ACARDI

{ 1. }

"Do you know how out of your element this is?"

I swat my room mate at his words, my hand connecting with the flesh on his bicep. Smack.

"Ow!" He shrieks, rubbing the spot that was turning red, "What was that for?"

"We need this job," I tell him matter of factly as I browse through the help wanted section in the news paper. While turning the flimsy pages, I alternate between the website I'm on and this.

"We? You're going to be the one working there. Not me," he scoffs, still feeling his arm.

"I didn't hit you that hard," I tell him, "Stop rubbing at it like I broke your arm."

Flipping the page again, I sigh in defeat as I reach the end of open jobs. Looking through the newspaper, I rarely saw any jobs that were inside my realm of qualifications. Meaning a job I can just get with a high school diploma.

"You insensitive jerk," he spits out, going to hit me back but I dodge it easily. I give him a look before turning back to my paper.

"Adrian," I start, "We are barely making rent right now as it is. I need to get a job, some kind of job, to ensure that we stay in this apartment."

This apartment was nothing special, but it provided the basic necessities and that is all we could ask for.

"Okay, but what about this job at the big company? Why waste your time with that?"

"Open interviews for a secretary position. I just have to dive in, Jake. Plus, what kind of qualifications could you possibly need for taking down notes and answering phone calls?" I shrug, seemingly not worried about it, although on the inside I was pretty worried about it.

"Aren't girls, like, usually secretaries?" Jake asks me, and I cover my face and groan, "I mean, I'm just saying, I bet you he'd rather have a hot chick at his beck and call than someone like you."

"Fuck you too dude," I mutter, uncovering my face and writing down more numbers in ads. Jake laughs, patting my shoulder before getting up to go to the adjourning kitchen.

"What time is the open interview?" Jake asks before he chugs on a bottle of water.

"Later today during the day. 3:30 PM," I state, glancing at the clock to double check the time. I had three hours to get ready and to try to not fuck this up.

"Maybe if you would have just kept your last job we-" Jake starts to say, but I slam my laptop shut and glare at him incredulously. Seriously?

I've been out of work for a few months with the bad luck of not being able to find another job; there are not many jobs that can work with you with only a high school diploma. Not able to afford college, I realized this was it. At least for a while.

However, work was steady and I was guaranteed hours at my construction job. That was, until my boss found out I was gay and then quickly let me go. He heard Jake talking about a gay strip club while he came to drop off something I needed at work, and basically made the connection. The homophobic jerk quickly let me go but gave me a two weeks pay to hold me over until I got a new job.

"We all know why I lost that job," I say.

"Dude, Blake, it's not my fault that he didn't know."

"Didn't know? Employers don't have to know. Its like don't ask don't tell in the military. Stupid."

"You're telling me that if you get hired at that company, you're just gonna keep it a secret?"

"Yes!" I exclaim, looking at Jake as if he had twelve heads, "Are you insane? People can't just come out at their jobs. Although you can't be discriminated against in a work place based on your sexuality, employers still have biases. Especially male employers, because they think every gay man just fawns over them," I give him a hard look, "How old are you? Twenty years old but at an age where you think everything is rainbows and unicorns. Must be nice."