Me and Suit Thing--The Adventures Continue...

You could say I blame Suit Thing for all this. You could say that, and you'd be wrong. Suit Thing and I are partners in crime, though in all honesty, Suit Thing couldn't do a thing without me.
So. Suit Thing sees this ad for a Position. Up North. Not as far as Long Beach, but a castle town. 'Fantastic,' I said, 'that's just the ticket.'
'You've got friends up there,' said Suit Thing, in that casual way Suit Thing has of twisting a phrase.
'Yeah,' I replied, wondering how on earth it was that Suit Thing could read my mind like that sometimes. So. A few electronic communications, and we were off. We caught the Most Expensive Train in the Country, the great trundling metal shoeboxes, and left early on Saturday. On the way, Suit Thing was on about button, unbutton, button, unbutton, but I ignored Suit Thing, and started a book on Japanese psychology, the kind where every third word is a transliteration or a romanized word from the Japanese, and has examples like 'How does the teacher who is eagerly teaching his female student justify his actions? Is he aware of his real intentions?' Suit Thing doesn't care too much about stuff like that. Suit Thing is there to look good.
We got to the castle town right about lunchtime, and soon our contact met us. Suit Thing was very quiet through the whole process, but I had to say, these people were impressive. The operation they had running completely floored me. Suit Thing was unruffled, but I could tell--Suit Thing approved.
'You should just tell them,' said Suit Thing quietly to me on the train home, 'Tell the people at The Top to go to hell, get out of the system, work for these guys.' I gave Suit Thing a cold look.
'Do you know how hard I have worked for this?' I hissed. 'Weeks of preparation! Loss of sleep! Everyone is counting on me now to go to this thing--and YOU are coming with me whether you want to or not!'
'You're too nervous.' Suit Thing lolled back against the seat cushion. But of course, Suit Thing was right. I was terrified. I couldn't comprehend Suit Thing's blase attitude toward it. The Meeting. The guys from The Top were going to give me the hardest questioning of my life--in a language I could barely speak. I was developing a stutter, and my mind had been going panic-blank just thinking about it. Yeah. Too nervous. But what could I do about it?
Monday came sooner than I had expected, the threat from the Meeting hanging over my head even as I gave the house the once-over, the twice-over, washed all the dishes, the blankets, bought all new laundry lines and clips. Hell, I even called up the Girls, got a few of them over for vids--a suspense thriller. Not the best choice. They left, I reviewed what I thought I might say to The Top guys, and I tried to sleep. All night, caffeine and suspense thriller tangled with the sheets.
Suit Thing was waiting for me when I got up. 'You look tired.'
'Ugh,' I said, reaching for a tissue, 'Guess allergies have finally caught up to me.'
'You better do something about that,' Suit Thing grimaced. ‘I can't do a thing for you if you're gonna snot the guys from The Top.’
'I'll be fine,' I growled. 'It'll go away.'
But it didn't. By lunch my nose had developed a distinct leak, and I was sneezing uncontrollably. Suit Thing was waiting for me, gestured curtly. 'Look in your bag.'
Lo and behold. Meds. Blearily I gulped them down. Interview in two hours! I couldn't stop sneezing, dripping, and sniffling long enough to speak a coherent sentence!
Suit Thing pitied me, maybe. But I wasn’t giving up on account of feeling like my head had decided to rebel against the rest of my body! No way. I’m stubborn. It’s a gift and a flaw together.
Suit Thing and I made it down to the station (only one stop on the Most Expensive Train Line) to the Just Regular Train. I was going early. Suit Thing was quiet, fiddling with whether or not to relax open, or buttoned up tight. Suit Thing settled on two of four buttons. I opened my notebook to scribble, to review possible answers to questions The Top guys might ask at The Meeting, in order to soothe what should have been hyper panic. Suit Thing smirked.
The panic never came. That cold medication was seeping into my brain cells, lifting my head away from my body, settling some bizarre mental cotton between what should have been overreacting, and my effort to keep blinking at a regular rate. It was making me calmly, curiously alert.
I sailed into the meeting place ten minutes early, to find that I was the last, and they were well ahead of schedule. I was due to go in immediately. The gut reaction should have been unprepared fear, but it was a tension I never actually felt. I murmured something reflecting surprise, then walked in. I didn’t understand everything; I didn’t even answer one of the questions with the correct answer. My palms started to sweat, even as I held them politely, feminely in my lap. But somehow, strangely, I felt relaxed. Suit Thing! Where the hell did you find that allergy medication!!? I did better than I think I could have ever done. I had poise. I had vocabulary. Well, not always enough. But enough for me. I did it, and without defenestrating myself or anyone else. Me and Suit Thing.
We walked out, surveyed the other people who had been called in for The Meeting, and I exchanged a few words, blew off a little nervous steam. I sympathized, but I couldn’t feel the nerves. I could only relate how I had been for weeks prior. We bid our adieus and headed back to the train.
‘Thanks,’ I told Suit Thing, a hazy grin on my face.
‘Hey,’ shrugged Suit Thing, ‘We’re in this together. I wasn’t gonna sabotage our chances or anything, just because I think the castle town is the perfect place.’
‘Geez,’ I replied, ‘What if The Top guys assign me to Long Beach?’
‘Then you got some decisions to make,’ said Suit Thing.
‘Huh. I got decisions NOW,’ I grinned, sifting through the chocolate at the conbini, settling on a white chocolate Kit-Kat. For luck, you know. Japanese. Kitto Katsu
Then we went home.