The small kitchen in the apartment felt overcrowded the following Sunday evening, with Amanda, Emily, Dave, and Mick, sitting around the table, as they drank coffee and discussed how they could help Amanda with her employment plan.
Emily had her laptop set up to write out Amanda's CV. So far, they had put down her basic details, and her educational background and exam results she had passed, which, much to her shame now, had been pretty average and nothing very outstanding in any particular subject at the time. The fact her previous Job experiences were zero didn't give her a great deal of confidence either.
"Well, now we can put down your strengths and your skills" Emily remained more upbeat than Amanda was feeling, with the woeful information she had been able to provide so far.
"Ahh, with this we have something to work on" Dave spoke up optimistically, straightening up in his chair
"We do?" Amanda eyed him uncertainly from across the table, where she sat next to Emily and the laptop
"Yeah, remember what we talked about the other evening," he reminded her resting his arms on the table and leaning forward towards her with a slight look of impatience in his grey blue eyes, then he addressed Emily
"Well, I came to know that from the short time I worked at the nightclub, Amanda here, was well known for organising Charity events and gatherings of very important people, as well helping her father out with all these important dinner functions and all that kind of palaver"
"And as I pointed out, I don't see how that can help me getting a job" Amanda replied, shifting in her seat whilst feeling a little uncomfortable in front of the others.
In her mind, arranging extravagant gatherings for rich and powerful people, made her suddenly feel rather shallow, compared to the kind of things they had done, especially after she had recently learned about their past lives in the Military
"No, Dave is right" Emily spoke up, "This does give us something to work on for your skills, you are obviously a good organiser of these events from your experience, and you must be good dealing with people, she started tapping happily on the keyboard filling this information in,
"See, every little bit helps" Dave smiled across at Amanda, with a 'I told you so' look
"Hmm now we have to think what kind of job that would be suitable for these kind of skills" Emily spoke up
"Well, at least it rules out lap dancing, scrubbing dishes, and brushing floors, and toilet cleaning" Mick drawled, then swiftly received a quick sharp kick in the shin from his wife under the table, making him jump and wince a little, "What the hell was that for?" he demanded frowning over at her with annoyance.
"You are not being helpful" Emily replied pointedly, shooting daggers back at her hapless husband.
"I was just making an honest observation" Mick replied, and now addressed Amanda "You wouldn't want a job doing that kind of stuff, would you?"
Before Amanda could reply, he received another kick in the shins from his wife, making him let out another yelp of protest, which made Dave, sitting next to him, snigger a little. He was used to these sorts of antics, between the married couple, Emily could almost murder Mick and he would still end up forgiving her
Amanda on the other hand, was a little mortified, that she was the cause of this discord between Emily and Mick, and hurriedly tried to put it right
"It's ok," she now hurriedly tried to jump to Mick's defence, "I know what Mick is trying to say, I think, and he is right. It's not that I think those jobs are beneath me, just that I don't imagine I could get by on the salary they would offer me, and cleaning skills are not something I have much experience with"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I meant" Mick agreed, shooting a justified look at his wife
"Well let's just move on then," Emily replied testily, not completely convinced, but deciding to let it drop. She now looked thoughtful "What about your computer skills? Things like spread sheets, accounting, book keeping and other office skills?"
"Well I remember doing it at school, though, I think it's all a bit rusty now, I haven't had the need to use them much" Amanda admitted dolefully.
"I see," Emily pulled her brows down in deep thought over this, "Last year, when Mick and I decided we were going to start this place, I took a six week evening course in the local college covering these sorts of things, so maybe we should get you signed up for something like that, get those skills less rusty and more up to date, " she then suggested.
"Oh, that I think,is a great idea," Amanda happily agreed.
"Good I will look into it for you see if there is anything suitable you can sign up for, and we will get that done" she said in her business-like tone, "I am thinking now, after all that we have discussed this evening, your niche would be in some sort of hospitality line of work"
"Oh really, so what would that entail?" Amanda asked eagerly.
"Well with your people and organisational skills, and the fact you can also speak fluent French, and Italian I can imagine you working maybe as some sort of receptionist, maybe behind a desk in a hotel, a travel agent's, or even in for some airline company" Emily replied.
"That sounds about right," Dave agreed, "I could see her doing that" he nodded.
"I like the sound of it too" Amanda said, as she mulled it over, and finding it somewhat appealing
"See, now we are making progress" Emily smiled.
"But is there a great chance of me getting a job like that within the next three months?" Amanda queried looking doubtful again.
"We will cross that bridge when we come to it" Emily replied in a non-committal tone, determined not to bring a negative vibe to the discussion, "For now we will get down to the business of getting you signed up on this computer course, which will help a lot, plus you can shadow me if you like in our office, just so you get an idea of the workings and ins and outs of it all" she then suggested
"That is very kind of you to offer, but I don't want to be in your way" Amanda frowned feeling she didn't want to take any more advantage of Dave's friends.
"Nonsense, you won't be, besides we are in the hospitality business in a small way, so it's perfect that you see the way things are run, as Dave said, every bit helps" she then pointed out
"I guess so," Amanda relented, "as long as Mick doesn't mind" she then added
"He doesn't" Emily quickly replied for him, but Amanda still kept her eyes on Mick, waiting for his answer.
In the end he just gave a resigning shrug of his shoulders, not wanting another kick from his wife, "If it helps you get a job, I can't see why not, I guess"
"Well that's that sorted." Emily said in satisfaction.
