Straight and Narrow

When I left my house this morning, I had hoped to put on a better display. In ratty old jeans, a navy blue sweatshirt I should've thrown away a while ago and the same old whitish sneakers I had been wearing since college, I had surely looked better. Passing by the coffee shop me and Kaylee frequented, I caught a glimpse of my reflection, seeing the dismal state I was in. Standing still for a second, I took a moment to run a hand through my short, chestnut hair, fiddling with it until I felt it looked presentable. My broad shoulders seemed useless attached to my narrow frame, my long skinny legs made me tall, but my arms lacked all the definition for me to be considered 'big'. I hiked up my pants, rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and decided that it'd have to do. I had places to be.

My job had been slow going for a number of weeks, or perhaps, since the beginning. The marketing agency paid pretty well, enough at least for me to be able to afford the apartment I was renting. Luckily I rarely spent my money unwisely, not going out much, nor going on shopping sprees or holidays. I made it work. Today I started late, not necessarily because anyone told me I could, but because I knew that the office would virtually be empty and that no one would ever find out that I slept in this morning. I only shared the office with the two other people working in the IT department, in a little corner office, pressed into the second floor above a restaurant. The main company was closer to the city center, in one of those ginormous glass monstrosities, where every floor looked identical to the next. We had been relegated to the apartment office just outside the main city district, where we sat answering the most nonsensical e-mails all day and spent most of our time explaining how to turn on a computer over the phone.

I pushed open the door in the side entrance next to the restaurant, a stream of freshly baked bread hitting me as soon as I entered the dimly lit hallway. For a moment I stopped and considered stepping into the restaurant instead, picking myself up some late breakfast. Ultimately I decided against it, knowing that Mike and Lucy both had their day off today and that it was up to me to perform the IT departments duties, of which I knew there'd be very little. I tried to be a professional, I was twenty six now and certain that one of these days I'd ought to turn into a 'real' adult. When that would happen I wasn't sure, but I'd definitely be ready for it.