Views from the Tower (11 page)

Alex and Becca hadn’t had much of an opportunity to talk to each other after orientation, so they spent the first few minutes catching up and comparing classes they’d taken senior year. Then, as it was Friday, the conversation turned to their plans for the weekend. Because GeMMLA was closed on Mondays, Becca had what amounted to a three day weekend. Alex was the intern scheduled for the Saturday morning tours at the museum, so she only ended up with two days off, but it was just as well because she didn’t have any interesting plans.

Eventually the subject of Luke Reed came up.

“Do you know Luke well?” Becca asked. “I was totally shocked to see that he was interning here.” Becca went to Kennedy High, the rival of Alex’s Monroe, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that she would know who Luke was, but for some reason it did surprise Alex. Becca was a brilliant student, and if not the social polar opposite of Alex, pretty close. She was definitely more outgoing and outspoken than Alex would ever dream of being, but she had never expressed an interest in sports before.

Becca must have seen the surprise on her face because she added with a laugh, “Don’t worry, I’m not interested in him.”

Alex blushed. “Oh no, that doesn’t matter, I mean...” she paused not knowing quite what she meant, other than that she was uncomfortable with the assumption that it would matter to her if Becca had an interest in Luke.

Becca continued as if Alex hadn’t just left her sentence hanging. “My brother plays JV baseball at Kennedy. Luke is like a god to them. If he didn’t go to Monroe they might actually set up some kind of shrine.”

Alex smiled. “I think Monroe has already ordered the statue.”

Becca grinned back at her. “So, how are you two friends? Or, I mean...are you friends? He seemed to know you.”

“Our moms are friends,” Alex shrugged. “We used to hang out when we were kids, but that was years ago. We don’t exactly travel in the same social circles.”

It looked for a moment like Becca was going to say something more, but Alex was saved from answering any questions about Luke’s overly friendly, hands-on approach with her at the orientation, by the sound of an office door slamming down the hall, followed by a flurry of excited sounding voices.

They looked at each other in surprise. Excitement was not something encountered often at GeMMLA. Nicholas strode into the supply closet a moment later. His hair looked like he’d run his hands repeatedly through it and his eyes had a slightly frantic, wild look.

“Oh there you are, Alexandra!” he exclaimed. “And Becca,” he added almost as an afterthought. Becca looked at Alex and suppressed a smile.

“Hi, Nicholas.”

“I just received some very big news,” he rushed on. Standing in one place seemed to have become suddenly difficult for him. He hovered on the edge between jittery and all out vibration. He rocked back and forth, his hand tapping against his leg. “Very big news for the museum. I secured us the privilege of being among the first to examine a major gemological and historical find!”

They gaped at him. GeMMLA was not known for being on the cutting edge of research or really on the cutting edge of anything. The key cards for the doors were the biggest technological advancement that the museum had implemented in all the years they’d been interning. Neither of them could remember the museum getting even second or third dibs on anything of any importance in the last four years. They’d even been occasionally scooped by the Natural History Museum that was also part of the Guild. There were those who thought GeMMLA should just sort of quietly give up the ghost and become a division of Natural History.

“That’s awesome, Nicholas!” Alex found her voice first. “What a huge coup for the museum—what is it?”

“And how did we get it?” added Becca.

“It’s part of a find in some backwater part of France—”

At this Becca shot Alex another look, only Nicholas would refer to anywhere in France as “backwater.”

“There are several pieces that are apparently very interesting for the era, unusual metal working and construction. Because one of my old professors is in charge of the dig, I was able to lobby for GeMMLA to receive the pieces. If they have any significance—and I can highlight that in my thesis—I can put GeMMLA on the map!”

“Wow, that’s great! How exciting! Do we know what the pieces are?” Alex asked.

“There are some household items that look like they would have been in a very wealthy home—I’m not sure of all of the details. I just got confirmation from Professor Gagnon. There was all sorts of confusion surrounding the number of pieces and their specifics. His assistant told me one thing, and Professor Gagnon told me another, but it looks like there will be at least five pieces.”

“How totally amazing to get to see historical finds before other groups!” Becca sounded as thrilled as Alex felt, which, Alex reflected, probably made them two of the biggest nerds on the planet. “When is Professor Gagnon sending them?

“He already has sent them! We should be receiving them within the week. I just found out now that they’d already been sent! Before I even had confirmation we’d get first crack at them.” Nicholas was almost crowing in his delight.

“That’s odd isn’t it?” Alex asked cautiously. “Don’t things like that require special shipping and guarding and what not? If we are talking major gemological significance, aren’t we also talking extremely valuable?”

A brief look of doubt, followed quickly by a flash of irritation, skated across Nicholas’s features.

“I am sure Professor Gagnon has made all the necessary arrangements,” he said shortly. “I just need to see about getting the museum to add a carrier to our insurance for such a valuable find and dedicate a portion of the newer part of the building for a research area. The publicity implications associated with a new find and possible revenue from future exhibitions are astronomical! I just spoke to Dr. Fredericks about it now, so I have to coordinate with Maureen.” Nicholas wheeled around and rushed back out the door in the direction of the museum director’s office.

“Well, um, let us know if you need anything from us,” Becca said to his departing back. She turned back to Alex. “He seems a little excited, maybe more excited than informed.”

“Yeah,” Alex was still smarting from the look of annoyance Nicholas had leveled at her when she questioned him, but she felt the need to defend him to Becca. “I’m sure it will all get figured out. It’s a really great opportunity for him and for the museum.”

“Uh-huh, really great.” Becca repeated then she smiled at Alex. “Odd, but great. Wanna hand me the fifth grade worksheet folder?”

