I was changing to my west and tried to avoid the stares when everyone could see that I had been crying, it didn’t mattered that I had spent the last five minutes washing my face, getting the broke makeup off and just trying to collect myself when I was about to walk out and James saw me and stopped me with calling my name, making me freeze up when he called me to get into his office. Fuck! This was it, I was so fucking fired, all the good things in my life just kept stacking up, my cheating husband getting married, my whore of a best friend and Jonah being an absolute dick against me when he wanted to be, so life was good in general…. Not…
James just sat there, his short shirt and clip-on tie made him just look ordinary, that’s what I thought of when I saw him. He wanted power, but he was a nobody, just like me, someone that wouldn’t be missed even if we just disappeared in broad daylight, the grey masses of the humanity.
“So… late again Andrea… what do you think I should do with that?” he talked like I even had a fighting chance when I just shrugged, why was he even playing games, just fire me if he was doing it, don’t act like a goddamn coward giving me reasons I already knew of.
“This isn’t some playground that you can come and go as you please, I know that you have had a rough patch in your life, but if you have a shift, you work it, otherwise, I have no use of you.” He leaned back looking serious when I smirked back at his face, it was stupid, he was stupid when I leaned forward, arms crossed under my breast and just sneered at him.
“I’m not begging if that what you are gunning for, I would never beg for a man like you James.” He flinched the slightest from my words and I smirked more, wow, that felt great, maybe I should tell him what a fucking creep he that was just kept walking into the locker room on me, like I hadn’t figured it out that he wanted to see me naked.
“What are you talking about? This is very unprofessional Andrea, I expected better from you, sure you have been late, but you have always worked the extra shift that nobody has wanted, I was going to give you a chance but I’m not sure that I feel that anymore with that kind of attitude.” He was flustered and I started to regret my words…fuck, wait he wasn’t going to fire me, then what the hell had he called me in here for?!
“James, what are you talking about, I thought you were firing me?!” I was staring at his surprised face before he started to chuckle like I was having fun with him, I wasn’t, but that sure as hell didn’t make this anymore confusing.
“Fire you? For what, being late a couple of times? Yeah, sure then I would have to fire the entire cosmetic section and then some….” He chuckled more when I felt stupid as hell, fuck he wasn’t going to fire me and now, I had blown my chance of whatever he had offered me, maybe I should beg, hell I was good at it, and right now I didn’t care what I had to do to keep my job staring at the still amused man, he was my age, older and spent most his time here I guess with no family, him and me where the same that way.
“So, what was it, what did I blow my chance on?!” I wanted to know, and I didn’t even know why when he looked at my anticipation with a smile again, maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy, just bad people skills, like me.
“Margret is retiring so there is a position opening up in the back, I know that you don’t like working the floor and I just thought that maybe you would like that better, managing shipments more than listening to customers in the front.” He smiled when I just gawked, that would have been amazing, and a step up for me, it maybe didn’t look like much to other people, but being manager of the shipping’s was a huge deal for me, even if it was just keeping tracks of orders and suppliers.
“Fuck!” I cursed out loud when he made a small frown, he didn’t like cursing and I took a deep breath, staring into his eyes, I told myself and him that I wasn’t going to beg. Scratch that, I was going to beg him, on my knees if I had to.
“I’m sorry, okay, for being rude, and cursing, I want this James, more then you can imagine, I have no life that needs to be taken care of, no boyfriend or kids, I don’t even have a cat!” I smirked the slightest at my own inside joke when he leaned back more in his recliner like he was still considering it, and I prayed to God that he would just give me a chance, I was a good worker, grumpy, but still a good worker.
“I thought you said that you weren’t going to beg, at least not to a guy like me?” he made a small smile when I blushed, fuck, he wasn’t going to give it to me, I blew it, fuck me and my presumptions, fucking myself over.
“That was before I knew that I was getting Margret’s old job, after that, I’m willing to do as much gravel as it takes.” He started to laugh when I smiled too, relieved that he didn’t just tell me to clean out my locker and go.
“I never said you got it, I said that I considered it…” he looked superior when my mood dropped and I stopped smiling, so he was toying with me, just great….
“It’s longer hours, more work for basically the same pay and the only perk is that you get weekends off. Do you still want it?” he was observing me when my mind was racing, longer hours, that meant less time at home, home meant Jonah, but he did never have time for me anyway, and he had told me to stay away. This was a win-win for me.
“Yes.” I said it determined. I wanted that job, I didn’t care that people were going to complain about me getting it or that I had to leave even earlier for work and stay late if I needed it, I wanted this job.
“Well then… you start next week, and we are chipping into Margaret’s retirement, just a formality, but I can cover your part, I don’t think she cares who pays for her flowers and cake.” He smiled when I just blinked, James was nice to me, like really nice…. Maybe I had totally just been a bitch not even giving him a chance? He smiled more at me when I smiled back, yeah. I was probably just being a bitch.
“James, thank you for this, you won’t regret it!” I was standing up when he just smirked back and wanted to clap my hands, I wanted to tell someone that I got a fucking promotion, and I didn’t get fired like I thought I would get!
“Oh, don’t worry about it, no one else wanted this job Andrea, you are doing me a favour if I’m being honest.” He chuckled when I smiled back, so what? I was perfect for that job; I just knew it!
“Still, I won’t fail you James, I won’t!” I almost squealed when walking out of his office. This day had started so fucking awful and now it was like it couldn’t get any better since I was getting a better job and I didn’t have to talk to people all day long and listen to their stupid questions!