The Goy Next Door (Girl Meets Goy #2)

Chapter 20 The audience

A long weekend was all Leah could manage with her minimally accrued vacation days at Diamond Media. Even the days she had earned she was afraid to use, fearing that it would make her obsolete at Teen Club. Anyone else could just as easily prepare lists of headlines or social media caption ideas or write about any one of the many body parts that teen girls felt self-conscious about. They were doing a whole series on thighs the coming month! Thighs!

Beautiful thighs at every size! Was supposed to be uplifting and celebrate thighs that touched and didn’t touch. Leah spent hours coming up with headings for the story: The thigh is the limit! Thighs of your life! Thighs before guys! And when she had left that day she had gone home and stared at her own thighs in the mirror for longer than she would ever admit. They touched in several places, but she also had spaces. What did that mean? What did that say about her?

She wondered if she was becoming more self-conscious since working at Teen Club. And what if these articles, which were meant to inspire confidence and self-love were just giving girls more things to analyze about their bodies? Was an article on thighs helping anyone other than the girls with already perfect thighs? No matter what the article said, no one would truly believe that thighs were perfect at any size.

Part of Leah was motivated to jump into things at Teen Club so she could write her own articles that she knew could be inspiring and helpful to teen girls. She knew how they felt. She remembered what it was like to be a teen. And she had had two years of wisdom from her 20s that she wished she could have passed down to her former self.

A long weekend which gave her enough space between her thighs article made Leah feel optimistic about Teen Club. She had ideas and she was going to advocate for them until someone—meaning Marnie—noticed her.

As she was getting ready for her first day back at work after the Passover seder, Leah put on a nice professional outfit and picked up her wedding ring from the small box she kept it in at night. She’d been wearing it since her engagement, but the only people who had seen it were her family, Asher’s family, and the strangers on the train. She and Asher texted pictures to their mutual friends who all gleamed about how excited they were and how awesome their wedding would be. But wearing the ring to work would be different. What would being engaged say about her? What would she say about being engaged? She wasn’t sure she was ready for an onslaught of congratulatory remarks or questions about her fiancé or their wedding, but what choice did she have? She put on the ring and walked briskly to the subway that morning.

She read her book during the commute and kept her head down while she weaved through the tourists to the Diamond Media building.

“Woah,” she heard when she pressed the elevator call button. “What is that rock?”

She turned around to see Alex standing behind her. “I guess congratulations are in order. Or actually Mazel Tovs.”

“Thanks,” she giggled.

“I guess your new Jewish mensch boyfriend doesn’t want to lose you.”

“Yeah.” Leah agreed and smiled, looking down at her ring.

“We miss you at Club Business,” he said while the elevator dilly dallied instead of coming down to the lobby. “It’s not the same without you. Want to meet us for lunch today?”

“Sure,” Leah responded, realizing she desperately did want to meet them for lunch. She didn’t have any kosher-for-Passover granola bars on her and had been hoping to sneak out for some breadless lunch during the day, even if it caused watchful eyes from her colleagues. Religious reasons , she’d already decided she’d claim if anyone said anything about her leaving for lunch during Passover. They couldn’t discriminate against her for that.

The elevator finally arrived and they stepped inside. Other employees crammed in, pushing them all the way to the back. “How are things at Teen Club?” Alex asked her when the elevator started moving.

Leah thought she saw the head of one of the senior reporters near the elevator doors. Afraid of saying anything that could hurt her career, she responded, “I’m loving it! We just finished a spread on beautiful thighs.” She could hear how ridiculous it sounded when it hit Alex’s ears. He pursed his lips and nodded.

“Thigh five for that!” He held up his hand and Leah let out a snort and a giggle when she gave him an awkward high five.

“I didn’t even think of that pun!” Leah exclaimed. “It’s too bad we don’t have a resident comedian at Teen Club.”

“Oh, I don’t think the people at Teen Club would find me that funny,” Alex responded.

“I don’t think the people at Club Business find you that funny either,” Leah joked just as the doors opened on her floor. “I’ll see you for lunch!” She stepped out of the elevator after the senior reporter who was in front of her, said hi to Arlo who was sitting at the reception, and walked quietly to her desk with the junior reporters. She felt the smile on her face as she thought about her joke with Alex. She missed him and Mark. She missed their silly banter and their daily lunch breaks. She even missed Malcolm and his whisper-like talk, and Tony. She wondered what rant he was going on about today and what he would say about the thighs article she worked on last week. She imagined him shaking his head and saying “Oh no, I can’t believe people waste their time reading that! Can those people even read?”

She waited for someone to say something about the ring, to ask about it or congratulate her. She was ready to say something when one of the senior reporters came to her desk that morning and rested an arm on the cubicle wall. She had her hands on her keyboard and she was sure the ring sparkled into everyone’s eyes.

