Standing outside of Jess’ door I took a deep breath before raising my hand to knock, however to my surprise the door wasn’t closed completely. Confused I wondered if I should still knock or just walk in, which after a moment I decided to with the latter since none of us ever really knocked.
Raining my hand up to the polished wood, I pushed it open crack, and peered inside. Finding the main part of the room empty I pushed the door the rest of the way open and slipped in, partially closing the door behind me.
Wondering where Jess was I shuffled further into the room, and was just contemplating leaving, figuring she wasn’t there when I heard voices coming from the bedroom.
Knowing I was being rude my eavesdropping but not wanting to scare the shit out of whoever it was by just announcing that I had crept into the room uninvited like a creep, I slowly made my way over to the bedroom door and pressed my ear against it listening.
“You can’t do that!” Jess cried, “We had a deal!”
Confused I strained to hear more, and after a moment of hearing nothing I realized Jess must be on the phone.
“I’m not doing that to them!” she snapped, “No…. I don’t care….This isn’t about me! No! I won’t do it! You can’t threaten me!”
Totally lost, I tried to piece together what she was saying however it made no sense.
“You’re sick!” she spat, “You know I need this job! No, no! For the last time, I won’t do it! You can’t fire me!..... You can’t make me choose like that! Wait! NO! I….ugh!”
Suddenly there was a crash which I assumed was her chocking her phone, and then a loud sob. Completely lost as to what she was talking about but knowing enough to know that I wasn’t supposed to hear it, I contemplated just leaving, however couldn’t leave her crying.
Sighing, I took a deep breath and pushed the door open before I could over think it. Glancing around the room, and seeing no sign of her, but still hearing her crying, I followed the sound of her sobs to the bathroom, which was open just enough to see what she was doing inside.
Careful not to make any noise and startle her I looked down to where she was sat on the floor, with her knees pulled up to her chest, crying into her hands.
Glancing around nervously and whishing that there was someone around who was better suited to handle the situation and obviously finding no one since we were the only two in the room, I slowly pushed the door open.
Letting out a shriek of surprise, Jess, looked up shocked, and seeing that it was me she hastily wiped her eyes on the back of her hands.
Feeling awkward I crouched down in front of her, “Are you,….um, are you okay?” I questioned.
“Yeah,” she answered too quickly, “I uh…..I’m hormonal and there was Ansel Elgort stuff on my tumbler feed plus I’m feeling kind of crampy so you know, you should probably just go…”
“Jess, I uh…. I heard the phone call.” I admitted.
“What?” she demanded looking terrified, “How much did you hear?”
“Not much,” I replied, “Something about you getting fired?”
“Oh that,” she muttered.
“Yeah, that.” I said slowly, sitting down on the ground next to her, “What was that about?”
“Nothing,” she answered, “Just personal, business stuff, don’t worry about it.”
“You can tell me,” I said gently, “I won’t tell anyone else.”
