Redefine Me, Redesign Me

Work. Ellie hadn’t really thought about what she was really getting herself into. She’d never worked an office job or in the event planning business; back home she had been a teaching assistant at the high school that she had graduated from. Sure she had organized events in the past but it just felt like this was all on a whole new level.

She was wearing her typical work attire bouncing around the living room of her rental house, that she’d become more accustomed to, trying to get her shoe on.

Ellie quickly pulled out a travel mug and poured some coffee and creamer in before screwing the top on and practically jogging out to her car.

“For Pete’s sake,” she muttered as she hit her third red light in a row. She’d made sure to give herself enough time for these sort of things, but this was getting ridiculous.

Walking into the office building she was greeted by the receptionist who directed her to human resources. Ellie had no idea that there could be so much paper work to get done in one day. She stayed at a desk for most of the day filling out her personal information and reading the manual that provided her with the company policies. She honestly couldn’t say that she would have ever rather been working more than she did during the whole process.

Ellie didn’t come into contact with a lot of her future coworkers, but the ones she did have the opportunity meet weren’t even close to being her age… and she could decide if that bothered her or not.

Ellie would be in training for the next couple of events that the team she had been placed on handled. That didn’t really bother her though, she just wanted to get through this who orientation process so she could move on and actually start to get to know the people she would be working with for an undetermined stint of time.

Apparently there is more to a company policy than be nice and get the job done because Ellie spent the next two days reading a manual and taking quizzes to test her knowledge on such things. Ellie had never needed coffee more in her life.

In fact it was during one of her frequent runs to the employee lounge for coffee that she finally met someone that looked to be around her age.

“You’re new here right?” the light haired woman asked smiling brightly.

Ellie couldn’t help but smirk, “I feel like I’m the new kid in high school,” she joked.

The woman laughed lightly and held out her hand to Ellie, “I’m Lisa,” she said introducing herself, “and you don’t have to worry about being new I started not too terribly long ago and they sort of just absorb you and keep going about their day.”

“Ellie,” she answered taking her hand smiling just as brightly, “and that sounds wonderful because being the awkward new coworker doesn’t sound like fun.”

Lisa seemed to have a bubbly attitude that was infectious in the best ways and Ellie hoped that she would be able to get to know her better.

Coming home from work wasn’t something that Ellie liked nor hated; she just felt so alone at times that she felt strange being there. However she did like knowing that around seven she could look forward to a phone call from her sister.

As she walked into the kitchen to clean her dish from dinner she glanced at the clock and had just registered that it read 7:04 when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

Ellie pulled out her phone smiling for the first time since she’d been home, “Hey Mallory!” she greeted her sister brightly into the receiver.

“Ellie, you better have a spare bedroom in that house waiting for me,” Mallory groaned into the phone.

Ellie giggled at her sister, “It can’t really be that bad,” she teased knowing all too well how much she and her younger sister didn’t fit into the kind of life that the rest of their family chose to lead.

“All I have to say is I’m looking at colleges in Baltimore and I will gladly get a job and chip in with rent if it means that I can get out of this hell hole,” Mallory said sounding desperate.

Ellie laughed, “Well you won’t be able to transfer in the middle of the year so you might as well live with it, it’s only August.”

“Well you can bet your life that I’ll be moving in with you as soon as my classes end next May,” Mallory said honestly.

“We are going to tear mom apart,” Ellie said shaking her head not knowing that her actions would influence her sister’s choices.

“Well if I stay she’ll tear me apart,” Mallory groaned, “Call me selfish but I’d like to keep myself in one piece.”

Ellie nodded and pursed her lips, “You’re right that is pretty selfish,” she said teasing her sister.

“You sound a bit more peppy today, Ellie,” Mallory observed.

Ellie curled her legs under herself as she sank into the couch smiling. “Yeah I think I might have made a friend,” she really hoped that Lisa would become her friend because she wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep herself sane being so alone in Baltimore.

“Really?!” Mallory asked excited for her sister. Ellie had never really been the kind of girl that sought out friends, she’d always been pretty self-sufficient. However, being in a new place that didn’t have anyone that she knew at all, family or not, she was beginning to go insane. “Girl or guy?” Mallory questioned.

Ellie rolled her eyes at Mallory, “Girl of course,” she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ellie had never been good with guys she just got too sarcastic and that seemed to put a lot of guys off; she’d only become friends with Brady because he often hung out with her and Casey. “Her name is Lisa and she seems like she could be a lot of fun,” Ellie said giving Mallory a little more detail, “But I don’t want to get ahead of myself we only spoke briefly while I was getting myself coffee today.”

“Well either way I’m glad you’re talking to people,” Mallory said congratulating her older sibling.

Ellie smiled feeling pretty proud of herself because she really was taking all of this in stride and doing her best not to stress out about all of it. She stayed on the phone with Mallory for a while longer talking about how things were back home. Apparently Brady and Casey had offered Ellie’s old room to Mallory who was seriously considering taking it. Ellie missed her friends and sister but knew that what she was doing was for the best and that going home now would be quitting and if there was one thing that Ellie never has been it would be a quitter.

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The next day at work Ellie was given her station which really couldn’t qualify as a cubical given that the sides weren’t high enough to keep her from seeing her neighbors. She was rather happy to see that Lisa would be at the desk directly across from hers.

“Hey noobie, looks like we’re neighbors!” Lisa said sounding bubbly and excited as she sat her things down on her desk.

Ellie was still working on making sure she was okay with her desk set up when she answered Lisa, “Yeah,” she answered lamely too consumed in her sticky notes to give a real answer. When Ellie felt ill prepared she tended to get overly involved in the way her desk was set up.

“Are you feeling okay, Ellie?” Lisa asked. When Ellie looked up from her desk she found Lisa staring back at her with a look of concern on her face.

Ellie did her best to give an apologetic smile, “Yeah, sorry,” she said waving away Lisa’s worry, “I guess I’m just a little nervous.” She wasn’t entirely sure if that was true but she figured that it was a good enough excuse for how strangely she was acting.

Lisa smiled kindly back, “Don’t worry I was nervous too on my first day,” she reassured her, “It really isn’t that hard.”

Ellie nodded and smiled back as she made sure that she had her quick reference of company policies nearby and took a deep breath readying herself for the day.