Jade looked at the building towering above her. This was probably her last chance to find a decent job. More chances might present themselves in the future, but for today, this was her last hope. Shoving her thoughts aside, she walked into the building with newfound courage; she was going to give this interview all she had.
"Excuse me, good morning." She said to get the attention of the receptionist.
"Yes, how may I help you?" The receptionist replied, looking at her with a somewhat disgusted look. Jade knew she didn't look as stylish as everyone here seemed to look, but at least she felt she looked decent enough.
"I'm here for the interview." She replied.
"You are?" The receptionist replied, letting out a small laugh.
"I believe that's what I just said." She answered with a little more edge; there was no reason for her to be so rude.
"You're ten minutes late, and you have a little stain on your shirt. You should've put more effort into your appearance." She said with that same look on her face.
"Oh," Jade said, looking at the stain on her shirt. It was an old stain that never went away, but this was one of her best shirts, and the stain wasn't so noticeable. Still, her pointing it out made her feel a little embarrassed, and took a chip at her confidence.
"Here's your tag. Just walk down the hall. It's the third door to your left."
"Thank you," Jade replied.
"Good luck, you'll need it." The receptionist said. Before Jade left, she looked at her name tag, and it read Claire. She decided that Claire probably didn't like her much because she immediately turned radiant and all smiles the moment she left and attended to the next person.
She walked towards the direction Claire had given her, and then when she got to the door, she took in a deep breath before she knocked on the door. After knocking, she waited for like a minute before someone opened the door and ushered her to enter.
Jade sat down and looked at the three people in the room, two men and a lady and they seemed to be more interested in the papers than at her and she sat there for thirty seconds before the lady spoke up.
"There's barely anything on your application. What exactly makes you think that you are the most suitable for this job?" The lady asked, still not looking at her.
"I uh… I think I have what it takes to be a…" Jade started, but she held her hand up, silencing her.
"We get it, and we'll be in touch, Miss Hart." She said, and Jade was ushered out of the office.
Jade walked out of the building after dropping her tag with the receptionist, and she still had that look of disgust on her face. She usually didn't like to acknowledge her shit luck, but today, it was so evident that there was no good luck in store for her or maybe Claire. The receptionist jinxed it earlier by wishing her good luck.
She decided to walk back to her apartment, it was a long walk but she didn't exactly have the money to take a taxi and the bus didn't run a straight route to her house meaning either way she still had to work. Besides, she loved taking long walks because it helped her clear her head and take her mind off things so it wasn't as bad as it sounded.
After walking for what seemed like forever, she finally arrived at her apartment, and the stairs creaked as she walked to her floor, they could give out any day from now. The whole building was a mess, the water didn't run all the time and most times the electricity went out, her kitchen sink had a busted pipe and most times she felt like her wooden floor would finally break and she'd come crashing down from the second floor. Most buildings on this side of town were like the ones she currently occupied. They were cheap, so of course, people still lived in them.
Her cell phone beeped, and she immediately rushed to pick it up. It could be one of the many places she had sent her application texting her to say that she had gotten the job and she would be so overjoyed.
But of course, being delusional is fun till reality kicks in like cold water splashed on your face; the text was from the hospital. It wasn't urgent, but she was going to head out later for her shift anyway, so she washed her face and put on her pair of washed jeans and a big shirt. She took a jacket with her because it was beginning to get chilly at night.
She decided to take a cab this time because walking there would be tough for her poor heart. And the earlier she got there, the earlier she could leave because her shift started around five, and it was past three. Within ten minutes, she arrived at the hospital and waited a few minutes before the doctor could see her.
"How are you, Jade?" He asked with a small smile.
Dr. Nate was dreamy. He had that sexy nerd thing going for him, and she wasn't immune to his charms, his eyes, and those hands. He could tell her she had just three days to live and she'd take the news with a smile; that was the kind of effect he had on his patients.
"I'm fine, thank you. How about you? " She finally replied.
"I'm doing okay. Do you still exercise regularly?" He asked, looking at her intently.
"I try," Jade replied, looking guilty, knowing that the last time she had any form of exercise was the long walk she took from that hotel to her apartment, and it was a long walk.
