Orientation was always a painful process at the resort. The whole summer staff had the same basic orientation year after year. An hour of intake documents followed by the drug test and a full day of training sessions. Customer Service first (because our number one priority is customer service, or so we'd been told regularly). Next we had a first aid refresher, then a conflict de-escalation seminar. I'm not saying that these weren't important, but it got repetitive after the fourth or fifth summer.
The morning's sessions were all taught by people who had WAY too much energy for a Saturday morning. I sat at the back of the room with all the seasoned veterans who would rather be scraping gum off the sidewalk than sitting here. I made more of an attempt to pay attention than the man next to me, who had fallen asleep.
I looked around the room, hoping to see familiar faces. I locked eyes with Devin, the head of security. He and I had both worked here since we were fifteen. Six years of this. He rolled his eyes as the presenter bubbled about the difference between a cut and a scrape. I could tell Devin was equally as impatient with today, but he had to pay attention. Being the youngest department head, the older staff were foaming at the mouth anticipating his fuck ups. My gaze moved on.
More familiar faces that I couldn't match to names. There must have been a hundred people. I'd be lucky if I remembered ten of them. Finally, I spotted the person I was really looking for.
Nova had her back to me, but I could tell it was her. It might have been the red highlight through her blonde hair that she had debuted for me last year. It was darker than she had intended, but I insisted it looked great, and she grudgingly kept it. A year later, and I guess it had grown on her.
Maybe it was the way she sat, one leg up on the seat with the chair tipped back, and her head tipped over to the side. Her "I know this information already, but I'll pay attention anyways" pose. She always exuded confidence. It made me slightly jealous.
Of course, it might have been the fact that we'd known each other for the better part of a decade. We could pick each other out of a crowd from across the room with ease.
Phew. I had asked her if she was working at the resort again this summer, but she refused to tell me. It was some kind of game to her. She liked watching me squirm, thinking about having to work the summer without her. She's the one that found this job in the first place. I guess she had a brother who knew someone that comes here sporadically, and knew the aquatics director.
Nova didn't turn around, not that I was watching her the whole time or anything. Every now and then she'd glance down at her watch to check the time or answer a text. I wanted to text her, but when I pulled my phone out, it was dead. Figures. I plugged it in at the wall and kept listening to the presentation.
Much to the delight of my whining stomach, it was finally lunch time. We had an hour before the next mandatory session began, so I decided to walk down the street to the sandwich shop I'd be frequenting for the next several months. I looked around for Nova, but she was nowhere to be seen. I grabbed my now-charged phone, shot her a text and headed for the shop.
Going to Charlie's, want anything? My phone buzzed before it reached my pocket.
Nah. Getting lunch with Vinnie. TTYL.
Who the hell was Vinnie? I shrugged to myself and tried to hide my disappointment as I trudged over to Charlie's. I stepped outside and immediately regretted it. It was June, and the temperature was already in the high 80s and humid. It was going to be a hot summer. Good thing we work at a pool, I thought to myself.
I made it two blocks in the beating sun before someone grabbed the back of my shirt. Tight. A gruff voice behind me,
"You better bring me a sandwich punk!" The brief tension in my gut released as soon as she started speaking. It wasn't uncommon for people to get dragged down a side street and mugged around here, but I figured Nova wouldn't do that to me. I smiled broadly, turning around.
"Aren't you a little short to be threatening people?" I looked down at my best friend who was at least five inches shorter than me. I was a solid six foot; her, maybe five-six. She was smiling too. A sticker was stuck to her chest. Hello! My name is Vinnie!
"I can't believe you were going to Charlie's and thought I wouldn't want to come!" She bemoaned.
"I thought you were with Vinnie," I said guiltily, although I don't know why. Nova's green eyes rolled so far around that I thought they'd end up facing the wrong way.
"Were you jealous?" She blinked up at me innocently. I turned and headed for Charlie's, ignoring the question that she already knew the answer to. She jogged to catch up to me, sticking Vinnie's nametag to my shoulder. "I know you were back there looking at me the whole time."
My heart skipped. Of course I glanced her way a time or two. I mean, I wasn't particularly close to anyone else at orientation, and I wanted to be with someone I knew. That was the reason, I lied to myself. I looked back at Nova. Her hair, normally straight, was frizzy in the humidity. It reached past her shoulders, brushed over the left side. She wore a loose black hoodie today, and sweats. I don't know how she wasn't dying. We'd been texting for the whole semester, but neither of us had enough free time to actually come visit each other, since we were both going to school out of town. I missed her. I smiled.
"Something funny?" Nova caught me.
"Yeah," I shrugged. "You seem to get shorter every time I see you."
That earned me a jab to the ribs. Nova checked the time and we made our way to Charlie's.
XX______
We got back from Charlie's forty-five minutes late. Nova and I had sat at the counter, chatting with Charlie for a while, talking about our semesters, and thinking up our summer plans. We didn't realize how late it was until Charlie took a phone-in order and told the customer that it'd be ready around 2:00. Oops.
We snuck in to the General Information session just as Devin was going over fire drill information.
"Hey, Jack," he taunted over the microphone, "nice of you to join us."
My face reddened and Nova snorted. I pursed my lips and gave an embarrassed wave to the room, which was now looking at us. Nova curtseyed. Devin winked at me with a devious smirk and continued with his presentation. Since Nova and I had worked here for years now, everyone knew who we were. There were plenty of rumors swirling around about us dating, and this certainly wouldn't help. It didn't occur to me until later that, because we ran back, both of us were sweaty, disheveled, and out of breath. I know what I would have thought had anyone else showed up like this, but I digress.
The director hopped on the microphone next. "It's time to split up by department." He listed off the departments and where they would all be meeting. Aquatics would go to the auditorium, and split up from there. Finally, I thought to myself, thankful that the worst part was over.
