***
He put the idea out of his head for the moment. On Monday afternoon, he went down to the community college and signed up for a course. He hadn’t expected to like it. He hadn’t expected to do well, and he was pleasantly surprised when he did both.
He was even happier when he got the sales job. No more selling old cars dressed up to look nice, no more selling cellphones in kiosks, and no more crummy jobs that came with no salary and no benefits.
The company was a large one, and he had to keep adding to his education to stay ahead of the game and make sure he could answer questions posed to him by prospective or even current clients. He had to spend his own money to attend those classes, but he didn’t resent either the cost or the time. In fact, he liked it a great deal.
After he landed a large account and the large bonus that came with it, Ashton and Jackson went out partying again. But that time, the idea that Ashton had first thought of several years before was wholly formed, and rather than stay at the bar and pick up women, he and Jackson went to Ashton’s place and created an app.
It was intended as a joke – a little drunken prank. But they launched it that same night, and the next day, they were looking at revenue in the thousands of dollars.
Jackson, pale from excitement and too much alcohol, asked, “Dude, what do we do?”
“We need help. If we ask for help at the company, they might scream it’s theirs because we work there.” Ashton ran his hands through his hair, mussing it further.
“Dawson,” Jackson said, snapping his fingers.
“Exactly. I’ll call him.”
Six months later, Ashton was the boss of a successful company he co-owned with Jackson. The app was one of the most popular in the world. Ashton woke up in the mornings no longer feeling empty and cold. He woke up with a grin, eager to start the day. His nights weren’t filled with an endless succession of drinks lined on a bar and women whose names he couldn’t remember, either. They were filled with plans and ideas. He bought a huge apartment in the hip section of the city and a fast sports car. For the first time, he didn’t have to worry about money, and he liked it.
Then, Jackson got an offer to sell. They fought over that offer, but Jackson was adamant. He wanted to use his share of the money to finally create the video games he loved so much – video games he was sure would make him not just the millionaire the app and its sale would make him, but a billionaire.
Ashton eventually gave in. Jackson’s dream was so big, and the amount on the check so shockingly large that Ashton couldn’t see a way to say no.
He thought he’d be happy, but as it turned out, he wasn’t.
His whole reason for happiness had been that success, and now he was barely treading water. He was thirty-one years old, and he felt washed up and useless.
LAURA
“That blouse is not your color, Laura.”
Laura sighed inwardly, but she just said, “Ok, mom.”
Her mother added, “Why you insist on trying to look so unattractive is beyond me.”
Laura brushed that comment off, or tried to. As always, she felt the tiny sting made by her mother’s unkind words. Over the years, that sting had lessened, but it had never completely gone away. “Me, too.”
Her mother twisted her hands. “You should do something nice with your hair, too.”
“I like it the way it is.”
Laura’s mother didn’t say anything, but her silence spoke volumes. Laura headed out the door, ready for another day of boring office work and small town life.
God, I have to get out of here. I really want Lexie to go with me, but if she just can’t I’m going to make a break for it on my own, she thought to herself. Laura got into her car and started the engine, her spirits deflating. There was a whole life and a big city just waiting in the wings. She wanted to go and she needed to go.
She would go, just as soon as she could find a job that would pay her bills make her dream a reality.
At twenty-seven, Laura was ready for a change. She’d been a rebellious teen, and she’d gotten in plenty of trouble. Her parents had not approved of course, but when had they ever approved of anything she did?
Never.
“See you later mom, I have to get to work.”
“You make sure to do a good job now,” her mother said, like Laura was still sixteen and rushing out of the house, fast food uniform on and a visor clutched in her hands.
“I always do.”
Laura walked outside, squinting up and down the street at the rows of houses that all looked alike – small and neat brick ranchers on postage-sized yards. The same sedate little sedans sat in every driveway. The same short fences surrounded the same flowers in every neatly mulched bed.
“I have to got to get out of here, and now. I can’t do it anymore,” Laura said aloud to herself.
That was beyond true. Every single day brought a fresh sense of slow suffocation that grew more unbearable every passing moment. She’d never moved out of her folks’ house because rental property in a small and very rural town was hard to come by. She’d saved like a fiend, and she had enough money to do what she wanted to do, which was move on. Now, if she could just figure out how to light that fire.
Laura’s phone dinged as an email came in. She coasted the car to a stop at the stop sign and idly checked that mail, but the words in the subject line were enough to make her boredom and the growing despair shatter.
She’d gotten the job! The one she had applied for in the city she wanted to live in so badly!
Laura danced in her front seat, anticipation and excitement mingling to make her yell out a long, “Hell yeah!”
She called Lexie who answered on the third ring. Laura said, “Hey, you know how we always said as soon as one of us got as job in the city we’d get out of here?”
Lexie chuckled. “Yeah, why?”
“I got a job. I start next week!”
Dead silence. Trepidation set in. All the plans that Laura had made to get out of the colorless, small town had had Lexie in them.
Laura hated to admit that anything scared her, but the idea of being all alone in such a large place scared her shitless. Lexie going with her would mean that she would not be alone, and that she would still have her bestie by her side.
But had Lexie ever really wanted to leave? She said she did, but did she really? Lexie’s life was so much better than Laura’s. Maybe she was content there.
“Oh. Why, that’s great but…but I got turned down for all the jobs I applied for and…and well, I mean…”
That stupid boyfriend of hers, of course. Laura twisted the wheel hard as she started driving again. She said, “How about we go out and celebrate tonight? We’ll figure something out for a job for you, and we both have our savings. I mean, we have been saving for this since we were teenagers, so we should be okay.”
“I can’t tonight,” Lexie said slowly.
Laura gritted her teeth. Damn it! Lexie was probably dreaming of a big wedding, and that jerk she was dating was likely the groom of her fantasies.
“Tomorrow then?”
“Yeah, that would be great.”
“Cool. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Laura hung up, her spirits dropping slightly as she pulled into the parking lot of her job.
She leaned her head back against her seat, and said, “If she won’t go, I’ll go alone. I don’t want to, but I won’t stay here anymore. I can’t. I absolutely can’t. Not even for Lexie.”