Fight For You

Chapter One - Cookies and Phone Calls

"How's the job hunt going?" She asked stretched her long limbs out. I admired her slim figure for a moment.

"It's going," I responded half heartedly stretching out with her.

"You'll find something, Emily! You're so great at what you do." She grinned.

"Thanks," I smiled back. Sometimes all you needed was a little encouragement and that was always found in Ashley. You didn't even have to look hard to find it.

"Alright, class!" Jim, our yoga instructor walked in with his black mat tucked under his arm. "Please spread out your mats and be seated."

Ashley snickered as Jim turned to frown at her, "Ashley, please keep your puns to yourself."

She burst out laughing, no doubt changing the word 'puns' to 'buns' in her head. She was tired, it was pretty much the evening for her.

He glared in her direction before shooting me a small smile. I waved in return, "Please be seated. Breathe in and out," he took a deep breath in and we followed.

"Now, release," he stated peeking one eye open to look at Ashley with a hard look, "Don't even think about it."

She let out a chortle but let it slide. After a yoga class filled with inappropriate jokes from Ashley and Jim's neck vein almost bursting, we wrapped up, rolling the yoga mats we were sitting on.

Jim walked up to us, "How are my two favourite yoga clients?" He asked grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey, Jim, good class!" Ashley replied brightly. I had suspicions that Ashley liked Jim, but she showed it like an eight year old boy would. She only got like this when she really liked the guy.

"It would have been nicer with a little less heckling from this corner," he stated teasingly. Jim was a good guy, so he didn't mind too much that we laughed the class off in front of the other ten yoga students.

Ashley looked away sheepishly, "Sorry, Jim. It won't happen again, pinky promise?" She reached to him with her pinky and he wrapped his around hers, shaking as he did so.

"I'll believe it when I see it," he grumbled, walking away.

Ashley and I walked outside and grabbed a coffee, for me, sleepy time tea for her, and parted ways. I loved seeing Ashley but her nighttime schedule meant we basically only saw each other once a week for this class. I replied to her texts in the morning and she responded in the middle of the night.

I walked back into my apartment complex, almost running right into Ms. Smith, who was checking her mail. "Oh, sorry Ms. Smith!" I called as I took a step back. She spent a lot of time at the mailbox, which just so happened to be at the entrance of the building. For someone who was retired and living alone, she sure received a lot of correspondence.

She raised an eyebrow at me, "Where are you coming from?"

"Yoga class," I gave her a small smile before beginning my trek up the stairs.

"Yoga doesn't count as exercise!" She called from the lobby.

"I'll keep that in mind!" I yelled back.

I opened the door to my apartment with my key and stepped inside, grabbing a bottle of water from my fridge. I went to take a quick shower before finally changing for the day.

I walked over to the newspaper from this morning, picking it up. My eyes zeroed in on the nursing position. I grabbed my phone, taking a deep breath before dialling the number.

"Hello?" A deep, masculine voice sounded, breathing heavily like he was answering after a jog or something.

"Hi, my name's Emily, I'm calling about the caregiver position?" Nerves were in my throat and I wasn't exactly sure why.

"You're a nurse?" The guy asked gruffly, his breathing now stabilized.

"Yes," I replied. Why else would I have phoned in? "I'm an RN."

I could hear multiple people shouting loudly in the background, startling me. Where the hell was this guy? "Come in for an interview tomorrow, then."

"What time?" I asked taking the cap off of my pen and poised it over the paper in front of me, waiting for further instructions.

"4:00 at 1438 Bristle Creek, apartment 4D." Came the rushed reply.

"Okay, sou-" the ringtone sounded loudly on the dropped call and I pulled the phone away from my face in confusion. Who hangs up on someone calling about a job?