The First Day at Her New Job

Because she had already gotten a job, Angela spent the rest of the day shopping at her favorite boutique shop. There, she bought a jumpsuit, a few scented candles, a bracelet and a dainty necklace. She also went to her favorite bakery and bought two chocolate mousse cakes. She ate one at the bakery and saved the other one for dessert at home.

Angela finally arrived home. Her apartment building was a tall, rectangular, Redstone building with ten stories. She lived on the sixth floor. With no elevator, Angela had to walk six flights of stairs every time. It was excellent exercise for her. She finally arrived at her apartment. As she fumbled for her keys, she was excited about tomorrow. She hoped her boss would be much better than Evan, although the man that she met at the mental health center definitely seemed mysterious. She finally found her keys and opened the door.

Her apartment was fairly neat and minimalistic. The kitchen was to the right and the living room was to the left. The kitchen was fairly small with a refrigerator, a microwave, a kitchen sink with space next to it to chop vegetables or meat, a small counter and an oven. The living room was slightly bigger but sparsely furnished with only a gray couch, a sofa chair, a small rectangular wooden table to eat meals, and a wooden chair.  Angela didn’t like rugs and preferred tile flooring. Since she was still out of breath from the stairs, she immediately sat down on the couch to catch her breath. 

After catching her breath, Angela changed into more comfortable clothes. Her bedroom and bathroom were in the back of the apartment. The bedroom and bathroom were also sparsely furnished. Angela hung a few photos of landscapes she liked, photos of animals and a floral garland. To the left, near the window, she had a stuffed animal sloth and a dolphin sitting on a bookshelf, filled with romance novels, mysteries and a few nonfiction books. Her desk was next to the bookshelf where she worked on her novel and watched movies in her free time. Her bed had one light pink pillow, white sheets and a big teddy bear for her to cuddle with. Her dresser was on the right of her bed, which held her more casual every day clothing. To the left of her bed was a small nightstand with a lamp and the book she read before she went to sleep. The closet was on the other side of the room; it was fairly small and held her coats, dresses and fancy clothing. Her dresser was on the right of her bed, which held her more casual every day clothing. She opened her dresser, looked for a t-shirt and sweatpants and put them on. Then she pulled out her laptop from her purse. She should work on her novel, but the rejection letter she had received still made her feel sad. It reminded Angela of all her experiences of rejection.

Angela wasn’t originally from Los Angeles. She was born in Boston. Throughout her childhood, Angela didn’t have any long-lasting friends. Most of the time, people only wanted to talk to her for homework help. The next year, when the same people were not in the same class as her, they stopped talking to her. She always felt lonely and ate lunch at a table in the corner by herself. One time, she asked a group of girls if they could hang out with them. Even though they said yes, it felt awkward and Angela could sense that they did not want her as part of the group. Another time, she asked a group of girls if she could join their group. This time, they rejected her. High school went the same way. During the days where they got released early, she saw people with a large group of friends, talking about their relationships and funny stories that happened recently. Angela walked out of school alone. She went to the Popeyes near her house so that people wouldn’t see that she was alone. Afterwards, she went home. Meanwhile, her older sister, a year older, had a large group of friends. Her sister always came home much later.

Angela hoped that in college, things would change. To Angela, college felt overwhelming and impersonal. It felt like networking instead of friendship. She felt even more lonely, and she also wanted to move out as soon as possible. Her parents had become too controlling. She was also never close with her parents. She never told them anything except school They still treated her like a child. Once she graduated, she took an event planning assistant job and moved to Los Angeles. She got promoted in two years to associate event planner and stayed at the company until today when she got fired. Angela felt happier in Los Angeles because her parents could no longer control her, even though living on your own was hard. However, because her job made her work late hours, she had few opportunities to make friends, especially since her coworkers did not like her very much. She could still explore a variety of places in Los Angeles. Boston was much less diverse compared to Los Angeles. However, she still wanted a genuine friend. She had faced rejection from most people. She had faced rejection from publishing companies. Even though it made her sad and even angry, eventually, she would continue with her life and start editing her novel again. But today, she just wanted to watch YouTube videos and movies. Maybe she would work on her novel tomorrow if her first day at her new job went well. Angela was grateful that she had found a job on the same day that she lost her job. Now, she didn’t have to move in with her family back in Boston. She hadn’t seen them in years and they would most likely pester her about how she should get married soon and have kids. She also wasn’t even sure her room was still there. It could have become another storage space. She still was making enough money to pay for rent in her apartment. 

***

After making dinner, Angela watched a movie and a few YouTube videos. Angela was becoming sleepy. Wanting to make a good impression, Angela set her alarm early and researched how to get to the office space. It was relatively close to her apartment and walkable in 20 minutes. She also googled her employer, Alex Simmons. She clicked on the first search option that appeared. It read that Alex Simmons was a widely known actor and had won the Oscar for Best Man one year ago. Angela couldn’t remember exactly what the man looked like since her tears made her vision blurry, but it was impossible that an actor could be her employer. Wouldn’t he have an entire team of people helping him? He would not need another assistant. A celebrity would not hire someone randomly. They had top-notch security.

