A Rumble of Frost chapter 3

New York City, Dockside Warehouse , February 11th 2001, 8:00 AM EDT

I rolled out of bed bright and early the next day, no alarms required. I  had a thing about interrupted sleep. I refused to use alarms of any  kind because I felt like any nights sleep was ruined if it ended in  annoying screeching, so I always made sure to give myself eight to ten  hours before I had to do anything whenever I went to bed. That way I had  time to have my natural rest and wake up refreshed after.

Plenty of time to remember to text Peter when I got up. One of the  reasons my cash reserves were so low was the burner cell I bought with  cash after I left Chicago. I wanted to make sure I could contact others,  but that they couldn't contact me. Or at least couldn't track me  easily. I shot him a message with a meeting place. He'd scrawled his own  number next to Gwen's on the sheet with the time for the interviews. I  got a pretty quick response that made me wonder exactly how early he'd  woken up and then I went about getting ready.

Though I didn't have too much in the way of clothes, I had a button  down shirt and some slacks in my bag just in case. Aside from my normal  every day wear I also had a pair of sweats and a ratty old tee to wear  around the house, but since I had no house to be around I doubted I'd be  using those too soon. After getting changed, I went in search of a  donut shop I'd seen nearby on my walk, and picked up a dozen for the ten  bucks I had left. I ate nine of them, then decided to save three for  Peter since he was helping me out.

And so began my walk to the meeting spot, a park only ten minutes from  the Daily Bugle. I figured I could go early and sit for a while. I'd  considered working out, but I would have to get all sweaty in my nice  clothes and I felt like it would make a bad impression for an interview.  So I arrived at the park and sat on an out door picnic table, waiting  for Peter and going over what I knew about job interviews as I booted up  the canon and tried to puzzle out what the settings did.

Not that I figured much out. Lots of weird things to tweak like shutter  speed and focus, so after spending five minutes fucking with it I just  shoved it back into the pockets of my slacks and laid down to wait. I  wasn't the only one to arrive early though, because after about fifteen  minutes, I heard a throat clear from nearby. I looked up to find Peter,  in the same general outfit I was in, a button up and slacks, looking at  me in amusement. "Are you literally lying down on the job right now?  Because that's almost too on the nose."

sat up with a groan, flipping him off. "I don't HAVE a job yet. Let me  be lazy before it all ends. Besides, people who make bitchy comments  don't get donuts." I held up the box and shook it tauntingly. Peter's  eyes went wide and he practically blurred forward to snatch the box. I  whistled at the speed on display. He must have been starving. "Damn,  Pete, they're donuts, not spanish dubloons. Cool it."

Peter already had the top off and was stuffing a glazed into his mouth  with a groan. "Sorry." He said through a mouthful of donuts. "My Aunt  May is on a diet. She's trying to cut out carbs and she cooks all my  food. I forgot how good bread tastes." He was practically groaning as he  started on his second donut. "So." He said casually. "You talk to Gwen  yet today? You guys seemed chummy."

That got a raised eyebrow. "Nope. Not yet. I was going to call her if I  got the job. First thing in the morning seemed a bit desperate." At his  feigned nonchalance, I decided to just come out and ask the awkward  question. "Am I stepping on any toes there? You two didn't seem  particularly close. I figured I was safe on that front. If I'm cutting  in on something I can cool it." Gwen was cute, but we hadn't really  gotten further than a bit of flirting. I wasn't going to alienate a new  bro for something like that. Even if I hoped he told me no.

Lucky for me, I got the wave I was expecting. "Oh, nothing like that.  She's helped me out around school a few times. Scared off some bullies.  She actually IS as much of a badass as she pretends to be. Pulled a  knife on this one guy. We haven't been in school too long though. School  started on the second, and she's new. Anyway, feel free to take a shot,  man. I kind of have a girl I like anyway, so don't feel weird about  it." He flushed a bit at the mention of this girl, so I assumed she was  hot. Good for him, and for me.

"Alright, cool. She's a cutie, and fun to talk to. Anyway, we can talk  about girls later, and don't think I'm not gonna ask about your chick,  but for now I figure you should start teaching me how this camera works.  Somehow I don't think I'm going to pick this up quickly. There's like a  hundred options on this damn menu." I held up the offending device and  he chuckled as he took it from me, flipping through it.

He didn't seem too bothered, not that I was surprised given the big ass  black camera that was hanging from his neck with one of those big fancy  lenses on it. "Huh. Ok, this isn't too bad." He flipped through it for a  bit before passing it back. "Ok, first thing you need to know is that  you don't need to know any of that stuff. Cameras are pretty easy to use  at the base level. I'll rig the settings for you before we go in. You  can learn about the individual stuff over time, but in terms of the  first lesson you only need to be aware of a few things."

Holding up the camera, he clicked to a specific setting, showing it to  me. "Camera for dummies step one. The flash. Keep that off if there's  natural light, turn it on if there isn't. That's not to say you want to  use it in the dark. Try to keep it to daytime pictures. Night shots are  much more complicated, we'll get to that later. Second make sure not to  hold down the button, this camera has a recording function, and you  might take a video by accident. Could be useful later, but right now go  ahead and stick to clicks."

The next hour was spent going over small details. Apparently 'only the  basics' still covered a ton of stuff. Luckily I was pretty sharp when I  wanted to be. My mother had been pretty hard up on academics. I  personally avoided that shit if at all possible, but I WAS intelligent,  even if my preference was just punching shit. Still, it was a bit  annoying memorizing all this stuff. I was glad when it was over.

Once we finished up Peter had me spend the next half hour taking shots,  correcting my form and pointing out ways I could improve. I made a  mental note to delete some of the pictures, mostly because I'd  'accidentally' caught a few cute jogger girls in yoga pants during my  practice, and I doubted Gwen wanted bouncing asses on her camera roll,  even if some of them were particularly juicy.

