You're So Pretty On the Outside

“He… He took you where?” I questioned, barely containing my giggles.

“To a gay strip club.” Her smirk could be heard through her voice.

“You’re serious?”

As soon as she confirmed it, I started to crack up. I stopped laughing and yelped when I accidentally hit my boob.

“What was that?” Jennifer asked.

I rubbed my chest before answering. “My chest has been a little sore lately and I just accidentally hit myself in the boob. I’m fine.”

“Maybe you have cancer,” she randomly suggested.

In a flat voice I replied, “No.”

“Don’t be mean. It was just a suggestion.”

I rolled my eyes, an amused smile on my lips. “I’m not being mean, I just don’t like the fact that you’re saying I could be dying yet you don’t sound very sad about it.” She just laughed knowing that I was only messing around.

“That’s because it was only a suggestion. I don’t actually think that you have cancer. Now quit talking about your boobs. It’s awkward and I don’t want that mental image in my head.”

I snickered. “Whatever. I have to go and get ready for work now. I’ll talk to you guys again later.”

We said goodbye and ended the phone call. Smiling slightly, I began to get ready for work. I had already spoken to my boss about the pregnancy and after assuring him that I would still work from home during my ‘maternity leave’, he decided that he wouldn’t fire me so early.

“Why the hell are you up so early?” Gena asked groggily from the doorway of her room.

“It’s really not that early. Not for somebody with a job anyway. Just stop complaining and go back to bed, I’m leaving now so there won’t be anymore noise.”

She muttered something under her breath before moodily slamming her door. I scoffed at her attitude and walked out to my new car. I groaned when I got into the wrong side of the car forgetting that European cars were opposite of American ones. Climbing back out, I got into the correct seat and focused on staying on what, to me, was the wrong side of the road. I was only able to go so far before the roads turned into closed, stone walkways and I had to park along the sidewalk.

I made my way to the office building and spent about 20 minutes searching for my office. After finding it, I collapsed into the seat with a frustrated sigh. Not even a minute later my supervisor walked into my office.

“You’re late,” she said in her thick Welsh accent.

“I’m sorry! I got here about half an hour ago but I got lost trying to find this room.”

She just huffed and turned to leave with a roll of her eyes. “Make sure it doesn’t happen again. Hopefully your second impression will be better than your first.”

“I could say the same about you,” I muttered when she shut the door behind her.

I glanced at the stack of papers that was already on top of my desk and set myself to work.

----------------------

After sorting files and articles for 8 hours, I finally made my way home and collapsed onto the couch in an exhausted heap. Gena glanced down at me in amusement, a bowl of cereal in her hands as she leaned again the door frame.

“Long day?” she asked mockingly.

I glared slightly. “Yes. Who would have thought that I would get a job as a journalist and end up alphabetizing files?”

Gena snorted. “You’re at the bottom of the food chain, Angel. You’re going to be doing simple paperwork for a while. Even I know that and I’ve never even had a real job before.” She shoved a giant bite of cereal into her mouth and left the front room without another word.

“It doesn’t count when you only know it from movies!” I called after her.

Her laugh could be heard from the kitchen as I headed toward my room. I decided to skip out on dinner and just go to sleep even though it was only 7. I had eaten sporadically throughout the day so I figured it would suffice until the morning.

I changed into something more suitable for sleeping and fell into a dreamless sleep.