One Day

Monday mornings’ are never fun, especially when your about to start a new job. This is my dream job and I’m petrified about fucking it up. My hands were shaking as I sat in Starbucks at 8:30 am, just waiting to head over to the building.

I’d worked my way up from just an admin assistant, and now I was a fully qualified Relationship Councillor. It looks like all those years of university paid off because now I’m going to be putting my all my knowledge and skills into place.

I took a deep breath, threw my cup in the trash and made my way towards the rather intimidating looking building. The lobby was posh with its large spaces, marble floor and sandstone decoration.

The receptionist was just as immaculate as the décor; she was young, tanned and blonde with a sickly looking smile plastered onto her perfect face. Even though this was my new place of work, I didn’t feel like it fit in, not one bit.

“Hi,” I smiled, deciding to play nice. “I’m here to speak with Mr Dickson?”

She looked up and arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow in my direction, “Do you have an appointment?” She was quite rude in the way she said it.

“I’m starting a job today.” I replied in a sickly sweet tone, smiling at her.

Her eyes widened and she grabbed the phone, “Please, take a seat. Mr Dickson will see you in a few moments.”

I nodded, taking a seat across from the desk. My legs started to shake, so I crossed them tightly hoping that it wouldn’t be too obvious. It didn’t take long for Mr Dickson to appear, he was tall around 6’3 with dark hair and pronounced features, he looked to be around late 30’s.

He grinned widely as he approached me and reached a hand out to me, “Good morning, I’m Robert.”

“Good morning, nice to meet you.” I gave him a polite smile and shook his hand, trying to control my nerves.

“You too,” he motioned for me to follow him. “How are you feeling?”

I laughed awkwardly and pressed close on the elevator door. “Yeah ok thanks, felt a bit nervous earlier though.”

The music in the elevator was your typical jingle; the third floor seemed like a century away as we stood in awkward silence. We made small talk as we stepped out onto another fancy looking lobby, although this time Dickson & Co was plastered on the reception desk in bold lettering.

“We’re glad to have you here, Miss Black. Your Resume was very impressive.” He opened the door to his office and motioned for me to go inside. His office was very swish indeed, lined in greys’ and blacks’ with state-of-the-art furniture dotted around.

I sat down opposite and smiled, crossing my legs. “Thanks, I don’t really like blowing my own trumpet.”

He chuckled as he opened a brown file, flicking through while muttering things to himself. I could make out some words like ‘strained’ and ‘lots of tension’.

“Kirsten how would you like to sit in with me today?”

I could barely contain my smile, “That’d be great.”

I would be sitting in with Robert and The Bakers’, a newly married couple, only 2 years. They do say the first year is the hardest though, it’s the one that goes extremely slowly and that nerves get frayed quickly.

“Have you seen them before?” I questioned as I rolled my chair over to his desk.

Robert nodded and sighed quietly, “Yeah, they’ve been twice. It looks quite positive though, they seem to want things to work out.”

“That’s nice.” I smiled, thanking him as he quickly passed me their case file over for me to have a look at. The surname BAKERwas branded across the top of the file, judging from what I could see by their statements, they did both seem committed to each other. Not something you read every day, well especially during my time as a relationship councillor.

“Afternoon, Robert. Sorry we’re late someone couldn’t decide which pair of shoes they wanted to wear.” A soft feminine voice muttered, clearly annoyed.

It was then I looked up, the woman looked to be in her late 20’s or early 30’s. She was very attractive with her tanned skin and thin physique. She caught my eye and smiled softly back at me causing me to jump, embarrassed that I’d been caught checking her over.

“Gena, this is Kirsten. She’s new to company so I’ve asked her to sit in with today’s session, is that ok?” I watched her features turn from confusion to impassive before she forced a smile onto her face; her pearly white’s practically beaming under the bright lights.

She raked through her platinum hair and nodded, “Yeah cool, I don’t mind. I dunno about Zachary though…”

“Me either.” a familiar voice spoke, the tone was firm and clear. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he wasn’t really bothered by me being here, although he wasn’t very pleased about not being informed beforehand.

I looked up, shocked. It was that beautiful candy guy from the grocery store. He seemed to remember me as a cheeky smile crept onto his face, what a complete coincidence. I had to admit though; I’d kinda been hoping that he was single.

Silly me for thinking that, oh well, stay composed.

“Hello, nice to meet you both.” I grinned, wishing to be anywhere but here.