“Ten tips to get the most of your family vacation,” the reporter said. “You think you can get something to me by EOD?” End of the day, Leah thought to herself.

“Sure,” she smiled and the reporter tapped the cubicle, glanced at Leah’s hands, and then walked away. Leah looked at her ring and then at her computer screen. She was thankful for the assignment. It was a good one, she thought. One that could provide value to readers.

She started brainstorming ideas and before she knew it, it was lunch time. She was well into the article by then and really needed the break from staring at her screen. She stood up with her defense of religion in hand should anyone remark about her break. A few reporters glanced up at her from their desks, some were nibbling on candy bars or diet shakes, but none got up for lunch.

She met Alex in the Diamond Media lobby downstairs. “Where’s Mark,” she asked when she saw him standing alone.

“Sick day,” he replied. “I heard it was that gluten-free holiday of yours. So you tell me where you can eat.”

“Passover,” she said.

“I’ve never heard of that place.”

“It’s the holiday, the gluten-free holiday,” she responded with a smile and a headshake.

“Where Moses parted the sea and so you don’t eat bread?” Alex asked.

“So you do know about Passover!” Leah led Alex down the street to a small salad place. She could do salad. No croutons. Dressing with no vinegar (which is made of grains).

“I saw a comedian talk about it once. He was saying, do you know how long it takes before a Jew will ask for directions? 40 years! Or something like that,” Alex told her while they waited in line to order.

Leah got a salad with olive oil and lemon and Alex ordered the same. “You can get the croutons,” Leah assured him. “Don’t miss out because of me!”

“I don’t want to tempt you with my goyish traditions,” Alex joked and they brought their matching salads to a table. As they ate, Leah felt herself bubble with laughter and her cheeks hurt from smiling and chewing at the same time. He told her about Tony’s latest rant about how he just recently figured out the reason that his teenage children weren’t posting on Instagram anymore. TikTok! They don’t even know that that is an onomatopoeia! I tried to tell them and they didn’t understand why a clock would make that noise! They’d never even seen an analog or mechanical clock before! They thought it was a manufactured sound made by Apple !

“I wish I could have seen that,” Leah said and it was true. She could only imagine her former boss getting so worked up about that.

“Naw you don’t,” Alex responded. “I’m sure you’re having a blast at Teen Club, thighs and all.”

When Leah took the last bite of her salad, she decided she could confide in Alex. He was a true friend. “I hate it,” she said.

“It’s only eight days, right? You can get a bagel in like three more. Or four? I lost count.”

“No,” she corrected him. She could live without bread and grains. “I think I hate Teen Club.”

“So come back!” Alex blurted out. “Come right now, let’s ask Tony! He would love to have you back!”

She shook her head. She couldn’t. Not after how much she had disappointed him. First her mistake and then when she told him she was leaving. She saw the regret in his eyes.

“I miss you,” Alex said. “Honestly, I do. It’s not the same without you.” It was a little too sincere for Alex and it made Leah slightly uncomfortable. Not as uncomfortable as thinking about their kiss in the elevator, but almost.

“No, I can’t,” she said. “I’m exaggerating. It’s not that bad. I’m actually working on something interesting today.”

They walked back to the office, telling each other about the articles they were working on.

“I was thinking of making one of the items: Get to know your parents,” Leah told him about the article on making the most of family vacations. She said it thinking about her own mother and the revelation about her holiday distress. She still needed to ask her mom about what her fight with Bubbe had been about.

Alex shook his head. “Think about your audience, Rosenberg,” he responded. “It’s the same with comedy. You need to say what people actually want to hear. Do you think teens want to hear that they should get to know their parents?”

She thought for a moment. What an insightful comment. He was right. How could she be so off about teens?

Alex was working on an exposé about a man who serially filed for bankruptcy. “He had like eight real estate companies that all failed, but he’s a millionaire,” Alex told her. “Something is up and Mark and I are checking the numbers together. It’s like one of those pieces in the movies where journalists get caught up in something sinister!”

Leah smiled and wished she was a part of that.

“Well, anyways, this was fun,” Alex said when they got back in the elevator. “And congrats again, Mazel tov. I’m really happy for you that you found your nice Jewish boy.”

“Oh, thanks.” She blushed and fiddled with her ring. “Let’s do this again,” she suggested, wondering what would happen to her if she made it a habit to leave for lunch.

She felt the eyes on her when she walked back to her desk. She had to rework a few parts of the article but she was sure she’d finish by EOD.

“Leah Rosenberg! My office!” Leah, and everyone else on the floor, was startled when Marnie opened her office door and called out. “C’mon! What are you waiting for?”

Leah prepared her defense when she stood up and walked: It’s Passover! I left for religious reasons! You can’t fire me for that!