Same Old Place, Brand New Rules

 

The hardback chairs in the waiting room were designed to inflict a slow and steady torture, I was sure of it. I couldn't tell how long they'd made me wait, but I was starting to lose sensation in my ass. I jiggled my foot to try and wake up my numb cheeks which, of course, was when the doctor's door opened.

“Mr. Hale?” A tall, slim man stood in the doorway. I startled. I hadn’t recognized the name he called me. Stupid because it was the one I gave on my application. The name I would go under whilst I played them all to get what I wanted. My real name was a dead giveaway. It would jeopardize everything if they found out who I really was so it simply seemed the best recourse to lie and give them my mother’s maiden name instead.

“Uh, yeah?”

“If you’d like to come in now.” He stepped aside and gestured for me to enter ahead of him. I stood up, repressing the urge to slap the numbness out of my ass, and walked purposefully into his office with the need to impress on every unconscious level I could. And completely aware that my age could stand against me. I sat in one of the available wooden high-backed seats and struggled to look both formal and relaxed all at once. I think I pulled off constipated.

The office was sparsely decorated, as though any sign of life or comfort might distract the patient, or in this case me, from whatever pearls of wisdom the shrink imparted.

Thankfully I wasn't a patient. Not that a bout of therapy wouldn't do me some good, I had definite unresolved daddy issues and a mad infatuation with a particular young woman that would probably keep a shrink in luxury sports cars well into his retirement years but that wasn't why I was sat in this Tienimi healthcare office. No, I was here for an evaluation. I wanted a promotion to the coveted companion role and this was my only means of achieving that goal.

"Mr. Hale," he said again. He tapped a red pen on the clipboard he held in front of him and eyed me with his searching stare and heavy frown.

"Doctor Charalambous," I returned, offering him a quick nod of my head. He seemed a little put out that I knew his name, or perhaps that I bothered to use it, because he physically withdrew from me, pulling himself back into his winged burgundy leather chair.

"Your résumé and the reports we have received from your managers and coworkers here at Tienimi have been very impressive,” he admitted reluctantly, if his lingering frown was anything to go by.

I said nothing.

He made me wait a few more uncomfortable seconds before he continued. “So, you would like to apply to the companions team?” he asked me in his high-pitched voice, I could almost feel the vibration of his words tickle my own palate.

“Yes.”

“And why do you think that is the right direction for you?”

“I am well educated, very social, have a variety of interests, am fully versed and trained in many of the activities you offer at Tienimi. I am also well acquainted with the islands and their history. I am a former student of St. Patrice De La Mont which, as I am sure you know, indicates a level of deportment and refinement that I feel would be suited to the role of companion.”

He scribbled notes furiously on his notepad and I wondered why he refused to use the standard issue tablet devices that all staff were given.

“What are your limitations, Mr. Hale?”

“Limitations?”

“What would you not be willing to do in your role as a companion?”

“Are there limitations or rules I am as yet unaware of?” The shrink said nothing so I continued. “I would abide by Tienimi restrictions, and other than that, I am sure I can accommodate a client’s wishes. Should I find myself unable to, I can negotiate with the liaison to remedy the issue at hand.” Good god, all this formal speech was killing me. I found myself suddenly grateful for my father’s contribution to my education. His insistence that I learn the ‘Queen’s English’ and etiquette, whatever that meant, was proving extremely useful. It was probably one of the only things he ever gave me worth having.

“Very well. Your aptitude tests were very promising and the feedback I received from your other interviews, also indicates that you would be a suitable candidate. I am, however, more than a little concerned about your age. You are not yet twenty-one and that will severely restrict your ability to engage with many of our members.”

I knew that was coming. Yeah, I couldn’t legally drink or order alcohol for others—a big issue. Then there were the ruby clientele, who would require a companion that could at least enter the venues—something else Tienimi age restricted. Things were not looking good.

The resort ran on a color system that identified the kind of involvement members were comfortable with. Staff wore blue—sapphires mostly—new members or those seeking solitude wore green emeralds, those open for making friends wore yellow topaz and the more adventurous members stood out in brilliant red rubies. Each kept to their own groups, as per the rules, and all of them knew to obey said rules by identifying themselves via a bracelet at all times. Because of my age, all ruby interaction was strictly off-limits and that was the major hiccup this shrink was stumbling over.

