Waking up the next morning was one of the hardest things that Alana had to do and it wasn't because she had a hangover. She felt as though something wasn't right, except she wasn't sure what exactly it was. After taking a shower, Alana made my way to Bobby's room, glad that his date had left and that he was more than boxers. His blue covers lay in a messy pile on the floor while both legs hung on the edges of his bed. Rolling her eyes, Alana made her way over to him holding her towel firmly around herself before slapping him awake.
"What was stolen? I'm awake." A stunned Bobby exclaimed, holding his cheek as his hazy eyes landed on her.
"Get up Bob. It's seven o'clock." Alana stated, already heading towards the door.
"You didn't have to flipping slap me!" He yelled after her. Closing the door, a smile formed on her lips when realising that she was finally rubbing off on him, considering that he didn't swear.
Walking back into her room, Alana noticed the picture frame which sat on her bedside table. With her slim fingers, Alana picked it up and stared at it. The picture was taken when she was ten years old, being held on her brother's shoulders with her mother cradling her teddy bear in her hands. Alana's hair was the same milky brown colour that now framed her oval face and she had been grinning brightly. She would always remember that day at the carnival since it was most probably the last time that she saw her mother smile that widely, her dark brown eyes mirroring her own.
Placing the picture back onto her table, whilst getting ready for work, Alana noticed the yellow circles of sore skin which covered one side of her ribs. They were slowly turning purple and her left cheek was also slightly colouring since she had smacked it on the floor when she was attacked the night before.
Upon walking into the office, Alana's heart sank into my stomach when she spotted a cardboard box sitting on her desk. Glancing around, hoping that it had been placed there by accident, her hope soon sizzled when she also noticed the sympathetic looks that the other workers were giving her. Oh no...
"Oh, you're early Alana-May. Would you follow me to my office so that we can speak a little more privately?" Veronica asked as she walked past, towards her office. Stalking slowly behind her, Alana began to silently pray that the sick, strange feeling that she had experienced that morning, wasn't because of what she thought was going to happen. Trying to think positively was rather hard, considering what had happened and so all Alana could do, was wait. Both her forehead and palms began to sweat and Alana found herself cursing in her mind at the fact that she had worn foundation.
Veronica did not bother telling her to sit down, so Alana continued to stand awkwardly, whilst she took a seat in her usual swirled leather chair behind her laptop.
"About yesterday...You're behaviour was unacceptable and it will not be tolerated at Perfect Events. I'm letting you go," Veronica sighed, pretending to show sadness as she sorted through papers which rested on her wooden desk.
That was it.
There was no build up or second chances.
It was a simple 'get lost' scenario.
Alana was being fired.
Closing her eyes, as though to block out what had happened, Alana felt her lips lose all moisture as she failed to defend herself. Everything that she had worked towards so far in her life, came crumbling down around her, like the twin towers, of course not as bad. She couldn't blame anyone else other than herself. She had been stupid, just like Veronica had said at the station. It could have all been avoided but since everything happened the way it did and there were repercussions, Alana knew that she simply had to face them. Except this time she would not allow Veronica the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
"I asked you to do a basic task that you had done many times before, check on the security, but you made a fool of yourself. They jumped on you in front of everyone! Including our client! Did you forget who you were representing other than yourself? You embarrassed the entire company. To avoid it from happening again, I'm firing you." Veronica stated coldly. She had made a fool of herself. She had embarrassed the whole company, so Veronica was firing her.
"If you could pack your belongings into the box on your desk, that will be all. I really didn't want to let you go considering that you were such a good assistant Alana-May. You just happened to mess up, big time." Veronica continued as Alana wished for the ground to swallow her up. Opening her eyes once Veronica had finished her ranting of how foolish she was, her legs slowly began to lead her towards the door. Gripping the handle loosely, almost as loose as her will to live at that moment, she thought that she had heard Veronica add sourly,
"Oh and stay away from Officer Stone. He's mine."
Not sure whether her ears were playing a trick on her and having lost all of her energy, Alana simply turned her back on Veronica and Perfect Events, for what seemed like forever.
She had screwed up and hadn't even been given a second chance. Loads of questions whizzed around her mind as she came to terms with what had just happened. How was she going to pay bills and keep up with the rent? How was she going to survive without money for groceries? But the main question was...What did she do to deserve this? That morning, Alana cried herself to sleep, not bothering to eat and locked herself in her bedroom, placing her desk chair underneath the door handle so that no one disturbed her.
"Alana are you home? Rosie's here!" Bobby yelled, waking her up. Confused, Alana sat up and glanced at herself in the mirror on her wardrobes. Her face was both stained with mascara and red from crying and she noticed that her eyes were swollen. Everything instantly came back to her at that moment and she couldn't contain the sob that escaped her lips as she smothered her face into the already marked cream pillow.
"Alana? Why is the door locked?" Rosie questioned.
"She doesn't have a lock. She must have put the chair behind the door. Alana-May do you have a boy in there?" Bobby suggested in a girly voice, not aware of how serious the situation was.
"Stop Bobby, that's not funny. She got fired today." Rosie hissed quietly on the other side of the door but not quietly enough.
"Do you think she's done something to herself? I mean, she isn't replying...Alana?" Bobby called again, sounding panicked. Alana's quiet whimpers and sobs didn't allow her to speak and so she continued to cry silently, knowing that they were probably both disappointed in her.
