wave a dismissive hand.
“Why do you only want the job on the boat?”
“Because that’s what I want to do with my life,” I say a little dramatically.
I lean forward, pressing my hand on the top of the desk.
“I want to be on the water. I want to take people on adventures and show them things that they might never see otherwise. I want to give them an outside perspective, a different point of view of the places they walk. The world looks different from the water. I’d live on a boat if that was an option. ”
His smile climbs. “Your resume doesn’t show any college education.”
“Current research and statistics state that a college education no longer guarantees you anything except debt upon graduation. Doesn’t guarantee you a job or higher pay. Just money you owe.”
Navy laughs. He lets his head fall back and closes his eyes.
“Are you going to ask me the usual questions? I think I have them memorized now.”
His smile grows, and he looks at me through the slit of one eye.
“No. I’m not.” He sits up and leans across the desk the way I was a moment ago.
“I’ll tell you what. Stop applying to the excursion department.
I’ll text you when they’re actually looking to fill the positions on the boats. Until then, just hang tight. Okay?”
“Yeah?” I ask skeptically. “You’re going to remember that?”
“Trust me. I’ll remember. Tammy will remember. Mr. Tillman will remember. We know you want to be on the boats. But we need more critical vacancies filled now. Okay?”
I sigh. “Okay. Thanks.”
Navy inclines his head and gets to his feet. I follow. “The next time I see you in this office, it better be after we tell you we’re ready to fill the boat positions.”
“You know, the islands are in a constant flux right now. There are permanently open positions because there’s no one to fill them.
We can’t bring new people here to fill them because there’s nowhere for them to live.
” I meet Navy’s eyes as we step outside.
“I get that all of this is under consideration and whatever, but in the meantime? What then?”
He sighs. “I don’t know. I’m not paid the big bucks to consider these questions and suggest solutions.”
“They should have been thought about before expanding the resort so much.” I wave at Navy as I leave the building. I don’t head back to the docks right away, though. It’s not often that I visit the other islands.
As residents, we have free access to all the islands. We pay for excursions at a steep discount. Same with food and entertainment. Still, I have very little reason to leave Bane most days unless I’m going to the Hinky Dinky Bar. I rarely wander beyond there, though.
Since I’m feeling frustrated and annoyed, I wander down the path and look at all the pretty bodies.
On Anapos, there’s a bigger mix of genders, though the guest population is still largely male.
Because there are a lot of pools and endless beaches, the airport, the big excursions office, and a ton of restaurants, we see more women here, too.
Otherwise, women tend to stay on Etsumi. It’s something that kind of happened naturally, though I’m not sure anyone knows why. When the lesbians came, they took over Etsumi, and so the resort kind of caters to the natural order.
Still. I like being on Anapos where there are all genders.
It’s nice to see a place where everyone gets along, and there’s no ugliness around every corner.
Not that I’ve had any experience outside of Kala to speak of.
I’ve never left the island since being brought here as an infant.
All my judgment is based on everyone else’s experiences, the news, and social media.
At least with firsthand accounts, I know that I’m hearing their truth.
News and social media? It’s really fifty-fifty.
I stop at the gelato parlor and order a cherry sundae from Willow. He’s a year older than me and Lie, but we went to school together.
“What’re you doing here?” Willow asks as he scans my bracelet for payment.
“Botched interview.”
He snorts. “You sucked that bad, huh?”
I shake my head as I watch him make my sundae. “No. They just keep offering me jobs I don’t want. Even after I tell them I’m going to refuse the jobs that I don’t want. That I’m interviewing for a specific position and won’t settle for something outside that.”
Willow laughs. “Yeah? How’s that working for you?”
“They’re wasting all our time. The position they want filled isn’t filled, and the position I want, which isn’t filled, they won’t offer me.
Seems like a fail all the way around. They know where I want to be, but because they’re dead set on filling positions in a specific order, they’d rather leave the one I want open. It’s stupid.”
