Eleanor & Me

18 - Skyscraper

18 - Skyscraper

As the smoke clears, I awaken and untangle you from me.

“Stand straight.”

Her voice resounded inside my head, making me come back to reality. I turned to look at her. She looked at me intensely, like waiting for me to back down. I said nothing, knowing a stare could say it all. She stood silently next to me, studying me. I had grown used to her studying me. It did not affect me anymore. I actually felt awkward when she did not study me.

I looked around, taking in all of the buildings around me, trying not to look down. I sighed once more and stood straight, cursing all the possible words inside my head. I focused once more on my task.

She continued to stare at me. Notable disappointment was plastered on her face as I started to shake. I tried to control it, but I failed and ended almost falling off the roof. I squeaked a little bit and then grabbed onto what I could, quickly and without thinking about anything else. The roof beneath me shook a little bit, and I held onto it since my life literally depended on it.

She sighed in an annoyed manner, only making me feel worse. I felt my body tremble and tears started to form in my eyes. I felt a sudden rush and my body heat intensely. I was hyperventilating and shaking violently by now, taking a full notion of the streets and cars and danger underneath me.

“You need to focus more,” she pointed out after a couple of seconds of complete and utter silence.

I looked up at her perplex. First, I could not believe she did not care about my safety and the fact I almost killed myself up there. And second, I could not believe she could stand that gracefully on top of a roof- the way she wanted me to.

“I’m trying,” I defended through gritted teeth.

“Not hard enough,” she replied, oblivious to my annoyance and tiredness.

I stayed silent, curled up with my legs pressed against my chest and trying not to stumble in my five inch high heels, while I waited for her next command. I was more than convinced that she would make me stand up there again. She took her phone out of her fancy blazer and typed on it, seconds later she put it to her ear, probably making a phone call. I just stayed there, trying to calm myself from my nervous breakdown as she spoke.

“Quinn? Make me a reservation for lunch at Willo please.” She made a pause and then added, “For two.” With that, she hung up and looked down at me once more. “Come on, get up,” she said and turned around. I collected myself the best I could and did as she requested, following her off the roof afterwards.

The whole walk back to her office was completely silent, with me walking behind her wondering just how disappointed she was at me. People stared at us as we walked by. I heard them whisper things I could not understand. All I know is they made me feel uncomfortable. As we turned around to get into her office I spotted Eleanor. She stared at us but when our gazes met, she immediately looked somewhere else. I frowned at this, still unsure about what was going on with her.

Was it me?

Was it something I had done?

Was it going to last long?

“Oh! Hi there, sweetie!”

With this I came back to reality. It was Wilhelmina. But she was not talking to me –there was no way in earth that she would be so nice to me.