Happily Never After

Chapter 2

3 Years Later

I look at my reflection in the floor-length mirror and straighten out my black pencil skirt, making sure the bottom of my tucked in dark blue silk blouse sat right. Perfect! 

I sigh and take in my appearance for my day at work: long curled brown hair falling perfectly down my back, makeup kept simple and natural and black Louboutin pumps completing my business attire. 

"Sarah, are you almost ready to go to work?" My best friend, Zoe, shouts from downstairs. 

"Yeah, I'll be right down." I shout back. 

I pick up my long black winter coat and put it on, leaving it unbuttoned so I can move about easily and pull my hair out from under it. I pick up my black leather tote bag that contains all my items for work, including my mobile phone, from my bed and make my way down the stairs.

Zoe stood by the white front door, similarly dressed to myself, pulling on a pair of black leather gloves. Under her long black coat, she wore a white blouse that was tucked in to the top of her black pencil skirt and a pair of black Jimmy Choo pumps. Clearly, neither of us were paying any attention as to what month it was and what weather came with it. 

"All set?" She asks, picking up her leather tote bag. 

"Yeah." 

She smiles lightly and opens the front door, the cold winter air hitting us both in the face and making us wrap our black coats tightly around our bodies as we made our way to the car. 

"Jordan, tell mum that I will check my schedule at work today and that I will get back to her about dinner." Zoe calls back to her brother who stood by the front door waving us off to work. 

"Will do," he responds. "Have a nice day at work you two." 

Our walk towards the car was a mission within itself. The slightly icy path made us cling onto each others arms for balance as we felt our feet slide against the shiny surface of the ground. It was a case of, if one of us fall flat on our ass, the other falls too. 

"Got it?" I ask, holding on to the passenger door of Zoe's black Mercedes CL-Class coupé. 

"I think so," she replies, slowly moving round the front of the car, making sure she didn't fall. I watch her closely, her hands never leaving the car as she uses it for balance. Finally, she got round to the drivers door and she looks over at me with a smile on her face. "Got there eventually." 

I return her smile and she unlocks the car so we could get in. I open the passenger door slightly and glance down the rest of the street at the houses as other residents were doing the same as us. Some were scraping their car windows to rid them of the frost while others were busy spraying de-icer on them which seemed like an easier and better option. 

School children carefully walked past the houses, dressed from head-to-toe in winter clothing and accessories. A few of them screamed as the slipped and fell to the ground and my heart went out to them. Everyone's been there at some point in their life. 

"Sarah, while you're still out there, spray the windows with this." I reach inside the car and take the bottle of de-icer out Zoe's hand and start to spray it on the outside of the car windows. "That'll do them." 

I fully open the car door and get inside. The coldness of the leather seats on my already cold skin made me slam the car door closed. "It's bloody cold in here!" 

"It's heating up, just give it time." She takes the bottle of de-icer out of my cold hand and sits it down at the side of the drivers door. "We'll just wait till it heats up a little before we go."