"Yeah, I think we have done enough for one evening," Mick spoke up, "I would like to get back home now and watch the Match on the telly" he glanced at his watch
"Of course," Amanda spoke up getting up from the chair now, "I have kept you long enough, and you have all been a great help, and I can't thank you enough" she added gratefully
"Don't worry about it," Mick told her, just wanting to get away now, and also getting up from his seat.
Emily closed her laptop content with what they had achieved so far. "Well I am glad we were able to help, and I will get back to you if I find out if there are any of those courses going on nearby, then I will help you fill in the application form, it's pretty easy anyway" she assured her
"That would be great" Amanda smiled.
She let Dave see them to the door, whilst she left the coffee cups in the sink to be washed, she was already, feeling a lot better than she had done in a while, that, at last she had at least some sense of direction she could head in thanks to Emily.
When Dave came back, she had just finished rinsing out the cups, and coming out of the kitchen "Well I think that went well, better than even I expected" he remarked
"Yes, Emily made me feel far more confident about having a chance of finding something I might actually be able to do" Amanda admitted with a small smile.
"I knew asking her to help would be the best thing" Dave grinned, "Sorry about Mick though" he added a little ruefully "He just has this droll sense of humour"
"It's ok," Amanda laughed, "I didn't take offence, he obviously was more interesting in wanting to watch his football match than worry about my future prospects, I can't blame him for that, he barely knows me" she pointed out.
"Yeah," Dave agreed, "speaking of the football match it should be starting soon" he then realised going over and picking up the tv remote from the arm of the sofa, to turn on the television in the corner of the room.
"You don't mind, do you?" he then asked Amanda in after thought, as he realised, she would be stuck in the apartment with him for the evening.
"No, of course not" Amanda replied, trying not to feel awkward, because after all this was Dave's home and she didn't want him to feel he couldn't do as he pleased because of her "You chill out and watch your football match, you deserve it after spending the last few hours trying to help me, I could even watch it along with you" she then suggested, so he wouldn't feel bad
"I didn't think you would be into football" Dave mused
"Well, I am not really" Amanda admitted, "But hey! I am living a new life now, might as well try new things, right?" she said brightly
"When you put it like that I suppose so" Dave smiled, realising she was just trying to make him feel better.
This was going to be a strange evening, so he went and lifted a few tins of beer from the fridge to keep him going, before joining Amanda on the sofa.
As the match started, she wanted to know which team he was supporting, and some basic rules of the game how it was played He tried explaining as best he could, but he wasn't sure she quite grasped it all, though he thought it was sweet of her to try and feign an interest
After the first twenty minutes she decided to stop asking him questions, in case she was disturbing his enjoyment by having to explain things to her, and she attempted to try and get into it as much as she could.
Dave became more engrossed in the match as his team scored a goal, then shortly after that, it became a draw. He wasn't really paying attention to Amanda sitting next to him, as she had become quiet. But then, after a while, he felt the slight pressure against his upper arm and shoulder, and glancing around he realised she had fallen asleep, blissfully unaware that her head was now leaning against his arm, using him as her pillow.
Dave remained completely still. He wasn't sure what he should do, if he should nudge her awake, or not. In the end he decided against it she was probably better of sleeping through the match, he felt she wasn't really any more into football than she had been previously, so why make her suffer? He tried hard not to dwell too much about the feel of her head on his shoulder, and how intimate it all seemed, concentrating on the football match instead. and downing the rest of his beer.
It was only when the match ended, and she was still asleep, he decided he would disturb her, nudging her gently with the shoulder she was resting on, she stirred, but instead of waking up, she snuggled further into his arm, trying to get comfier, making him feel even more awkward with the situation.
"Amanda" he now spoke her name, and nudged her less gently, she finally started to wake opening her eyes and seeming a little confused about her surroundings. Then caught sight of Dave looking down at her, and realising she was lying on him, "Oh what happened, did I fall asleep, I am sorry" she apologised now straightening up and moving away from him, still trying to get her bearings, then remembered they had been watching football, and a little mortified she had fallen asleep on him
"It's ok" he replied trying to save her the embarrassment "You didn't miss much?"
"Did your team win?" she then enquired, rubbing her eyes to wake herself up properly
"Nah, they got beat one goal to four, they were rubbish" he told her in disgust.
"Oh sorry," she apologised again "I never realised how tired I was"
"Bored more like," Dave grinned, "don't fret about it anyway, There is a movie coming on you might like to watch, I have to go downstairs and sort out some things in the bar for tomorrow that can't wait" he explained handing her the tv remote and getting up
"Oh, ok" Amanda replied, hoping he wasn't mad at her for falling asleep on him
Dave was far from annoyed or mad at her, but he did feel the need to put some distance between them, suddenly realising the nearness of Amanda's feminine body was reminding him how long it had been from he had been close with a woman.
He was suddenly finding thoughts creeping into his head that were turning a little inappropriate, where she was concerned, and now he was doing his best to dismiss them. He was almost nine years her senior he realised as he recalled her date of birth, when she had put it down on the CV.
It was funny how that little piece of information had stuck in his head so clearly; yet even apart from that, they were worlds apart, in their background and upbringing. He just couldn't let his mind go there, it was ridiculous. and his life was screwed up enough, without that sort of involvement with her it would be asking for trouble. So he filled his head with everything and anything else, when he got down to the bar to sort out some crates of wine, he had to put on the shelves.
In reality, he had lied to her, it could have waited until the following morning, but right now, he needed to occupy his mind on something else other than Amanda Harrington