Just One Night. Part 3 Read Online Free PDF

FIVE
    Jennifer

    I’VE USED UP A WHOLE box of tissues by the time Mia comes by at lunchtime and sits down beside me at my computer. She’s the kind of friend who shows up to rescue me from the ledge after just a single text. I know I’m lucky to have her, but right now I’m wondering if I should have stayed off the phone so I could be miserable all alone.
    “You look awful,” she says, handing me another tissue from her purse. “Please wipe your nose before you make me hurl.”
    I do as she asks as I stare at the screen. I’m a mere robot. Tell me what to do and I will do it without question. Beep boop beep . There’s really no point in thinking for myself anymore. All it does is get me in trouble. Did I really say all that stuff in front of some of the most successful realtors in town? Yes. I really did. Oh, the humiliation.
    “So what are we going to do with you?” she asks, pulling me sideways with her arm wrapped around the back of my shoulders.
    I lean my head on hers, too weak to fight off her support. “Shoot me. Put me out of my misery.”
    “Phooey on that. Come on, let’s go make a plan.” She stands.
    I point at the screen and sniff. “I am making a plan. See?” I wipe the tissue under my nose. It’s starting to hurt. I’ll probably have a rash under my nostrils tomorrow from all the nose-blowing I’ve been doing. That’ll be attractive.
    She leans down and looks at the screen. “Hmmm … a list. Let’s see what you have here… One, become a prostitute. Two, join the Navy. Three, drown sorrows in OJ and wait for sugar seizures.” Mia sighs and settles her gaze on me. “How about you just find another broker and keep doing what you do best?”
    I stare at the computer screen and imagine myself sitting in another conference room getting the news that Hank is my boss. I never thought it could happen once and it did, so that means it could happen again and again and again. “Because. I can’t trust any of those assholes that they won’t sell out to the devil. Besides, Hank says he’s keeping my last commissions, so what’s the point? No one will want me.”
    Mia snorts and it makes me feel even worse. “Please,” she says. “As if he could do that. You’d have a lawyer on his ass so fast it would make his head spin.”
    My voice comes out all whiney. “I don’t have the money for a lawyer, Mia. I have enough savings to pay rent for a few months and that’s it. I’ll be eating noodles and using one-ply TP until I’m forty.” I let my head drop back so I can stare at the ceiling. The lumpy surface is stained from old water leaks. I hate my life.
    “No, you won’t. Geez, would you stop with the pity party, already? It’s getting super old and definitely lame. It’s not like you to be so weak.”
    I want to be mad at her for being so mean, but I can’t. She’s right. I’m even pissing myself off at this point. “What happened to me, Mia?” I look over at her with my puffy eyes. “When did I become such a wiener?”
    She gives me a pity smile. “You’re not a wiener. You’ve just been knocked down and kicked a little bit by life, but that doesn’t mean you deserved it. It happens to everyone once in a while. The difference between a wiener and you is that a wiener would use this as an excuse to quit. You’re not going to do that.”
    “I’m not?”
    “No. Hell no, you’re not.”
    “What should I do?” My arms hang listlessly next to my chair. I literally do not have the energy right now to lift them or make my own decisions.
    “If this were me sitting here bawling and making stupid lists, what would you advise me to do?”
    “I don’t know.” Dropping my chin to my chest, I stare down into my lap.
    “Bullshit. Tell me. Advise me. You’re good at that stuff.”
    “I am?” I look into her eyes again. It doesn’t seem like she’s just trying to make me feel better. My arms lift to rest in my lap.
    “Yes. Who was the one who told me to follow my passions