1.02: Work, Work

I woke up a little more than an hour before my first day on the job.

My mysterious benefactor had left me a camp shower, so I hopped on in to get cleaned up.

It worked surprisingly well. I hopped out feeling ready to take on the day!

But first, granola. Just as I finished, the carpool came and I dashed off to leave.

My first day was....well, horrifying, to say the least. Like, I learned an intern is basically just a coffee-fetching-smile-and-nodder who doesn't get to do shit. But hey, that's in the past now. Hooray for promotions.

A helluva headache now, though. Guess I overworked myself.

I texted my friends about the promotion. Most of them seemed happy for me.

I went out to get a celebratory coffee and the line was SO. SLOW. My grandpa Ken could move faster than these guys, I swear. No wonder it was nighttime by the time I got home.

By that point, I was too tired to give a shit, so I went straight to bed.

Tuesday was a yogurt morning. Ick.

But I'd bought myself a stereo the day before with my wages, so I relaxed with some music before my carpool showed up.

As it turned out, being an "Engagement Monkey" was, like, being hit by three oncoming taxis and an airplane while being pulled in a bazillion different directions. I had no clue what I was doing. And I was still half a step above broke.

A flash of blue caught my eye in the distance, so I made my way over to it.

Bluebells. Pretty. Maybe they'd be worth some money?

I heard a frog croaking in the distance, so I went after it too. All I saw was a slimy-ass log, but I dug around for the source of the noise.

It made me some cash in the end, so I wasn't complaining.

Still stressed from my broke-ass state, I met up with some friends for coffee.

"...everything okay?" Joaquin asked. Surprisingly perceptive of him, yet totally obvious based on my body language. 

"Oh. My. Gosh. So, lemme tell you what my asswipe of a boss did today..."

"...and then I was like, 'Bro, I just got this job, I don't know what I'm doing, much less where the damn copy room is.' So then Alan told me off to Craig, who went on a whole friggin' rant about entitled brats of my generation. I almost punched him, swear to Watcher. So nah, I'm kinda pissed but at least I'm not fired."

Joaquin looked appropriately horrified. 

"And I thought my gigs were bad. Forget coffee, you need a Juice on the Rocks." 

I chuckled. Damn right I did.

I went in with him, and we started dancing. Admittedly, I had zero clue what I was doing.

Joaquin, on the other hand, seemed, like, at home.

Eliza showed up not long after, and the three of us danced while we talked.

Another lady, Jesminder, introduced herself too. I noticed the baby bump immediately.

"It's triplets." She said once she caught me staring.

"Holy cowplant."

She laughed. "Best get my party out before they come out, right?"

Jesminder sat down after that. Guess three growing babies will suck the life outta you.

About two minutes later, Paolo showed up.

"Sorry. Work ran late." He was sweaty, but smiling.

"You're good. And I know this is random, but..." 

Paolo suddenly looked worried. Can't imagine why.

",..you know that album by Envision Efreets that just dropped?"

"It's amazing, right?" 

"Haven't heard it yet, but I imagine it's good based off all the reviews I read." He relaxed a little after he said that.

We talked a bit longer as he got in the groove.

When I got home hours later,  I realized my mysterious benefactor had made a couple more updates to the part of the lot I lived on. I decided I'd check them out when I was a little less tired.

Gotta sneeze?

Nope. Just practicing a speech persuading my boss to get me out of my hellhole and up to the next level.

I was in a good mood leaving for work.

Coming home? Not so much. Being a clickbait writer was surprisingly boring.

Took a nap. Still bored.

Lit my campfire. Now I was bored...with a campfire. Great.

But there was a branch-covered area I spied off to the side of my lot. Maybe that'd be more interesting.

It was pretty, yeah, but I decided to rummage in a trash can and see if there was anything I could sell.

If only Larissa and Makenzie could see me now.

At dusk, I decided to go for a swim. The water was cold, but refreshing.

I ended up spending the night curled up on a bench to sleep.

I was still tired the next day at work.

But I was in for a surprise when I came home.

A shack. Four walls, a roof - no windows, sadly.

Home at last.