Not A Bad Thing

8 - Stressed Out & Someone Unexpected Swinging By

I typed away on my laptop, with some Justin Timberlake song lifting up my spirits. George had advised me to not say anything for now, to wait a while before telling Virginia that I had not been able to get the interview. To keep my job for a little longer, in a different choice of words.

After a thorough thinking session that involved too much despair and sighing, I decided to wait until the end of the day, so that I could finish everything else I had to do and then just tell her and resign, so I could leave with dignity and with nothing pending. Basically, to end things neatly. No matter what, I was not letting Jennifer win. I refused to let her win. I did not have much to lose now, but I was falling down with greatness, as much as there was left for me.

I saw my door open and paused the song, the air growing silent and expectant. I could not help but roll my eyes at the sight of Jerry. Such a waste of pausing a Justin Timberlake song! "Hey babe, no short blue dress today?" he asked with a smirk.

"Do you need anything?" I snapped angrily. I was not going to lie, the fact that he found me attractive raised my ego, but it still annoyed me that he was so persistent. Especially after he had been such a douche and acted like I was of his possession. There was nothing I hated more than that.

"Your love," he dramatically replied with a dreamy sigh. He was not ugly, but after I found a strong flaw I disliked in someone, I could not look past it. I just knew it was never going to work out between us.

I scowled at him and he frowned. "Are you okay?" he questioned as he opened the door further.

I let out a tired sigh and ran a hand through my hair. Even Jerry sensed when something was wrong. He was not so senseless after all. "Yeah," I mumbled. I was not, but he was not the one I wanted to discuss my feelings with.

"You know I love it when you run your hands through your voluminous hair like that," he joked and winked at me. That made me smile. I was glad it did, I needed something to keep my mind off the fact that I was losing my dream job. Would I even find another job? I had only lasted five months in this one, for crying out loud! The only other jobs I had had were as a waitress in a bar-lounge and as a maid in a hotel during my university years.

That was not enough résumé to apply for a decent job in a prodigious magazine. I had done a couple of internships but lasting such a short time in a great magazine like Glamour would not look good for me.

So, I was pretty much condemned once I was out of here. I would probably have to start from the very bottom at a nameless magazine as an assistant. It would take me years to get to a respectable position and then resign and file for a job in a big magazine.

I snapped back to reality. "Get out, you idiot," I laughed and Jerry smiled widely, happy to have made me smile. Yeah, I definitely needed someone to get my mind off my preoccupations. Even if it was Jerry.

He bowed and then left, closing the door quietly behind him. I let out an amused last laugh and shook my head before returning to my work.

I played the song again and Justin Timberlake sang romantic sweet nothings into my ears. That way, only work and loving words occupied my mind.

I rested my back against the chair, making it squeak in protest under my weight –great, now to add a cherry on top my chair was calling me fat- and cracked my knuckles as to relieve some tension.

A few minutes later, Ginny, my assistant knocked on the door before coming in. Actually, thinking about it, I would be lucky if I got to be like her, an assistant for relevant people in the magazine I would work for from now on. I was not even going to be a Ginny. I would become a no one.