A tale of love and ambition

Chapter 3

I could hear the sound of my alarm, but I was not able to focus on it because of the throbbing pain in my head. I stretched my hand out, not knowing where the phone would be, and touched every surface of the bed until I found it and silenced the alarm.

Groaning loudly, I tried to think of what day of the week it was. I got up immediately, remembering that I had a meeting with my staff to discuss the contract approval.

You really got the contract hmmm; the thought made me feel happy once again. All thanks to Chloe.

Chloe.

Chloe!

I was alone, but I was in the living room. I looked around. I hurriedly went to her room and saw she wasn’t there; I searched the whole place for her, went back to the living room and found a note from her that says she got called in early and said she apologized that she wasn’t able to clean up as she had to leave early. My purse was on the counter, along with a plastic bag from Chick-a-fil -A, and the Converse shoes I wore yesterday were on the floor near the kitchen counter.

I started walking around arranging my things to take to my room and Chloe’s. We really got wasted last night. I’m glad we were able to spend time together outside the apartment. It was nice, even though I can’t remember everything that happened.

I quickly took a shower so as not to be late. I put on a green blouse, tucked into black wide-legged pants, used a little bit of perfume, went to the kitchen, I opened the bag of Chick-a-fil-a and finished the chicken nuggets that were left so as for them not to get wasted. I popped a pill of Advil into my mouth to help with the headache, put on my black pair of sandals and walked out of the door.

On my way to the shop, I decided to get a coffee to go and a bagel for myself and Chloe, seeing as she left in a hurry, I doubt she had had anything to eat yet. My poor baby.

I flagged down a taxi, hopped in the back and gave him the address to the bar. Soon after, he dropped me off. When I walked in, Chloe was not in front. I then proceeded to text her.

“I just got to the bar, you are not in front, I got you a cup of coffee and bagel, where are you?” the text read.

After a couple of seconds, I received a text from her.

“You are the cutest person ever, Mariah. I’m at the back, I’ll come out soon” her text read.

“ok”.

She came out soon enough in her uniform,

“You are a literal lifesaver; you have no idea how much I love you right now”, she said, sliding down the seat.

“Hmmm, let me guess” I said, tapping my chin jokingly.

“This much?” I asked, making a love shape with my two hands on my head with a smile on my face.

“Yes yes, now stop that before someone sees us” she complained, forcing my hands down from my head.

We spoke for a while and I could feel eyes burning into the side of my head. I looked at both sides, but by the time I looked around, I didn’t see anybody looking at me with as great intensity as I assumed. My mind was probably playing tricks on me, I thought.

I left the bar after a few minutes so as to make it in time for the meeting with the staff. By the time I got to the shop, everything had been set up. I was so impressed. It made me happy to know that even if I decide not to go to the shop anytime, my staff members will always keep the place running.

“Hi Natalie”. I greeted her as soon as I entered the shop. She was so engrossed with what she was doing, she didn’t realize I had come in.

“Good morning, boss”, Natalie replied with a smile on her face.

“I’ve told you to call me by my name” I said, laughing while walking towards my office, “is Jude also here?” I asked.

“Yes ma’am”

“Could you please call him out here. I have some exciting news to share.”

As soon as she went in, I collapsed on the chair in my personal office, taking a breather before they came back.

“Hi Mariah” Jude greeted him when he came in.

I met Natalie and Jude a few months back. They came to me in search of a job. Although I wasn’t looking to hire anyone, I decided to hire them to help their financial situations. Hiring them was one of the best things I’ve done in my life. They make the job easy; they attract customers and are well behaved. I’m so lucky to have them.

“Good morning, Jude”, I greeted him.

I filled them in on the contract approval. They were so elated.

“This means we have so much work to do in two weeks”, I informed them.

Distributed their chores and we were good to go.

Soon after, it was the night before the charity event. The shop was mostly in darkness.

Everyone else had gone home and I was in the office, making final arrangements for tomorrow.

By the time I got home, it was already really late. Chloe was already at home, so there was a box of pizza with four slices in there. I guessed the food was mine, I popped it into the microwave, went inside, took off my shoes and clothes and went into the bathroom for a quick shower. After the shower, I wore a tank top and joggers, and went back to the kitchen.

I set down a plate, put the pizza slices in and poured water on a glass.

I sat down, had dinner, I washed up once I was done and went to sleep in preparation for tomorrow. I woke up at exactly 7:30, did a little prayer to put the day in God’s hands, entered the bathroom to take my bath and then I remembered I didn’t have a dress to wear as my mind did not go there.

I ransacked my wardrobe looking for something to wear. I finally got two options, but I couldn’t pick, so I did that.

Chloe!!!!!!!

She walked in groggily with a bowl of cereal in hand, “I’m here”, she said.

“So” I gestured to the dresses on the bed. “I have two dresses but I can’t pick what to wear. What do you think? Red or white”

“Give me a moment” she said, walking across the corridor to her room.

I just stood there looking and waiting. She saunted into the room in less than a minute with a gorgeous black dress in hand.

“I figured you wouldn’t be able to pick up a dress so I called for a favor from my sister and she delivered it just last night, surpriseeeee!” she said cheerily.

I was so speechless, I just hugged her crying

“You crybaby, you’d do the same for me, stop it”. She scolded me.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. You are going to be late.”

Oh s**t, that’s true.

I quickly wore my overalls, packed the bag for my basic needs, the gown, my shoes and called the staff to make sure they were already at the venue as we planned.

By the time I got there, they had already started working. We had to collaborate with the event planner and everything worked out. We were 80% before the evening, the organizers came and told us to go and get dressed. I told Natalie and Jude to go ahead and come back soon so I could go and get changed.

Like 45 minutes later, they came back and I left to get changed. Taking off my overalls, I rushed to the bathroom and took a quick but thorough shower, lathering my hair with shampoo.

I wrapped a towel around myself and one on my hair and rushed out. I rubbed lotion, let my hair air dry, applied light makeup on my face and red lipstick to my lips, curled my hair with my hair straightener (I learned it on t****k). Then I looked at the time. It had only been 45 minutes. Phew, I thought to myself, patting myself on the back proudly.

Then, I slipped into the gorgeous black gown with a sweetheart neckline and a slit down the side. It fit like a glove, and I couldn’t recognize the person in the mirror.

I smiled at what I saw, wore my heels, grabbed my clutch, and used a small amount of perfume. I looked pretty good. I took out my phone to snap pictures to send to Chloe. I looked at the time and gasped, I was late.

I dashed out of the room in a hurry but I ended up hitting someone, which caused my clutch to fall from my hands. I bent down to pick it up.

“Sorry,” we said at the same time.

“It’s you, again.” He spoke.