nineteen (Jonathan Toews)

three

One of the most stressful days of my life started with a kiss from my boyfriend.

"Morning Alex," he said as he brushed a piece of hair from my face.

I groaned and sat up, turning off my alarm that was blaring in the background. "Morning," I said and pecked Ryan's cheek before getting out of bed to get ready for work today.

I took a quick shower and got dressed. I made a quick breakfast for myself and Ryan before I had to leave. I had a longer commute than he did so I always left 20 minutes earlier.

"Bye babe, I'll see you tonight," I said to him while he ate.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," he said with his mouth full. He swallowed before answering again. "I have a work dinner tonight with a client so I'll be home late. Don't wait up for me, okay? It's probably going to run late."

"Okay, see you when you get home." I gave him a quick kiss and grabbed my coat, rushing out the door.

I drove to work and got there right on time. Thankfully, traffic wasn't that bad this morning. In Chicago, you never know what to expect.

I worked hard all morning and took my lunch break around 1. I worked with one more client, a young high school girl that was recovering from a knee injury, before my boss, Joe, called me into his office.

"Alex, sit down please," Joe said and gestured to a chair in front of his desk.

I sat down, confused. "Is everything alright?"

He let out a quiet sigh through his nose, which made me nervous but I shrugged it off. "I'm just going to be direct with you here. We've received an application from someone with a lot of experience and we'd like to hire them. However, we don't have the room on the staff so a decision had to be made. We're going to have to let you go."

My breath caught in my throat. "I'm being fired?" I could feel my throat constricting. I refused to cry in front of my coworkers.

"I'm very sorry. You will receive a month's pay and after that you will be on your own. Again, this isn't because you were underperforming, but we just don't have the space on our staff." Joe didn't sound very apologetic.

"I understand," I said, even though I really didn't. "I'll pack my stuff and be out by the end of the day."

I stood up and left his office. When I got back to my desk in the back, I put my head in my hands. What was I going to do? I couldn't let Ryan pay for the apartment by himself, and I didn't want to just sit home doing nothing. I needed to find another job as soon as I could.

Oh my god, I just got fired. I could feel tears coming on so I threw myself into my last day of work and tried to ignore the sympathetic looks I got from my coworkers.

The end of the day could not have come any quicker. I packed my stuff up and practically ran out of the building. I drove home and my mind couldn't stop racing. Where do I go from here? I have money saved up in case this ever happened, but I never thought I would have to use it.

I got home and went straight up to my apartment and flopped on my bed. As I kept thinking about my situation, I started to cry. I really didn't want to be alone right now; I wanted someone to hold me and tell me that it was going to be okay.

I got my phone out and was about to call Jonathan when I realized I should probably tell Ryan first. He was my boyfriend, after all. Then I remembered that he was with his work friends right now and that I probably shouldn't bother him, so I called Jonathan instead.

"Hey Alex, what's up?" He answered casually.

I sniffled and swallowed the lump in my throat. "Can you- can you come over right now?"