Cordelia thought her feet were going to break off. As she dragged herself up the last step and over to the apartment door, her ankles spasmed and she tripped. She landed on her knees forcefully, her palms catching her fall on the cement floor.
"Damn it all . . ." She pushed herself up and stood quickly. Her eyes flit down the hall to make sure no one witnessed her spill. She hated when she lost control like that, but her bone condition made it impossible for her to control. Dusting off her jeans and checking her hands, she was relieved to see no blood on her skin.
The apartment felt strangely still as Cordelia let herself in.
"Lil?" she called.
As expected, she got no response. She rubbed her arms against the chilly temperature and padded to the living room. Dropping her backpack on the ground, she collapsed onto the couch with a long sigh. Cordelia was exhausted. She had walked over ten miles today going back and forth across campus for that meeting and classes. She hissed as a twinge of pain ran up her legs. If they were bothering her this bad, she needed to chug water and rest. It was the only solution she'd ever found that made the stiffness and pain go away.
After laying there for a moment, she summoned the strength to get up and hobble to the kitchen. She poured herself a large glass of water and went back to the couch. By the time she was sitting again, half the glass was empty. She sat back against the couch with a sigh. If she was home, her mother would insist on making her some tea and a cookie. That delicious combination solved everything in her mother's eyes. Nostalgia's cold, grim hands suddenly seized her chest.
The loud jingle of Cordelia's phone snapped her from her reverie. She dug it out of her back pocket. A text message appeared on her screen from an unknown number.
UNKNOWN: Pleasure to meet you today, Miss Webb. This is Evan Rochester. What does your schedule look like tomorrow? I will need an hour of your time for your hiring paperwork.
She imagined the dark-haired god she met today typing out that text to her and nearly laughed. Had she ever had someone of his hotness caliber text her? Definitely not. She shook her head aggressively. This man was going to be her boss. She couldn't be entertaining lewd ideas of him.
Cordelia thought about her schedule for the next day before tapping out a quick response.
CORDELIA: Hi, Dr. Rochester. I have a few hours available in the afternoon tomorrow. Would 2pm work for you?
Within seconds, the text bubbles began to dance at the bottom of the screen. Her stomach fluttered nervously.
UNKNOWN: Until then, Cordelia.
She smiled and then, realizing her excitement, stuffed her cell between the couch cushions. Her mind conjured memories from earlier in the day when she'd been trapped under his mesmerizing eyes. He was every bit mysterious as he was attractive, which made for a deadly combination. Cordelia smacked her forehead.
"Don't even," she scolded herself. "He's your boss, ding dong."
In an attempt to trick her brain into not thinking about him any more, she pulled her laptop and textbooks from her backpack and started on homework. She didn't look away from her abstract algebra class until the door opened again at seven. Lillian shuffled in, nodding at Cordelia when she noticed her.
"Deli," she greeted moodily.
"Lil, hey." Cordelia pushed her laptop off her lap. "How was your day?"
The girl shook her kinky auburn curls and headed straight towards her bedroom door. "I have to go poop or I'm going to in my pants."
Cordelia chuckled. She stretched her limbs and glanced at the window. It was much darker outside now than when she got home. While she waited for Lillian, she padded to the kitchen and popped a frozen pizza in the oven. Her roommate joined her moments later. She'd changed into baggy sweatpants and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
"You're an efficient shitter," Cordelia remarked.
Lillian rolled her eyes, elbowing her friend lightly in the ribs. "My day sucked, by the way. Thanks for asking."
Cordelia jumped onto the counter to rest her legs some more and asked, "Why did it suck?"
"I got held back late at work for a random meeting. Davis went on and on about how lucky I was to have this job as a college student and that I should really have a better attitude while I work."
"Uh oh," Cordelia said.
She knew David was Lillian's boss at the Syntex Labs from all the times she'd complained about him. He didn't let her bring lunch, chew gum, talk on the phone, wear leggings or crop tops, and an extensive list of other things Lillian hated being told not to do.
"You know I can't help myself," Lillian said with a grimace. "I told him that he could go fuck himself after I was done with his mother."
