Read Online Office Girl by Joe Meno - Free Book Online Page A

and opens the refrigerator door and takes a beer and there beside the refrigerator he sees a girl he has met once or twice, named Leigh G, not Leigh M, and she is dressed as a beautiful silver castle and has sparkly makeup on her cheeks and false eyelashes and a tiara on top of her dark hair. And she smiles and seems to recognize him. And then she is whispering in his ear.
    â€œCould these people be trying any harder?” she asks.
    â€œAt what?”
    â€œAt everything.”
    â€œYou’re the one dressed up as a castle,” Jack says, smiling widely.
    â€œI know, but it was just supposed to be a joke. I was trying to be ironic.”
    â€œOh.” Jack nods and looks down at the girl’s silver shoes. She’s petite and her feet are very small.
    Someone dressed as Big Ben and someone dressed as a chapel, complete with steeple, are now making out right beside the refrigerator. The girl Leigh seems bothered by this.
    â€œAre you still in that band?” she asks. “I think I saw you play one time.”
    â€œNo, not really. I mean, I was. I still play the oboe, on my own.”
    â€œOh. I thought it was pretty bad. But at least it was interesting.”
    â€œThanks. I’m kinda … I’m kinda focusing on other things now. I’m doing some abstract art. And a couple sound installations. And I’m working on a screenplay. And a couple other things too.”
    â€œAre you still in school?”
    â€œNo. Not anymore,” he says. “I mean, I graduated like four years ago. It’s taken me some time to figure out what I want to do.”
    â€œI have no idea what I’m doing either,” the girl says. “Everything seems so … obvious.”
    And Jack nods.
    â€œAre you working?” she asks. “Do you have a job?”
    â€œNot right now. I had a job. I’m basically trying to work as little as I can so I can do other things.”
    â€œThat’s what I want to do,” the girl says.
    â€œWhat about you? Are you …”
    â€œI work at an insurance company.”
    â€œOkay,” Jack says. “What’s that like?”
    The girl looks at him, studying his face. She seems to be calculating something, adding something up. And then she says: “Do you want to get out of here?”
    And here Jack smiles and then, instinctively, pats down the back of his hair.
    â€œReally?” he asks.
    â€œI don’t know,” the girl says, unconvinced. “Why not?”
    And on their bicycles together, they ride through the snow, Jack laughing at the sight of the girl in her outfit, her white legs covered in sheer tights, rising up and down. Someone honks at them, and then a bus swerves past, and Jack asks, “Why don’t you take your costume off?” but Leigh says no. They pause at a red light a few blocks later and he looks over and sees the shape of the castle she is wearing and how red her cheeks are from the cold, and then he says: “You look really pretty.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou look pretty.”
    The girl rolls her eyes and smiles and says, “Thanks,” and then the light changes green.
    â€œDo you want to go to my place?” the girl asks, and Jack nods, surprised.
    â€œReally?”
    â€œI live off of Wood. Plus my roommate’s not home. I could show you my little brother’s notebooks.”
    â€œYour what?”
    â€œHis notebooks. From high school. He used to write his speeches in them. He was on the debate team. My parents made him join. They’re hilarious. His speeches. There’s this one about Star Trek that’s just ridiculous. I make everybody I know look at them.”
    â€œOkay. If you want to.”
    Then, as if she’s still deciding, she finally blinks and says, “Okay.”
    And they pedal off in the direction of the girl’s apartment, only five or six blocks away.
    And as they go, Jack stops at a light at Division and