CHAPTER FOUR - AMBER
The sun had been up for a long time by the time I finally woke up. I stretched like a cat, savoring the knowledge that I had nowhere in particular to be that day. That didn’t mean I was going to lay in bed all day however.
I’d done that yesterday, just watching movies and dozing when I felt like it. I couldn’t remember the last time a day off felt so good.
This past week at Emery had been brutal, and not just because of Chef Harrison. I wasn’t used to being on my feet all day, constantly moving. My muscles were sore and tired. I could rest a whole week and they’d still be groaning.
Despite that, I was going to visit my best friend, Jamie.
We hadn’t had time to talk much this past week beyond a few texts. I’d been so busy and worn out, I didn’t have the energy to interact with another human being. I was ready to be social like a normal person again. I made myself presentable and headed out.
I walked into the Lux Nail Salon to see Jamie sitting behind one of the tables. She wasn’t getting her nails done, though. She worked there.
Although judging from how empty the place was, I didn’t think she’d done much actual work today. Other stylists sat around, some of them tending to clients while others just stared at their phones.
Jamie was one of the ones on her phone. She grinned when she saw me. “Hey, there, stranger.”
I made a face at her and she laughed. “It hasn’t been that long,” I said, sitting down across from her.
“Yeah, right. You get a new fancy schmancy job, and now you’re too good to mingle with us common folk.”
I held my hand out to her, palm down. “Kiss the ring, bitch.”
We both laughed.
“But no,” I said. “It’s not a glamorous job. It might be fancy in the dining room, but back in the kitchen, it’s like a sweatshop.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t love it.” She wagged her eyebrows at me.
I shrugged. “Ehh, it’s kind of a mixed bag.” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get into all the details just then, so I changed the subject instead. “What about you? How’s life here?”
Jamie looked around the mostly empty establishment. “What’s it look like? I’m bored out of my skull.”
“You could always find another job,” I offered.
“I will, eventually. For now, it’s fine. Just something to pay the bills while I figure things out.”
“You’ve been trying to figure things out for a while now.”
She fidgeted with a vial of nail polish on the table. “Yeah, well, some of us weren’t born knowing exactly what we want to do for the rest of our lives.”
“You mean me? Look, I’m not judging. I actually kind of envy you. There’s a freedom to not knowing where you’ll end up. It’s like your future is filled with possibilities.”
Jamie looked up and grinned at me. “This is why we’re friends. You make my existential dread sound so nice.” She sighed. “I mean, I guess it’s not all bad. I kind of think of it like Schrodinger’s Cat, but for jobs.”
“You can’t just say that and expect me to know what the hell that means.”
“It’s like, until I choose a career path, I’m sort of everything and nothing. Like, I’m an ER nurse, or a skydiving instructor, or something really exciting, like an accountant.”
I shot her a look. “Do you really want to be any of those things?”
“Well, no. But it’s fun to daydream about, especially when I’m stuck here with nothing to do.” She lifted her phone. “A girl can only look at so many cat pictures before getting bored. And besides, the best part of imagining me being all those things is thinking about having some hot alpha male as my boss.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, Lord. Here we go again.”
She laughed. “What? It’s true. Do you know how nice it would be to have a dominating sexy bastard as your boss? And I’m not talking a thin, well-dressed suit. I mean, like a muscled, tattooed, big dick-”
“Okay.” My cheeks warmed. “That’s something that belongs in a book. You know that shit never really happens.” I wasn’t sure I should tell her that my latest gig had exactly that kind of man as a boss. It would only dig her deeper into her fantasy world.
Even though my boss was the kind that kept me up at night, hot and bothered until I finally relieved myself of the pressure that was building up. It was pointless though. Chef Harrison hadn’t looked my way more than once, and that one time was to snap my head off my shoulders like a string bean.
“Well, I’m just saying.” She bit her lip. “It’s boring as fuck around here.”
“Must be nice.” I let out a soft sigh. “I never get a chance to stop and mess around. I barely have a chance to breathe.”
Jamie settled back in her chair and looked at me. “So, is it everything you thought it would be? I mean, when you got called back for the job, you wouldn’t shut up about it.”
My smile wavered. “It’s really hard to explain. I’m not even sure how I feel about it honestly.”
“So, you don’t like it?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s amazing. I’ve only been there a week, but I’ve learned so much. Learning to cook in class was fine, but it’s nothing like being in a professional kitchen.”
“I’ll bet.”
“And there’s a sort of adrenaline rush when things get busy. As hectic as things get, it kind of makes me feel alive, you know?”
“So, you do like it?”
I tilted my head to the side and pursed my lips. “No, not exactly. It’s a really hard job. I mean, I like a challenge, but most of the time, I feel like I’m messing everything up. Like I’m not good enough.” I shook my head. “I don’t know. I think it’s just my boss.”
Jamie sat up straighter in her chair. “Speaking of bosses,” she muttered.
Jamie’s boss emerged from her office at the back of the salon. Her graying hair stood up in a tangle on the back of her head, and her eyes were red. I got the distinct impression she’d just woken up.
“Good morning, Miss Cassandra,” Jamie called out in a sing-song voice. She shot me a sideways glance, confirming my suspicions that Jamie was poking fun at her.
Miss Cassandra was what she told people to call her; not Ms. Garcia, or Cassandra. Miss Cassandra. She narrowed her bleary eyes at Jamie.
“Why aren’t you working?”
“I’m about to take my lunch break,” Jamie said.
Cassandra looked at her watch, then back at Jamie. “But it’s two hours until lunch time.”
Jamie stood up and grabbed her purse. “Come on, Miss Cassandra. Lunch time is whenever you actually eat lunch. Which for me, is right now.”
I could almost see the gears spinning in Cassandra’s head as she tried to work out Jamie’s sloppy logic. I couldn’t imagine speaking this way to Chef Harrison. He went apes hit over innocent comments. He’d probably go full-blown nuclear if he thought I was messing with him.
Lucky for Jamie, her boss was the total opposite of mine. Cassandra nodded and waved Jamie toward the door. “Go. Just bring me back a coffee.”