The Comedown | Luke Hemmings

Eight

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I sat on my couch, scrolling through what felt like an endless amount of job listings online. Nothing was catching my eye, I still didn't know what I wanted to do, and I was beginning to feel a bit too accustomed to the unemployed life I had been living.

"Maybe you should consider doing something freelance? You've always loved writing, you could do something with that," Maya spoke up from my phone that was propped up against a glass of water on my coffee table. I glanced down at it, making eye contact with her through the screen since we were on FaceTime and rolled my eyes at her suggestion. "Oh come on you know that's not an awful idea... What do you have to lose?"

I let out an exaggerated sigh, glancing back at my laptop screen while continuing to scroll aimlessly through countless options. "I still have an apartment I need to be paying rent on each month," I muttered. "Nothing is guaranteed doing freelance work... Especially if you're just starting out."

"At least keep it open as an option," she responded, sounding hopeful for me.

"I will, but I need a guaranteed paycheck right now. It's not like I have any connections to help me get into the field."

"Well get on LinkedIn or something and start making some connections," she said, receiving yet another eye roll from me.

I disregarded what she said, not really caring enough to respond and continuing to scroll away hoping that something would catch my attention eventually.

"Look, here's something." I clicked on a listing that I came across, reading it out loud to her. "Remote Editor, YMCA Publishing... Monday through Thursday, paid time off..."

"Editor? That's right up your alley Anna! Plus it's remote and only four days a week?" She spewed excitedly at my mention of the listing. "What's the salary look like?"

"Hold on... Let me read more, I don't even know if this is legit." I squinted my eyes some, trying to read the fine print. "There's a link to their site right here," I informed her as I clicked on it, instantly being redirected to the publishing company's website where the official job listing was displayed. "It looks like a weekly payment.... Umm I'm not seeing a salary listed but do you think I should apply just for the hell of it?"

"Of course you should apply! If you're an editor that'll definitely get you some connections and experience needed if you want to start freelance writing somewhere down the line... And it would be a perfect use of your degree," she said cheerfully.

I was going to need something eventually and the remote portion of the position peaked my interest. There was no way you'd ever catch me working retail again. I needed some sort of career instead of letting my university degree sit and waste away like it's been since graduation.

"Ok I'm going to bookmark it and look into it more tomorrow. I'm tired of staring at a screen." I bookmarked the page before closing my laptop for the night. Grabbing my phone off the table, I laid back onto the couch, stretching my legs out across the cushions.

I zoned out, staring off blankly at the semi off white ceiling above me, a slight crack running through it. I couldn't help but think about the other night with Luke. After sleeping next to each other, I woke up the next morning alone in his bed still entangled in the dark grey sheets. Surprisingly, I wasn't very hungover, but still found myself to be very exhausted and feeling sluggish upon waking up. When I first noticed he wasn't in the room with me, I looked towards the door to see it slightly ajar, letting in the scent of whatever was going on in the kitchen. It smelt delicious. Although it took all of me to get out of bed, I made my way out to find that he was making breakfast for us— a gesture that took me back a little bit. My ex never even made breakfast for me a single time throughout our entire relationship and now here's a guy I just met doing it just out of his own kindness. He noticed me the second I walked into the kitchen, saying good morning to me and asking how I slept. It felt like he genuinely cared about my responses too. We ate and talked for awhile before he brought me home. My entire day after the fact was spent in bed, reminiscing the night prior and taking sporadic naps every few hours since I could barely keep my eyes open.