He’s Taken

My heels clanked against the concrete parking lot, echoing through the emptiness. I unlocked my car and hopped in, finally being able to break down. I cried while I repeated the words my boss had said to me ten minutes ago; “I’m sorry Adalina, it’s nothing personal”. I mocked him with a snobby expression on my face while I sat in my car and sobbed. I decided to start the car and buckle up to head over to Colette’s house, she always knew how to cheer me up and help me look on the brighter sides of things. Colette has been my best friend since we met at a yoga class in Downtown Bellevue. I was a new comer that made the great decision of standing next to her mat that day, she’s fun, intelligent, and always Mrs. Brightside about situations. I pulled up in her million dollar drive way up to her million dollar mansion; yes I was surprised too when I first visited her house; Colette’s husband happens to be the CEO of a family owned company. I ring her door bell while I wiped my eyes and swept my hair out of my face, it was bright and early in the morning so anybody that came outside to check mail or walk their dog could clearly see my swollen eyes and red puffy face. Luckily Colette was quick with letting me in, her face went from a big open smile to a concerned friend within seconds. “Is everything alright?” She questioned. “I just got the worst news in my life” I plopped down on a barstool by the counter and put my head in my hands. Colette just looks at me with a ‘okay tell me already’ expression. “My boss let me go today…” she gasped at my answer, my eyes got watery all over again while my lip quivered. She walked over and just hugged me. This job was important to me and supported every aspect in my life, losing it meant my whole life would fall apart. “I’m so sorry, you worked so hard for that position, you were very dedicated, don’t let this tear you down” I just hugged her tighter after she said that, I wish I could bounce back from this that easy but I know I can’t. I’m just so disappointed. I hear a knock on the wall next to us and I look up, Ismael, Colette’s husband, walks in. He looks as if he just woke up, “I couldn’t help but eavesdrop, I’ve got an opening position coming up, I’ll set you up for an interview with my hiring manager this Thursday.” He gives me a straight smile as in ‘hey least I can do’ type of way. “Adalina that’s a great opportunity!” Colette smiles big at me with her hand rubbing my shoulder. A smile creeps up on my face as I nod my head with excitement and I burst out “YES YES YES! thank you so much!” It felt too weird to hug him since I’ve never really been close to Ismael; anytime I’m over and he’s around we basically casually conversate and he just lets us have our girl time. He’s always been very introverted towards me and I like it that way. He walks past me to Colette and she kisses him with a harsh peck and he smiles. “I didn’t know you had that position open? Did you fire someone?” She asked. “Not yet” he responded. Oh gosh, I just took someone’s job and replaced them, small world because that’s just how I got fired. I didn’t say anything about it, I was too grateful for already finding a new and better job so quickly, hell only took me three hours. “Do you wanna go out for coffee as celebration?” Colette asks me. I nodded my head and she held out her hand to Ismael. He grabbed his wallet and keys and handed them to her, she kissed his cheek and we headed out the door. We headed towards our favorite cafe just a couple blocks ahead. “One Carmel macchiato with three shots of espresso please” I told the barista. We grabbed our drinks and sat down, “that was extremely nice of you guys, I’m so grateful” I sipped on my coffee. “That was all him, he can be very generous sometimes” she laughed. “It must be so nice being married to someone like that, or to be that in love I’m happy you have that” I commented. I haven’t been in a serious relationship in two years, it’s always friends with benefits or hook ups. “It is extremely nice Adalina, if you’d go for the guys I hook you up with you might have it soon!” She pointed her finger at me. She always tried to make me go on dates with her acquainted friends that were also single, it always felt awkward to me having to be set up on dates made me feel too desperate. Of course I couldn’t tell her that, she’d deny it and say this is how everyone meets new people. I just rolled my eyes at her comment. Despite drinking half a cup of coffee I was yawning like crazy and decided I’d go home and stay in bed for the rest of the day. “I’m really tired, I think I wanna go back home and sleep” “I’ll take you back to your car if you promise you won’t go home and cry all day” she folds her arms being stubborn. “I promise, I’m happy right now I’m already over that job” I swayed my hand showing her all that was already all behind me. The universe worked in my favor at the perfect time. She nodded getting up grabbing her keys and coffee heading out the door. We arrived at her house and headed inside since I left my keys on the kitchen counter. Colette headed up the stairs to change out of her silky pajamas. I walked over to the barstool I was sitting at to search for my keys, “just a heads up, we wear all black formal clothing” Ismael crept up on me. I gasped a bit startled, I turned around looking at him. I’m sure he was making this comment due to my attire, I was in a nude pencil skirt with a white blouse and nude heels. It was more neutral tones at my old job. I nodded with a smile “I’ll go out and get some right away” I was trying to seem upbeat about his comment, I acted more of a coworker than his wife’s best friend. I turned back around and saw my keys at the far end of the counter, I leaned over the table trying to be quick with grabbing my keys. I turned around and still saw Ismael there just looking at me, I walked out quickly “Tell Colette I said goodbye!” I shouted as I stepped out the front door. I got in my car and headed home.