The Position Read Online Free Page A

obsessive about living up to that promise. I feel a thrill tingle through me at the thought that I might be on my way at last.  
    Liz heads to the bedroom. I walk straight to the mirror over the dining room table and grimace at my reflection. So that’s what I looked like at the interview. Except maybe a little less soggy. “Fuck me.”  
    Liz returns to the living room wearing a pair of yoga pants as well. She comes around the table to where I’m standing and considers my reflection. She doesn’t seem self-conscious or shy or stuck-up or jealous at all. Some of Travis’s hook-ups can be kind of a nightmare. But I already like Liz.  
    “Looks like you’ve had a crappy day so far,” she says.  
    Our eyes meet in the mirror. “Looks can be deceiving.”  
    “Sit down and relax. I’ll make you a hot cup of coffee.” She heads to the kitchen, already knowing her way around.
    “How long have you known Travis?” I ask, collapsing onto the thrift shop couch with the too-poofy cushions.  
    “Since the weekend,” she calls out from the kitchen. “I hear he’s a player.” She comes out carrying a steaming mug with a mattress store logo, and then lingers in the doorway.   “Cream and sugar?” she asks.  
    “I’m good.” I need the caffeine jolt more than the flavor anyway. “And I’m not going to throw poor Travis under the bus. But I’m not going to correct you, either.”  
    Liz hands me the mug and sits down beside me. “That’s okay. I’m not looking for anything serious. And he’s ridiculously cute. Have you two ever…?”
    I blow gently on the coffee and roll my eyes. “Honey, please. We’re solidly in the friend zone. We were born in the friend zone.”  
    “Yeah. That’s more or less what Travis said.”  
    I raise my eyebrows, curious. “Oh yeah? What did he say, exactly?”
    “That you’re a hot fucking mess who needs a shower!”  
    I turn, startled, to find Travis in the doorway, bare chested, with a towel around his waist. Liz’s eyes light up at the sight of him, as if she just can’t get enough. His longish black curls look crazy and wet. His chest is smooth and brown from playing hours of pickup soccer on the “skins” team. There’s no doubt about it. He’s a hell of a specimen. But I’m used to him now. We’ve been through so much together. Besides, he goes for stunning, leggy blonds with perfect boobs, not frumpy, glasses-wearing ugmos like me.  
    “What the hell happened to you?” he asks, rubbing at his hair with a hand towel. “You looked like you caught a ride on the underside of a bus.”  
    I sigh and pull the tucked-in shirt from my waist. “I got doored on the way to my interview.”  
    “Are you okay?” Liz asks with complete sincerity. “Did you hurt yourself?”  
    I shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”  
    Travis heads to the kitchen and I can hear the fridge door open. I know he’s just standing there, staring inside the way he does a hundred times a day, even though he’s not hungry. “Did you reschedule the interview?” he calls.  
    “No, I went to the interview.”  
    Liz’s eyes go wide and she laughs. “Oh, shit!” She holds up a hand to high-five me. “You go, girl!”  
    But Travis doesn’t think it’s funny. I hear him close the fridge and he appears in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. “Mickey, this interview was serious. It was the best firm in the entire city. To have that on your résumé would be…”  
    I look down at my pathetic self again. “Bad idea?” I mumble.
    “Uh…yeah!” Travis rubs his face as if he’s thinking *I don’t know what the fuck to do with a train wreck like you*. “Who’s going to hire that?” He gestures at me as if I were an inanimate object.  
    I pull myself painfully to my feet. My muscles are starting to feel stiff and the skin on my back still feels raw as hell. “Well,” I say, sauntering in the direction of the bathroom. “Apparently, Jude