Inspired by - 16. The Perfect Day

His final thought as he climbed into bed was 'I wish I could do it all over again.' It had been the perfect sort of day for Roger. The day had gone so incredibly well he couldn’t believe it.

Early that morning the alarm had gone off and for a change Roger had woken up after getting a full nights rest. Today he was suppose to go for the job interview and afterwards he was meeting Greg in town for pizza and possibly a movie. It wasn’t often he got up before six o’clock in the morning.

“Coffee,” he muttered as he schlepped out to the kitchen and started the machine. The he walked with his eyes closed to the bathroom. It was such a part of his normal routine that he couldn’t believe anything could go wrong. He brushed his teeth, took a shower, and got into the clothes he had hung up in the bathroom the night before. He had his black dress pants and sharp red shirt with a matching tie. He figured he would look perfect.

He grabbed his coffee and was just starting to drink when Midnight, his cat, scared the hell out of him by rubbing up against his leg.

“Jesus, Midnight, you trying to give me a heart attack? Oh crap. Look what happened Mid. I spilled coffee down this. I can’t wear it now. What the hell am I going to do?”

Roger ran back to his bedroom stripping off the tie and shirt as he went. There was only one other dress shirt in his closet. It was deep purple one with a tie that was also in shades of purple. It was the one shirt he never wore but his mother had bought for it him. Roger checked but it was the last clean dress shirt he had.

“Guess I go as a grape today,” he muttered as he tossed on the shirt and tie. One look at the clock and he knew he had to run.

Roger arrived ten minutes early for his interview. He carried in his brief case another copy of his resume as well as some examples of his work. There was no way he planned to mess this up. He was sent by the general secretary to see Ms. Wilkin, the secretary for the hiring manager.

“I’m Roger Smarts. I’m here for the interview with Mr. Carter. I’m his nine am.”

“Have a seat, Mr. Smarts. Mr. Carter will be with you shortly.” She glanced up and then paused looking at his shirt. “I guess you did your research well, Mr. Smarts.”

Roger had no idea what she meant but smiled politely. He had barely sat down when the phone on Ms. Wilkin’s desk rang.

“Hello, this is Mr. Carter’s office. Oh . Yes. Yes, in fact your nine o’clock is here now. Sure. I’ll send him right in, Sir.”

Ms. Wilkin’s smiled and looked over at Roger.

“You want the last door at the end of the hall. I wish you luck.”

“Thank you.” Roger was nervous but he figured he really needed this job.

Mr. Carter met him at the door with a large smile and hearty handshake. He took one look at Roger’s shirt and beamed. The interview for the new editor position went perfectly. It seemed everything Mr. Carter could want to ask or know, Roger hand an answer for. Everything went perfect till the last question, which sort of threw Roger for a loop.

“So why did you wear that color shirt?”

Embarrassed to say it was the last clean one or that his cat had startled him into spilling coffee on his original shirt, Roger went with a half truth instead.

“It was a gift from my mother and I thought it might give me luck.”

Mr. Carter laughed.

“Well your mother has good taste. It is also in the contract from the owner that anyone who comes to apply for a job here at Reaper Books is to be given a job somewhere in the company if they wear purple to the interview.”

Roger laughed. Now he understood the comment from Ms. Wilkin when he sat down.

“I do have one more interview for the position. However, you now know you will have a position here. I promise you will have a call by five tonight to let you know whether it is the editor’s job or whether we had to find something else for someone with your abilities.”

Roger practically floated out the door and headed straight to his car. He drove right over to Greg’s job and waited for him to walk out. Ten minutes after pulling up outside the store Greg walked out the door. He strolled right over and leaned in the driver’s window so he could talk to Roger.

“Hey. How did the interview go?” asked Greg as he leaned in to kiss his boyfriend.

“Great. In fact no matter what I have a job there,” Roger said excitedly.

Greg looked at Roger and raised his eyebrow.

“And just how did that happen? Did you have to offer the interviewer some special favors?”

Roger looked at Greg, blushed, and shook his head.

“You know, you really can be disgusting some times.”

“Then how do you know you have a job already?” Greg was truly intrigued at what his lover had to say.

“They told me.”

Greg shook his head as he walked around to the other side of the car. Again he leaned in the open window to talk to Roger.

“Okay. Still doesn’t tell me why you got a job there. Are you sure they didn't give you a hint?”

“Would you believe it is all because of this shirt?”

“No," said Greg with a wicked smile, "but I might believe you blew your interviewer.”

"Very funny. Ha ha. Let's go to eat wise guy," Roger joked as he watched Greg wag his eyebrows again.

Greg climbed into the car and closed the door. Roger drove them over to their favorite restaurant for lunch.

“Eating in or taking out, guys?” Christine asked as they walked in.

“You’re stuck with us today, Christine.” Greg said as they stood by her seating chart.

“Well, lucky me then. Okay guys I have a seat for you in the back. Here is the menu, but I’m sure you know it as well as I do. Oh, and you two have to take one of these tickets. Mario is raffling off a free meal today for his customers. There is a drawing every hour. So fill it out and give it Alicia. She will be your server today.”

Greg and Roger talked over lunch. Greg was recently hired at local salon. He was their new massage therapist. The pay was crap but the owner did create a 401K for his employees. Greg wasn’t too bad off working there even if he had told Roger he would love to find something better. The two talked over everything about Roger’s interview, their days, and their plans for the evening.

“Hey, guys. Thanks. I’ll go grab your check. Oh, you did fill out the raffle tickets. Mario is about to pull this hour’s winner. I better get these in there.” Alicia smiled as she headed back toward the kitchen, dropping the tickets into the large fish bowl on the counter on the way to get their check.

“So you really think they will call you?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Well, I am ...” began Greg as he was cut off by the loud voice of Mario.

“Hey, everyone listen up for a minute. Glad you all like our food so much. To celebrate a year in business we have been drawing a winner every hour since we opened today. If I pull your ticket your meal is free.”

That brought a round of cheers from every customer in the place.

Mario made one of the girls mix up the tickets and then he reached in and pulled one out.

“And this hours’ winner is Roger. Roger I hope you didn’t order enough for ten,” joked Mario as he tried to find the winner.

Roger raised his hand and Alicia waved his check and walked over to Mario.

“Ah, you went easy on me. Two slices and two drinks is all you ordered. I almost feel guilty picking up the tab. Almost,” Mario said with smile.

Roger was really excited. The job and now a free meal, for him everything was finally going right.

“Lucky,” stated Greg. “You were supposed to pick up lunch and I would get the movie tonight. It seems I’m the only one who is going to be paying tonight.”

Roger laughed as he left a tip for Alicia and headed out the door. They had kept things simple so Roger could drop Greg back at work.

“So what time are you done tonight?”

“My last appointment is at six fifteen tonight. Why don't you swing by to pick me up about seven thirty? We can make the eight o’clock film if you can find something for us that you would like to see. Besides hopefully by then you will know what you have for a job. We can celebrate.” Greg announced as he leaned to kiss his boyfriend goodbye.

“I got it babe. See you later.”

The call came at four from Mr. Carter tell Roger he had gotten the job. He ran over all the details and told Roger to be at the book company on Monday at seven am. Roger scarfed down a salad and showered quickly before he went to get Greg. That night they found a great comedy to watch and then stopped for a drink afterwards.

As Roger got home his whole body was on a natural high from the day’s events. He took a quick shower and headed off to the bedroom. He couldn’t help but be excited about how everything had gone so well simply because Mid had decided to scare him that morning. It was one of those perfect days that don’t come too often and Roger had managed to enjoy every minute of it.