Cordelia slapped a hand over her mouth. "Lil! YOU DID NOT."
"Yep. Totally did. And I am totally fired."
Offering her arms for a hug, Cordelia watched as her roommate debated it before diving into her arms. She learned early in their friendship that Lillian was weird about touching. She was very particular about who could touch her, where they could touch her, and how long contact could last. Cordelia usually didn't make physical gestures but she figured Lillian may need it today.
"That does suck," Cordelia murmured.
Lillian pulled away and brushed her black fingernails through the bobbing fire red strands of her ponytail. The bottoms of her hair strands were dyed black to match her nails, makeup, and overall goth vibe.
"Tell me about it," she huffed. "So how was your day? Kick any math nerds in the balls today?"
"No, but I did score an internship."
"What!" Lillian shrieked. "That's amazing! Where at? We HAVE to celebrate."
"Yeah, that's the funny thing . . ." Cordelia forced a laugh and looked away from her roommate's scrutiny.
"Oh, this'll be good. Are you a stripper now?"
"A strip—no!" She flushed scarlet and batted Lillian's playful rib jabbing away. "I'm interning with Syntex, actually."
Lillian's squinting eyes widened. "Wait. You don't mean the internship they just posted with Satan, right?"
"Satan?" Cordelia asked, puzzled.
"Dr. Rochester. We all call him Satan. But you probably got a gig on the calc team, huh?"
"Uh." She gulped. "Why do you call him Satan?"
"Oh my god. You're working with him? We're effed, Deli!"
"Why?" Cordelia demanded anxiously.
Groaning, Lillian tugged the elastic from her hair so she could work her fingers through the strands again. "He's just mean. He expects perfection from everyone just because he's a genius and has sexy Abercrombie abs."
Cordelia's breathing shallowed. She gripped the countertop with clenched fingers and bit her lip.
"I didn't even want the stupid thing," she muttered. "I want to teach math, not scrub data."
"Why'd you take it then?" Lillian asked. She busied herself with fetching a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge.
"Dean Heida basically signed me up for it. The pay isn't bad either . . ."
"What'd he offer you?" the girl prodded. "I'm not trying to pry. I just am curious how much he's willing to pay for work like that."
"You're not making me feel better," Cordelia said, frowning.
Lillian chugged a few gulps of her drink before patting her friend on the top of her leg. "I'm trying to be real with you so you know what you're walking into. He's not a basket of sunshine and roses, I'll tell you that."
"Shit." Cordelia palmed her throbbing temples. "How am I going to survive, Lil? He's going to realize how under-qualified I am and fire me on the spot!"
"I doubt he'll fire you," Lillian said. "Besides, you are pretty smart, math girl. You'll figure it out."
She tried scaring Cordelia before but now she was encouraging her? Cordelia felt conflicted. She told Dr. Rochester that she'd meet him tomorrow afternoon. She couldn't back out now. The extra money would be nice and she couldn't disappoint the Dean. Connections like these would be what landed her that dream job. She needed Dean Heida's reference to get into the schools she wanted to teach in. Her passion was to teach in urban schools and start a science program for struggling female students, like the one she'd been in as a child. Her elementary school science club was what led her to fall in love with math. Cordelia had no idea where her life would be if she hadn't been in that club. She was crushed to think there were students out there suffering because they didn't have the same resources.
The pizza timer went off. Glancing around, Cordelia realized her roommate had slipped out to the living room. She pulled the pizza out, sliced it into pieces and filled two heaping plates. She found Lillian sitting on the couch, picking out a show on Netflix.
"Thanks," Lillian said as she accepted the plate. "Sorry if I scared you a bit before. I just had a bad day and the thought of us both being out of jobs worried me. You're going to do fine, though."
One of their neighbors started banging on the wall and blasting trap music. Lillian kissed her teeth with an annoyed look.
"Inconsiderate shits," she griped.
Cordelia stuffed a slice of pizza in her mouth. Cheese and greasy pepperoni coated her tongue in salty heaven. She decided to let tomorrow handle itself and just enjoy the simplicity of this brief moment. Little did Cordelia know that her life would be anything but simple starting today.