The second search showed that Alex Simmons was a lawyer. This search made more sense, especially since his office matched the address on the business card. So, my employer must be a lawyer then. She then closed her laptop, brushed her teeth and climbed into bed. Angela fell asleep right away.

***

The next morning, Angela woke up to the sound of my alarm and put on her first day outfit: a black sheath dress, black blazer and her nicest black heels. Hustling, she made it to the building five minutes earlier. Angela was about to ask the security guard where Alex Simmons’ office was when she received a tap on my shoulder. 

It was him, the person she saw yesterday. He was much more handsome than she remembered. He had short, slicked back, dark brown hair and was much taller than me, a petite, barely five-foot woman. He looked about six feet tall, with a long, angular face with a very prominent jawline. His nose was long, thin and pointed with thick eyebrows and thin lips. The most noticeable thing was his sparkling almond-shaped brown eyes, which was the only thing I noticed yesterday about him while she was crying at the mental health center. She also felt a tingling in my stomach, but she quickly brushed it off. Angela felt nervous and comfortable around him at the same time.

“Follow me,” he said in a deep, clear voice. 

Angela nodded her head and silently followed him, doing her best to avoid tripping since she wasn’t used to walking in heels. She shouldn’t have worn heels today. They reached the elevator. He pressed the thirteenth-floor button. There was an awkward silence during the elevator ride. Angela had second thoughts about taking the job. But she remembered that she needed this job to pay the rent. Would it always be this silent and awkward? She wanted to say something but felt intimidated. 

The elevator doors finally opened. When Angela stepped out of the elevator, the office was enormous and felt warm and inviting. It was in stark contrast to his stoic figure. There were vast windows that let in sunlight and had a splendid view of the city. The wooden furniture gave a rustic, at home feeling. There were also tiny desk plants surrounding the entire office. 

He finally said, “Let me show you around the office.” He gave me a tour of where the restrooms were, where his desk was and his manager’s desk. She was astonished that he didn’t have more people working for him. After the quick tour, he outlined the duties expected as his personal assistant: pick up phone calls, make him coffee, run errands, arrange meetings and appointments and accompany him to movie shoots. 

When Angela heard the word movie, Angela was aghast. “So, you’re the actor Alex Simmons, not the lawyer???” 

 “Yes, I am. There’s a lawyer who has the same name as me?”

“Yes, there is.”

“That’s very interesting.” Alex then showed her how to use the office phone, make appointments. He also gave her access to email and instructions on his preferences for lunch and coffee. “Well, I’m going back to my office. You can sit at this desk to work.”

***

It stunned Alex that she didn’t know that he was a famous actor. It made sense now. Yesterday, when she hugged me, she treated him like a normal person. For once, somebody didn’t know who he was and did not give him special treatment. Thus, he felt compelled to give her a job yesterday. Perhaps it was fate. 

***

Angela immediately started on her duties. She made him a coffee, black with no sugar or cream, and answered a few calls using the script that he printed out on her desk. An hour later, another man walked into the office. He was much shorter than Alex and seemed more stressed. The mysterious man, whom she assumed was the manager, was also constantly checking his phone. He passed my desk without noticing her. A few minutes later, Alex introduced Angela to his manager, Max Briggs. She was right. It was his manager.

“Angela, I would like you to meet Max, my manager,” Alex said.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Angela said.

“It’s very nice to meet you, too,” Max said. “You finally listened to my advice and hired a personal assistant. I can’t do everything by myself.” Max said to Angela, “Has Alex shown you what to do?”

“Yes, he has. It’s relatively simple,” Angela responded. That answer seemed to satisfy Max. Both of them left for their hour-long lunch break. 

***

Angela arrived back home at 5:30 pm and started making dinner. While waiting for my Brussels sprouts to finish baking in the oven, she reflected on the first day.  Her first day was not that bad at all.  Alex and Max were much nicer than her previous boss Evan, because Angela thought celebrities would be more demanding and stricter than others. Alex also seemed to be very serious, uptight, organized and definitely liked things done his particular way. However, he could probably pretend to be adventurous and outgoing since he was an actor. Angela should probably watch some of his movies to learn more about her current boss. Well, at least she didn’t screw up with my duties today. A lot of my duties were mostly at the desk, but she also had to run a lot of personal errands. Wearing heels today was a mistake. She could feel her feet ache even though was sitting in her favorite sofa chair. From now on, she was wearing flats to work every day.

***

Alex arrived home. Saying goodbye to her chauffer, Alex walked into his beautiful, giant mansion. He always felt alone whenever he was at home, even though he had a beautiful mansion and people that clean his home and launder his clothing. Turning on the TV, Alex sat on his velvety gray couch and thought about his day. Angela was actually a dutiful assistant today considering he had hired her without looking at her resume or interviewing her. She was hardworking, finished all her errands and did not bother him, unless something needed attention. The doorbell rang. A few minutes later, his butler handed him his dinner: Chinese takeout. Sometimes he wished that he could learn how to cook himself, but he had no time and no one to teach him. He could hire a chef to teach him, but takeout was cheaper. Even though he was rich, he still wanted to save money. Besides, he wanted as few people as possible in his home.