Drowning With You

Before They Met

The sun shined brightly through the windows of The Palms & Hutton as Ava passed by. Palms & Hutton was a small travel agency office located in her small, bustling town on the coast of California. The building was a one story, white clapboard building with a large front window, which allows people passing by to peek in and observe the day-to-day work inside.

Every morning Ava would walk the same route just to daydream about someday working at Palms & Hutton and then opening her very own travel agency.

Ava stared through the window envisioning herself inside the building. The building was arranged in an orderly fashion, with vibrant desks and chairs lining the walls, a large bookshelf filled with travel guides, and a few filing cabinets. The walls were lined with colorful maps and posters of happy people vacationing in various destinations around the world. The front desk was the central focus of the room but was always empty.

Many days Ava would imagine herself sitting at that exact desk, talking to potential clients, offer building tours, and scheduling appointments. She saw this as an opportunity to just get her foot in the door. All she needed was one opportunity. She knew she'd be perfect. Ava snapped out of her daydream and suddenly realized that she had been dazed out for entirely too long. She had been dreaming of her perfect job all while running late for her actual job.

She thought, how could she ever get a job like this when she can't even be on time for her actual one.
I mean she had completely lost track of time.

Quickly, she checked her phone clock and saw that she was late for work. She quickly grabbed her shoulder bag and rushed to the bus stop, hoping that she was not too late.

As she ran, she could feel the heat of the sun on her skin, and the wind whipping through her curly brown hair. She could hear the sound of birds chirping and the distant hum of traffic. She could taste the salty air and feel her heart pounding in her chest. Yes, she was late, but she was determined to make it to work on time.

One block later, and completely out of breath, Ava watched in despair as the bus drove away, seemingly oblivious to her frantic calls.

She had just barely missed the bus. She coughed repeatedly after smell the exhaust from the bus filled her lungs. She was so disappointed in herself. Ava felt a wave of guilt wash over her as she watched the bus drive away. She blamed herself for being stupid enough to waste time daydreaming instead of focusing on getting to the bus on time. She could feel the heat of shame radiating off her bronze skin, and her throat felt tight with emotion. She just wanted to cry. She could hear the sound of her own voice in her head, berating herself for being careless. She could taste the bitter taste of regret in her mouth and feel the tightness in her chest as she blamed herself for missing the bus and being late for work. There was no way she'd make it on time now.

Suddenly Ava, reminded herself of the grace period. Her job had a 10-minute grace period before you were officially late.

Jennifer pulled out her phone again and quickly checked the time. She had exactly 15 minutes to make it to work on foot before she was officially late. She had quickly googled how far her job was from her current location. 17 minutes to be exact. Fuck, she thought as her heart was pounding in her chest. She thought that if she ran fast enough, she could cut the extra 2 minutes from her run and make it within the 10-minute grace period.

She could hear the sound of her own voice in her head, chanting words of encouragement as she began to run. She could smell the exhaust from nearby cars and the sweet scent of flowers from the nearby garden. Her neighborhood was so beautiful during this time of day.

She could taste the salt in the air and feel the wind on her skin as she ran faster and faster, determined to make it to work on time.

Ava sprinted into the coffee shop with two minutes to spare, and her boss immediately began to reprimand her for being late. She could feel the heat of anger boiling to the top of her throat, and her heart pounding in her chest again. She could hear the sound of her boss's voice, scolding her and threatening to fire her. Suddenly his voice became unintelligible, and Ava took a deep breath.

The strong scent of coffee and the faint scent of baked vanilla puff pastry brought her back to reality quickly. She could taste the bitterness of regret in her mouth and feel the tightness in her chest as her boss continued to scold her. She quickly interrupted hanging her head in shame as she apologized for being late, yet again. She begged her boss Harry for forgiveness for being late for the third time in one month.

She could feel the coldness of her boss's gaze upon her, the bitter cut of momentary silence and  his words of disapproval hanging in the air like a dark cloud. She could hear the sound of her own voice, begging her boss for forgiveness, but it was too late. Her boss had finally said the words she had been dreading: "You're fired."

Ava hung her head in shame as she pleaded with her boss to take her back. She begged for one more chance to prove she could be on time and dependable from there on out.

Again, she could feel the coldness of his gaze upon her, and her heart raced in her chest. She dropped her head in disappointment as tears filled her eyes. She could taste the bitterness of defeat. She could feel the tightness in her throat as she held back the tears from running as her boss explained why he was firing her--that she was young, careless, and unreliable. In the end, her plead fell on deaf ears.

Ava quickly exited the coffee shop to save herself from further embarrassment. She slowly walked down the street with her head hung in shame. She could feel the warmth of the sun on her skin drying the tears to her face as they streamed down her face. She was so disappointed in herself for being so careless. Her constant daydreaming finally broke her life she thought to herself.