Working Days

chapter four: her

It was an unsuspecting Wednesday afternoon; the week after she last had her friends over.

Ollie was in her favourite green loveseat, shifting every couple of minutes as she pressed a deeper dent into it. She was watching a show Charlie had recommended and messily indulging in a pack of Maltesers; both of her hands having somehow found their way into the pack of half melted chocolate goodness.

Beside her, her half charged phone started ringing. Ollie looked at the contact info and groaned, ignoring the call. It rang two more times, and halfway through the second ring she aggressively licked the chocolate off one of her hands and accepted the call.

“What on earth do you want from me?”

Juno chuckled with Amara and Charlie on the other end of the phone. s**t. Ollie knew she was in for it.

“You get off work in 30 minutes! We’re waiting for you! We can’t see your car parked outside, though. Did you take the bus?”

Ollie stammered, straightening up in her seat and using her other chocolate-covered hand to turn down the volume of her TV.

“Yeah, I totally did. I’m eco-friendly now.” She stood up, walking around her living room; bag of Maltesers long forgotten.

Amara cackled in the background. “So eco-friendly that you don’t take showers to conserve water!” The four women fell into fits of laughter, and Ollie’s dry laugh cut through theirs.

“Such a clown!” She said sarcastically, to which they laughed again.

“But yeah, we’re gonna need you to come down as soon as you’re off from work. I just got a massive break and sold a property, so we’re going out to celebrate! You’re not avoiding this Ollie. We know you’re not busy because you’d have talked our ears off if you were up to some overtime project at work. See you soon!” Juno said, ending the call before Ollie could think of any excuse to not show up.

“s**t, s**t, shit.” Ollie wiped her hands on her T-shirt, hopping around her living room as she tried to think of a possible solution. She had 28 minutes until 5pm; the time she’d have closed from work… if she still had a job.

It took twenty minutes to get to her old office. Another five, at least, to figure out how to get over the back fence without being seen.

That left her with just three minutes to get her s**t together.

“Holy f**k. I just knew this was my time!” she wailed as she rushed into her bedroom. Ollie’s eyes sieved through the piles of clothes on her bedroom floor, collapsing next to the most promising looking one in a panic. She flung clothes behind her, and her hands finally landed on a disgustingly rumpled striped shirt and a textured pencil skirt that did not match in any way. She stared at the wrinkles for half a second, then put on the clothes anyway.

Ollie grabbed a random book bag hanging off the edge of her bed and threw her purse in it, hearing her coins jingle against each other. She shoved her feet into the only ballet flats she had and practically sprinted out of her room.

Her TV was still on and she knew that it would run up her electricity bill, but she couldn’t focus on anything other than getting herself from point A to B as quickly as possible. Picking up her key and finally her phone, she stepped out of her house in the afternoon for the first time in weeks.

The humid, hot atmosphere hit her like a truck. Ollie wrinkled her face and brushed over her cornrows as she speed-walked to the bus stop. She debated on getting a scarf to hide her hair, long overdue for a restyling, but she figured her chances of getting a bus downtown were already low enough to be dilly-dallying.

It’s not like they expect me to look good, she thought to herself in consolation.

She got to the bus stop and noticed a lone bus about to drive off. Ollie ran for what felt like the millionth time that day and crossed the road, bowing her head in apology aggressively. She waved her hand at the bus and somehow the bus driver managed to spot her. She got on, pushing past to find somewhere to get settled.

“Could my day get any worse?” she asked herself rhetorically. All the seats were occupied and so she was left to stand in front of a group of teenagers. As she raised her hand to hold the guard rail, they winced and tried to discretely cover their noses.

Right. She didn’t shower. It could get worse, actually.

Ollie dropped her hand down awkwardly to rummage through her bag for anything that could make her smell better. Her hands shuffled through receipts and candy wrappers, eventually landing on a scratch and sniff sticker. She pulled it out of her bag and scratched it, sticking it under her shirt to swab it on the skin of her armpits as discretely as possible.

Of course, her new found haters noticed.

The high schoolers groaned in exasperation, muttering and giggling amongst themselves. Ollie noticed this and chuckled to herself. If they wanted a show, they would get one, alright.

She turned to face them and raised both of her hands to grab onto the railings. Revelling in their horrified expressions almost made her chaotic day worth it.

As the bus slowed to a familiar stop, a pit of dread settled in her stomach. She huffed out a breath, adjusting her wrinkled shirt as she joined the slowly moving train off.

Ollie stepped onto the pavement and settled into a familiar stride. She looked over her surroundings, appreciating the new decorations the cafe shop she frequented set up. The sun gleamed into her mirthful eyes a little less as she skipped down the streets she once hated. A sense of calm settled over her at the change in atmosphere from the musty four walls of her home, and she almost forgot about how she would have to keep up a lie to save face in front of her friends.

Almost.