"Well your test results are fine, and it seems like you just had an episode due to stress. So I just advise you to take it easy, exercise regularly, and take your meds. You still have them, right?" He asked.
"Yeah, I do. Is that all?" She asked.
"It should be all; I'll write you a prescription, and you can take them on your way out." He said, scribbling down some things on a piece of paper.
She just silently watched him, he had really large hands, his fingers were long and fine and his fingernails were neatly cut. He took the manicure to a whole new level; she looked down at her hands and her fingernails. She had eaten them this morning out of anxiety, so they looked chipped and untidy, and this made her fold her hands to hide them away.
After he was done, he handed her the paper, and she took it and shoved it into the pocket of her jacket. She didn't want to see it just yet because it was just a list of things she would have to spend her money on, money she didn't even have.
She arrived at the restaurant where she worked about three minutes late, and no one noticed though. That was good for her because if her boss ever noticed that she came even a minute late, he would have her pay cut. As she worked, her mind went back to earlier today at the interview.
The lady who spoke to her had said that there was nothing on her resume. But that wasn't the case, she had things there because she had done nothing but work all her life since she turned nineteen, she had worked through college and harder after college because she was drowning in student loans. Most times, she felt like going to college wasn't worth the struggle because, in the end, finding a job was proving to be more difficult than getting a degree.
And while other people were out there beautifying their resumes with fancy jobs and degrees, she was out here making money trying to survive each day. But her experience could simply not be put on paper for an interview for a fancy job now, could it?
"Jade!" Her boss shouted for what did not seem like the first time.
"Sir?" She replied immediately.
"I think that table is clean enough. You have new customers at three o'clock get moving."
She picked up the tablecloth she was using to wipe the table. She didn't even realize that she had been wiping the same spot for a minute there; she must have been lost in her thoughts. She picked up the menu from the table and headed toward the customers.
It was her doctor and some other guy, but he wasn't important right now. Dr. Nate was in her place of work; she felt thrilled to see him again. She always did because he was such a warm person, and she wasn't sure he was aware of the warmth he radiated.
"Good evening, Dr. Nate. Fancy seeing you here." She said with a small smile, which he returned.
"This is a nice coincidence. I hope you're doing okay?" He asked.
"I am." She replied then she handed him and his companion the menu, well she couldn't see the face of the guy because he had his face buried in his phone and he didn't bother to look up so she just dropped the menu by his side.
"I'll have a glass of wine." The guy said with his face still buried in his phone, okay rude much. But that didn't bother her; she got to see Dr. Nate, so nothing at this point mattered.
"I'll go with what he said." Dr. Nate said, and then she nodded and left.
A few seconds later, she returned with the wine and two glasses, and then she poured the wine into their glasses.
"Thank you." Dr. Nate said with a smile.
"You're welcome; just ring the bell if you need anything." Then she put the bottle of wine on ice, and she left.
After a while, Jade got off work, and she took a sneak peek to see if Dr. Nate was done with his meeting, but he wasn't. She could've waited a bit, but she was very tired, and she needed her remaining energy to walk to the bus stop and then to her apartment. Just as she was walking through the parking lot, she heard her name. Well, it seemed like the universe had decided to help her a little bit.
"Are you heading home?" Dr. Nate asked.
"Yeah, I am." She replied.
"Do you mind if we gave you a ride?" He asked.
"Uhh… I'm pretty sure my house is way out of your route, I'll just take the bus" She replied, a little distracted.
"You heard her, can we go now? I have other things to attend to." The guy said. Jade was taken aback by his statement, that she was going to take up his time or whatever, but still, he could be nice about it.
"At least let me drop you at the bus station." The thing with Dr. Nate is that you could never really say no to him, so she nodded yes, and they all got in his car. She sat at the back.
She really wouldn't have let Dr. Nate drop her off. The shame would overwhelm her, but she also couldn't turn down a free ride. She wasn't a pretentious person, but this wasn't the part of her life she'd like anyone to see. There was only one definition for it: 'a wreck'.
She also wasn't stupid enough to think that anything could happen between her and the doctor, first of all, it was just a small crush, and second of all they did not belong in the same world it was too far apart for her to even dream about it and the last one, she simply did not have time for such trivial things.