“That’s how I ended up here,” he says as he loads my sundae with whipped cream. “I wanted to be a line cook at the big restaurant. I want to be a master chef one day. But this is where they needed someone.”
“And now you’re stuck,” I say. “How does that make you feel?”
He gives me a bemused look, but that expression turns into a frown. “I guess I never thought of it like that. I kind of thought I’d move up from here.”
“But how? They needed that position filled, and now it’s filled. How are you ever going to have the opportunity to move up when they demand filling the most essential roles before those less critical? You’re stuck being an ice cream peon.”
“I don’t like you today.”
“Give me more cherries,” I demand.
He snorts and scoops a large spoon filled with cherries onto my sundae. “I hate this newfound perspective. Thanks for that.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring you down with me. I’m feeling grumpy.”
Our conversation comes to an end when a group of men get in line for ice cream. I take my sundae and wander my way back to the docks as I eat it. Vanilla soft serve with fresh cherry drizzle, whipped cream, and cherries all over. It’s the best.
My sundae is just about gone by the time the ferry drops me off on Bane Island.
I dump the soupy remainder into the trash and grab my phone from the locker.
On my way home, I call Lie to complain for the rest of the afternoon.
I’m not sure that misery always loves company, but right now, I just want to bitch about how annoyed I am with this whole thing.
I like the owners of Kala—the Calloways. They’re good people. They try really hard to make everyone happy. But there are some processes that just don’t work, and there should be an opportunity to adjust them.
I also think they need to figure out an immediate balance solution to getting new people onto Kala to work and having somewhere for them to live. There’s no such thing as exponential growth when you don’t have the resources to support that growth.
Lie listens to me complain. He’s the best when I need to vent. He’s completely and entirely on my side. Even if I get whiny and pouty like I am now.
I talk to Lie right until I eat dinner with my parents. It’s weird that they’re home tonight. I keep thinking about Lie’s ridiculous ideas about what keeps them out of the house for so many hours of the day, and while the vast majority of his suggestions were outlandish, there were some that…
Could my parents swing? Are they going to Ceto and partying with the guests? Are they going to the nude beaches on Makara and hooking up with guests? What things are going on that I’m not sure I want to know about?
Needless to say, I don’t ask. I do repeat my griping when they ask how my interview went. I’m sure they already know by now. I’m sure they could guess before I even left Bane as to the outcome.
By the time I’m in my room that night, I’m still feeling grumpy, so I sit on my floor with my headphones and bring a blanket over my head to drown out the world.
Lie listens to dirty books, and I’ve thought about doing the same.
He always suggests ones for me to listen to, but I don’t know.
Thinking about guys reading sex scenes in my ears has my skin heating with embarrassment.
I’m startled when the blanket comes off my head, and I’m staring up at Onyx. I push my headphones back as he takes a seat beside me. He already turned off my overhead light, and now we’re in the shadows created by my dim lamp.
“Why are you hiding, Cash?” he asks, bumping his shoulder into mine.
I’ve already complained to like four people today, and I’m over hearing my voice at this point. So I shake my head. “Just had an annoying day.”
“Didn’t get the job you wanted.”
It’s not a question. “I think I knew I wouldn’t going in. Navy interviewed me and told me I should stop applying. He’d tell me when they’re actually looking to fill that position. But what if there are always more important positions to fill?”
“I think it’ll become more important in the spring when people begin traveling more. An influx of people coming to Kala means more slots on the cruise schedule open up. More hours for the staff. It means more staff are needed.”
I shift to look at him. “Really?”
He smiles, and my heart lurches into my throat when he brushes his thumb gently across my cheek. “Yes. Really. They’re all going to want to be on your tour. There’s going to be a wait list.”
My eyebrows knit together. “Why?”
“The scenery is beautiful, but you’re breathtaking. You’ll only add to the aesthetic of the tour.”
There’s a good chance that I forget how to breathe entirely. My mouth opens to respond, but no words come out. Did he just… what?