"Alana?! Please say something!" Rosie begged before she heard multiple bangs on her door. Blocking the whole world out, Alana was taken out of her daze when she was suddenly flipped over onto her back and greeted by green eyes which looked wide in horror, as though expecting the worst.
"She's fine. Thank God." Bobby sighed pulling her limp body up into a tight hug, cradling her as her cries became louder. Returning the embrace, Alana clung onto him and felt his frantic heartbeat which must have had nothing on hers.
"Go and do your work while I talk to her Bobby...Go." Rosie insisted when Bobby made no sign to move. After softly kissing Alana's forehead and promising to speak to her later, he finally left the room.
Alana lay on Rosie's lap as she gently stroked her hair which cascaded down to the middle of her back, whilst she tried to figure out how everything could go so wrong, so fast.
"I should have seen this coming yesterday when she brushed me off, but I wouldn't have thought --. Oh God Rosie, what am I going to do?" Alana choked, grabbing another tissue off off her bedside table.
"I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to help you last night. I was in the bathroom. What exactly did she say to you today?" Rosie questioned and Alana closed her eyes as her mind replayed the entire conversation.
"She said that I made a fool of myself, embarrassing the whole company and to avoid it from happening again she was firing me," Alana quoted.
"Oh and she told me to stay away from the Officer that helped me yesterday. He's hers," she remembered frowning slightly. Alana had barely even said two words to the man.
"She warned you to stay away from him. Do you think that would have anything to do with why she fired you without a second chance?" Rosie asked, her dark to ombre hair falling around her heart shaped face whilst her dark eyebrows furrowed together.
"I don't know." Alana sighed. Sitting up and staring into her friend's concerned blue eyes, Alana shrugged.
"What am I supposed to do?" Alana wondered for the thousandth time.
"You're supposed to get back on your feet and look for another job." Rosie insisted, heading over to Alana's laptop before switching it on.
"I might not get another job until next year Rosie. Finding one could take forever." Alana groaned, throwing her face back into the pillows as her eyes began to get teary again.
"Don't be so negative Alana." Rosie growled, clicking away. Of course she knew that finding a new job in their economic situation would be hard, but she didn't want Alana to sit around wasting precious time either.
"Alana have you eaten today?" Bobby quizzed as he appeared in her doorway, watching her.
"No." Alana replied, rather quietly.
"Well we definitely have to change that." Bobby insisted.
"See what you did to Bobby? He's cooking for you." Rosie joked, her back still towards Alana.
"Don't be jealous Rosie. One day I'll cook for you." Bobby retorted, his deep voice echoing through the apartment as he walked away.
"Whatever Bob." Rosie grinned before both girls heard something slam against the counter. She knew that he hated being called 'Bob.'
"Actually, I just remembered that some woman called Judy said that she needed a receptionist down at an event planner not too far from here..." Rosie trailed off, typing rapidly on the keyboard. Still feeling depressed, Alana decided to take a much needed bubble bath, hoping that it would relax her muscles and maybe even get rid of her panda eyes.
She knew that moping around and crying all day would solve nothing, but she felt as though she needed to get it all out of her system before she could act properly. Alana had to get a job, soon. Bobby would obviously be able to pay the rent for a month and groceries with his job as a sports journalist, for a men's magazine. Although, Alana didn't want to rely on him, especially since she had her own needs. The only question was, who would hire her if Veronica was her reference?
By the time Alana had finished, her spirits had lifted the tiniest bit. If that wasn't enough, the smell of Bobby's cooking seemed to have helped a bit more. Even though Bobby knew how to cook, he refused to use his talent unless it was extremely necessary.
"Thanks for cooking this Bobby. It smells delicious." Alana appreciated, as the aroma of lasagne and garlic bread filled her nose as she entred the kitchen.
"You're welcome." Bobby shrugged, serving the girls their food, already plated up.
"Remember that the engagement party is tomorrow night. Bobby you agreed to come with us." Rosie reminded them.
"Veronica won't be pleased to see me there. She'd probably snap my neck or remind me how stupid and embarrassing I am." Alana said, suddenly feeling her appetite disappear. She had helped to plan most of the event but was not up to going anymore, especially since she was no longer a part of Perfect Events.
"If I'm going, then you're coming with me Alana. I'll be by your side for the whole night, so she won't get a chance to talk to you." Bobby assured causing both Alana and Rosie to raise an eyebrow. If there were more than two girls in the room, besides them, Bobby would instantly disappear from her side; that was something which Alana was sure about.
"You're both coming so don't even try and weasel your way out of it. We've got our dresses as well, Alana. You can't back out on me now." Rosie pouted. Once Alana rolled her eyes, Rosie squealed and a wide grin spread onto her face.
"Great! Be ready for six o'clock guys. We can all go together in Bobby's car." Rosie suggested.
"I don't think that volunteering my car would be a good idea. You guys might not be in it when I'm coming home." Bobby stated whilst stuffing his face.
"What happened to staying by my side for the whole night?" Alana wondered, knowing that her previous thoughts had been spot on.
"Don't worry about that. Who says that we might not get rides home too? Anyways, thanks for dinner Bobby and I'll see you guys tomorrow." Rosie gushed, giving each of them a kiss on the cheek before leaving. As Alana began to make her way to bed, Bobby hugged her side softly and whispered goodnight.
"We'll get through this Alana." He added, watching her disappear into her room.
"I hope so." Alana mumbled.
Veronica would probably kill her tomorrow night. Yet, Alana was sure that it wouldn't hurt anymore than being fired. What else could the woman do?