After he showed me how to delete pictures, we headed over to the Bugle.  It was about ten am, so we were early, but we figured they would have a  waiting room or something, and it was kind of fucking cold outside.  February was a chilly month, and mornings were always extra icy. Luckily  it wasn't snowing, and when we got inside we breathed a sigh of relief  at the warm air of the Daily Bugle building. We trekked through the  bullpen towards the editor's office, figuring we would ask about a spot  to wait, but slowed to a stop before reaching the desk at the sound of  fairly creative cursing.

"Fucking digital whore!" Spat an attractive thirty something with dark  hair, as she glared at her computer. "I didn't want the font to be that  big!" She looked about ten seconds away from hurling her monitor through  the opaque glass of her boss's office. Unfortunately, she caught sight  of us right after and decided to change targets. "What do you two want.  Interviews for the photographer position start at noon. I don't really  have time to entertain a couple kids, not while this website is being a  bitch."

Peter, luckily, seemed to have a ready made response. "I'm pretty good  with computers. I can check it out for you." He seemed so meek and  helpful that the black haired hottie actually calmed down slightly. She  closed her eyes and took a deep breath, which was pretty pleasant to  watch considering her cup size. Probably C's or so, not absurdly large,  but very perky. I jerked my gaze away just before she opened her eyes,  brown irises fixing on Peter.

"Sorry." She said with a sigh. "Yes. I'd love the help, if you can check  this out for me, I'd appreciate it. I can put in a good word for you  with Jonah if you want." She slid her chair back (it was on wheels) and  let peter get to the keyboard. She gave him the rundown of what she  wanted, and the kid started up making changes, absolutely flying through  a bunch of coding I didn't have any clue how to parse.

I leaned against the wall, watching him work, and looked down to the  milfy chick. "Oh, sorry, we forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Billy,  and that's Peter." I held out a hand. "And you are? Aside from pretty  obviously done with today I mean." I shot her a grin to let her know I  was mostly teasing.

Her eyes tracked up me, noting exactly how UP that was, before meeting  mine, and took my hand. "Betty Brant. Jonah's secretary." She released  my hand, waving at the computer. "NOT...whatever this is. Jonah  apparently thinks secretary is latin for 'bitch who does the stuff that  annoys me'. Sadly, that has proven to be that case more times than not,  so I can't exactly argue the point. I'm going to have to put my foot  down about computer shit though, because I have absolutely no clue how  any of that works. I'm too old to pick up that kind of thing."

That got a snort from me. "I wouldn't describe you as old. Or a bitch  based on the conversation we've had so far, though I admit the latter is  more of a gut feeling." I shot her a wink, and saw her give me a once  over again, this time ignoring the height and focusing on the obvious  muscle under the shirt and slacks. She bit her lip in appreciation,  taking her time enjoying the show.

She leaned forward, giving me a nice look down her shirt. "I appreciate  the comment about my age, but I assure you, I can definitely be your  bitch." She widened her eyes innocently. "Oops. A bitch. I meant I can  be A bitch. Silly me. What a thing to say to a guy I just met." She  winked at me. "Think I should be punished?" Despite the aggressive  flirting, she wasn't being touchy or getting in close, so I was pretty  sure she just liked to talk a big game. Still, I put her on my maybe  list for some work fun.

Her reaction to me wasn't exactly unheard of. It was the height. A lot  of girls got really into being towered over, and the muscles made it  even more obvious that I was bigger than them. Add in my admittedly  handsome features, and I'd definitely been hit on before. Usually it was  for my last name too, but the physical appearance helped, and talking  to Gwen had made me a bit more comfortable chatting up girls as an  unknown.

Chuckling, I pulled a piece of paper off a notepad on her desk and  grabbed a pen, jotting down my cell. "Tell you what. Why don't you give  me a call about later, and we can come up with a suitable way to  discipline you." I wasn't going to try to be pushy if she was just a  work flirt. If she called, I'd break her ass in half, but I'd leave the  ball in her court. Just because someone like to tease didn't meant they  were down to get pounded.

She looked a bit surprised at that, like she'd expected me to keep  going, but she also seemed intrigued. She slipped the number into the  pocket of her skirt with a smile. "I might just do that." Before she  could continue talking though, she came up short as she stopped to stare  at the screen, where Peter was just finishing up a string of code I was  pretty sure would have taken me an hour to type. Dear gods that guy  could type fast. Crazy dexterity. "Holy shit, you're done? That's  amazing kid, how did you do that?"

I didn't know why he was 'kid' and I was allowed to make her my bitch,  but I was guessing the full foot of height difference was a factor.  Before he could respond, she raised her voice to a bellow. "Hey! Jonah!  Come out here a second!" I winced at the volume. Damn, she had a pair of  lungs on her. The door opened, revealing a salt and pepper man in his  late forties, going gray around the temples. Betty pointed to the  computer. "Check this out. This kid just recoded the whole website I was  struggling with in like three minutes."

The man, Jonah, turned to look at the computer, walking over to scroll  through the site for a minute before nodding. "Huh. Looks good to me."  He turned to Peter. "Hey kid, you want to be a..." He trailed off.  "Brant, what the hell do you call someone who does website shit all the  time? I'm pretty sure I can't put nerd on a paycheck."

I had to fight a snicker at that. Betty just rolled her eyes.  "Webmaster, Jonah. He would be our webmaster." She pointed at me. "His  big friend is here for a photographer job too I think, so there's that.  We have the positions open, right?" Jonah just nodded, waving us off to  head back into the office, telling Betty to just take care of it. And  that was how I got my first job as a news photographer.