“I have merely a matter of days until my twenty-first birthday. Might I propose a training period where I shadow other companions or perhaps fill in for particular activities where age is irrelevant? Or perhaps be assigned to members of a similar age?”

And BAM that was my plan in a nutshell. The girl I was obsessed with was younger than me by three months. If she was coming to the island, as I suspected she would be, I would be the most suitable candidate for companionship because I was of a similar age.

“I will hand you over to one of our more experienced liaisons for training with a few restrictions, of course, and we will see how you get on.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh and Mr. Hale?”

“Hmm?”

“Do not even think about breaking the age laws for any member or purpose whatsoever. If you do, it will be an immediate dismissal. Do you understand?”

“Of course! I wouldn’t dream of it.”

I got myself out of those offices and into the courtyard before I allowed myself to laugh. The sound of it echoed off the building and filled the air. God dammit I was going to do it. I was finally going to see Penelope.

“I take it from that reaction, you got the job?” Pilo asked from the stairs. I hadn’t even seen him sitting there. I must have walked straight passed him.

Pilipo or Pilo as I called him was a newbie at Tienimi like me. Well not strictly like me. Just like everyone else, he had no idea that I was in fact a five per cent owner of the resort, an unexpected gift from my father when I turned twenty. I tried to refuse the gift at first. I never wanted any part of my father’s money but when he told me it would have been my mother’s share in the resort had she lived, I felt far less obdurate about it.

“You waited?”

“Of course I waited. My roomie is moving up to the big times and you think I am going to let you go it alone?”

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”

“So you really got it then? The companion job?”

“Yeah. They have me on a trial run. I am going to shadow one of the other liaisons until my birthday and then I suppose they will make it official or something.” I was trying to play it down but I couldn’t keep the grin from my face. I didn’t give a crap about the job. It was just another hindrance that would hopefully bring me closer to my goal. Penelope.

“She had better be worth it, Josh.” Pilo remarked, far too astutely.

“How could you tell?”

“That you were thinking about her? Easy. You get this dreamy look in your eyes. You seriously need to man up. Only Zac Efron can get away with the twinkling eyes thing. It is kind of creepy too. Half the time I wonder if you are actually thinking about her or me.” A grin split Pilo’s face as he expertly ducked the swing of my arm.

“Shut up. You know how I feel about her.”

“Yeah and I also know you are crazy. You met her for like five minutes.”

“I knew I should have kept my mouth shut. You just don’t get it. It didn’t even take five minutes. I knew the second—”

“The second she walked into the room in her shimmering dress looking like the stars on a cloudless night.” Pilo finished. Word for word too.

Perhaps I was a little crazy but how could I not be when the girl I fell for after just one glance walked away from me on the arms of another guy? It was like fate had shown me my whole future in her pretty green eyes and then snatched all hope away. And why did it have to be Cameron Blake? Of all the guys she could have left with, why was it the one guy who seemed to have it all? He was better built, better looking, more money, more prospects. More everything. How was I supposed to compete?

 

***

 

My phone rang all afternoon. My assigned liaison, Tania, was a pushy bitch. She sounded Australian from the inflection in her accent which coincidently was beginning to get on my nerves. She was on my case only half an hour after my meeting with the shrink ended and was more demanding than all my aunts put together. I looked at my phone to see what the hell she wanted from me now.

 

Tania: Newbie, get your butt here now. We have a situation.

Me: I am on my way.

 

Everything for this woman was a situation. So far today, I swept out the bugs from under her desk, fetched her dry cleaning, phoned in the meal orders for all of her current guests and taken a member’s dog for its afternoon business. I dreaded to think of what menial task she found for me this time. I was pretty sure she thought of me as her personal dogsbody. The thought annoyed me as I jogged the two flights up the main clubhouse stairs to the liaison offices on the second floor and knocked on Tania’s door. Her annoyingly chipper voice invited me in and I stepped over the threshold to the most unwelcome sight in the world.

The Blake siblings.