The Girl In The Mirror

Chapter 2

BEEP BEEP BEEP

My alarm goes off, reminding me that my weekend is over and another work week has started. 4am comes way too early for my liking, I want to just roll over and go back to sleep and say fuck it to my job. Then I remember that no one else is going to pay my bills, and that gives me the motivation I need to throw off the blankets and zombie walk into the bathroom.

I am greeted at work by Marla, who is holding a coffee and a Blueberry scone.

"You are an angel" I say taking a bite out of the scone she hands to me.

"You never eat breakfast, and I assume you have nothing for breakfast anyways in that apartment." She says holding the coffee out.

"Well thank you. I'll pay for lunch today"

"No, you will not. I'm not doing this to be paid back, I'm doing this because I want to. And the look on James face when he realized the scone wasn't for him was hilarious." She laughed remembering the look.

We split as we got the door. Her to the office area and me to the production floor. I won't say that I love my job because that sounds like a lie, but I definitely don't hate it. I didn't know anything about manufacturing when I first started the job, but now I can't imagine doing anything else. I'm pretty sure the biggest perk, to me, is that I don't have to deal with the public. It's just us. We don't have to deal with customers or complaints or people who take their bad days out on us. It's definitely the best job I've ever had.

Getting to my table, I put my coffee in its designated spot, grabbed my earbuds, and switched on my podcast. That is until I see Mike walking towards me with a grin on his face.

"Hey, Nat. Before you start listening to all the horrible things humans do to each other, I just found out we're getting a new guy."

"My area?" I ask, hoping he says no. Over the last 6 months, I have poured my soul into my job, and that has gained the attention of my bosses to the tune that I am now the trainer for my area. I don't mind training new employees, but the last few people I have trained have left after a week. Before Mike could answer me, however, our boss walked up to us with who I assume is the new guy.

"Natalie, Mike. This is Theo. He's going to be starting with us today. I'm just taking him around and introducing him to all the areas." He turns to Theo."Natalie takes care of building precision and Mike tests and packages all our products."

"I wonder how long he will last." I say to Mike as they walk away to the next area.

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly, as Mondays generally do. But my mind did keep going back to the new guy, not because I found him attractive, but because I found him interesting. He kept his dirty blonde hair shoulder length, and his steel eyes looked like they were trying to see into your soul. He kept his lips in a straight line. No smiling but also not scowling. As the day came to an end, I watched him walk through the door and look around, until his eyes found mine, and he walked directly towards me.

"Looks like I'll be with you tomorrow," he says as he reaches me. No emotion in his voice as he said it.

I force a smile as I put my earbuds back in their case, "Good, can't wait to work with you."

He just stands there, stoically, staring for a minute, then a slight sneer appears on his face. "You might regret saying that." he then turns and walks away.

What the actual hell was that?

The rest of the week flew by. Theo didn't end up being trained by me. Instead, he was sent to Mike.

Friday, walking out of work to my car, my phone vibrates. With a smile on my face, I slide the answer button over.

"I was just thinking about you," I say as I reach my car

"Get your ass down here and hang out with me this weekend." The voice on the other end demands

I chuckle and reply, "See you in an hour"

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What do you think of Theo? He's actually based very loosely on a person that means quite a bit to me!