*****

Calm, cool, collected,
Alex thought to herself, rubbing her damp palms on her jeans as she stood outside Nicholas’s office Tuesday morning.
Just act like a normal person.

“You wanted me? I, um, Maureen said you wanted to see me?” A blush burned her face and she cursed herself silently. So much for trying to appear normal.

Luckily, Nicholas didn’t look up right away. He was seated behind his desk typing furiously on his laptop, completely absorbed in whatever he was working on, so Alex’s blush had some time to recede. A slight frown creased Nicholas’s forehead as he concentrated on the laptop screen, and Alex wondered how it could make him look so intense and attractive at the same time.

“Hey, Alexandra,” he said still without looking up. “Yeah, give me a minute. I have to finish this email. Have a seat.”

Alex sat in one of the oversized leather chairs in front of his desk and attempted to appear comfortable. The seat was so deep that if she scooted all the way to the back her feet could barely touch the floor, so she perched on the edge of the seat and crossed, then uncrossed her legs. She wasn’t sure what to do with her hands, so she sat on them, then decided that probably looked stupid and so settled for both feet flat on the floor and her hands folded in her lap.

Nicholas finally looked up from his computer. Alex hoped desperately he hadn’t noticed all of her shifting and squirming in the chair.

“How are you doing, Alexandra?” he asked with a smile, the force of which hit Alex so hard in the stomach she forgot to breathe for the space of a second.

“I’m okay,” she gasped.

“Great.” Nicholas got up out of his chair and came around the desk. Alex sat frozen in her chair wondering what she was supposed to do. He angled the other leather chair so it faced her and sat down. He leaned forward, his arms resting lightly on his legs in an earnest position.

“I just wanted to take a quick moment to talk to you, apart from Becca, about this shipment of artifacts we’re getting from Professor Gagnon.”

She nodded silently.

“It’s true, we aren’t very well equipped, staff-wise or facility-wise,” he laughed. “I don’t need to tell you what an old fossil of a place this is.”

Alex forced a weak smile. The museum could use some technological upgrading, but its quaintness was something she loved about it. Although with Nicholas sitting this close to her, close enough that she could smell his cologne, it was hard to form a coherent thought, let alone take umbrage at his casual dismissal of the museum.

He leaned in even closer. “I just wanted to see if you were willing to help. Of course you’re going to be involved: all three of you will be to some extent. However, I was hoping you’d agree to be more of a personal assistant to me instead of dealing with the regular interning duties. I know this would require more time, and I realize you’re young and it’s summer, but I really think this would look great on applications to grad schools or internships.”

Alex swallowed dryly. She had absolutely nothing going on this summer other than interning at GeMMLA, although Nicholas didn’t have to know that—part of appearing like a normal person and all. She attempted to look like she was considering his offer. Jumping up and down before throwing herself at his feet would likely come off just a bit desperate.

“It sounds like it’s going to be a really exciting opportunity. I’d love to be more involved.”

He grinned. “Great, Alexandra, I knew you would!” He leaned forward and patted her on the knee briefly before standing up and going back to the other side of the desk. Alex was rooted to her chair in shock. That was the second time in as many days that he’d touched her. She’d once seen a news report about a bunch of teeny bopper girls who had met whatever teen idol they were crazy over and one of the girls had actually touched him and proudly proclaimed to the news reporter that she was never washing her hand again. At the time Alex thought it was the stupidest statement she had ever heard. Now she totally understood it. She wondered how hard it would be to take a shower without actually washing her left knee.

She was still staring, slightly unfocused, at her jean-clad knee when he plopped a stack of file folders down on the desk directly in front of her.

“Could you start by filling these out and then photocopying them for me? Insurance forms and stuff that Maureen is having us do. Not sure why: pretty sure it should be her job. Thanks, Alexandra, really appreciate it.”

Alex stared at the stack of files, and then up at Nicholas’s brilliant smile. “Um, okay.” She gathered up the surprisingly large stack and stood up awkwardly. “When do you need them by?”

“Tomorrow would be great. Oh, and you’ll still need to do the regular interning duties until we can shift some to Becca and Luke. Speaking of Luke, are you friends?”

Alex blinked, trying and failing to keep up with the swift topic change. “Me and Luke? No, we aren’t friends.”

“Hmm.” Nicholas assessed her, and the calculating look in his eye further confused Alex. “Well, that’s good, he seems too cocky for his own good. Glad you know better than to get involved with someone like him.”

Alex had no idea what to say to that. Part of her thought he was being unfair to Luke, but another bigger part of her held out hope, however small, that he had a personal reason for hoping she wasn’t involved with Luke. Another tiny part of her knew she was being a totally stupid, hopeless idiot.

“Oh, um, okay. I’ll get these copied for you.” She managed a smile and a relatively graceful exit from the room, all of which was lost on Nicholas because he had already returned his focus to his laptop, offering her an absent minded wave as a goodbye.

*****

“You know how you can tell Ernesto’s is a fine dining establishment?” Becca asked as she set her bright orange tray down on the scarred table across from Alex and slid into the booth.

“You can’t,” Alex answered. “There’s nothing fine about it, but it’s darn good pizza.”

Ernesto’s offered the only reasonably priced lunch alternative to brown-bagging it on the lawn and was therefore a favorite hangout of the summer interns, or at least the non-anorexic ones who enjoyed good food. In other words, everyone but the art interns. It was dark and cramped, the decor was straight out of the 1970s, and Ernesto’s served the best and cheapest pizza anywhere in Los Angeles. It was also within walking distance of the museums, making it easy to get to on breaks.

Alex and Becca were enjoying their first Ernesto’s lunch of the summer. They’d been volunteering together at GeMMLA since the ninth grade, and eating together at the pizza joint had become a tradition.