Running Into Figure Six

Clarissa’s POV

For three days and a half now, I’ve been lonelier than I have ever been in my whole life. I got my first salary a couple of days ago, and it did not excite me.

Normally, when we got our first salaries especially at our newest jobs, Jessie and I would go shopping for a few clothes and lady stuff and then try out new restaurants with half of our salaries, and then we’d save the rest, but there’s no Jessie. She’s miles away and I could only share my good news with her on phone.

She was the first I called, before Gerald

“Congratulations on your first salary, Classy, I love you and i’m so freaking proud of you!” I could feel her excitement on the other end and i couldn’t help blushing, with tears streaming down my face.

I don’t know if it’s because of how much i missed being called, “Classy” or because I wished she were here.

If only she knew how much I wanted her to come over so we could go shopping and try out new restaurants. She literally is one of the few people who’s made running away a bit easier on me.

“Make sure you go shopping. Buy a lot of pads, a few jeans and shoes, curtains and shit.

Get a new hairdo too, and if you can, try any new restaurant in town. I wish I could join you. I’ll try to join you for the next, I promise” she literally pleaded with me to go out and have fun on my own, but I still didn’t know most places here.

I was always either on my way to work or on my way back home.

Rooney was the only person I talked to here. The one I shouldn’t even talk to. That stalker who unfortunately lived next door.

The days were too boring since my neighbour was not even back yet,(and to be honest, I really missed him. I don’ know what I’m saying really. ) so, I asked Will to let me work overnight with the others who did, but he told me that he couldn’t pay me more than what we agreed on.

You needed to see me trying desperately, “Will, i’m not asking for a raise. I just don’t want to go home earlier than 8pm at least. I have nothing else to do at home”

“No, Clarissa Bean” , there we go again with the slurry accent, “I can’t let you work overnight. It’s not in your contract. Wait till you’re promoted to be my assistant, then you can work for a whole day and even sleep in the company every night, if you want” He was being sarcastic and I felt like cutting his tongue off, but I just stormed out of his office instead, fuming and trying not to lose it.

Only to return to my office and find a crisp enveloped sheet on my desk that read, A three-day sick leave for Clarissa Bean. I just stood there, balling my eyes out, my door left open.

I was being very unprofessional, and I did not care that anyone thought I was an immature adult or a lonely round-butt pig.

“Get some hobbies, Clarissa. Make one friend at least, and try going out for the most of these three days. Also, take care of your health please. If you need more days to sleep in, I can give you the whole week- Bridget and Clarke will stand in for you. Your health is our concern in Greens Hotels And Suites. Things won’t go fine in your department if you fall ill” He wrote in the sheet. I badly wanted to claw his eyes out immediately after, but I’d be a total nuisance to the whole company if I tried, and he might get mad at me, for real.

I didn’t ever want to see Wills Taylor’s anger.

How could Will Taylor do this to me though? I had no idea why he thought I needed rest all the time, or who told him I was sick, just because I looked like I might cry everytime he saw me.

Anyways, I got home and reported my boss to Gerald.

He was very concerned and he tried to calm me down as usual, telling me that my boss simply cared about me, although I didn’t want to have any of that.

I wish he’d just come over but he said he had work to do, and I just hanged up, saying it was okay, and that I’d be fine without him.

How was i supposed to cope in a city where i had no friend, no family, possibly not even a enemy and now, my neighbour is gone?

Truth be told , i really had no hobbies, or maybe i just never paid any attention to them. I used to write a lot in my journals when I was younger, but that was before Tom died.

I used to plant radishes and beet roots in my own little garden too. Sometimes I painted in my sketchbook. I’ve always loved nature but I stopped paying attention to them ever since I got here.

I stopped writing and gardening after Tom died, and after my father died too.

When I started my leave, I decided to paint or write or garden or make a friend. Whatever worked.

I went to the other side of my apartment and knocked on their door. A woman answered from inside. I had never seen any of them until then but I knew it was a quiet family.

“Good morning” I said shyly. She must be at least forty or a little over forty. She was dressed in pajama bottoms that looked like it belonged to her husband, and she had short, wavy blonde hair.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Her front door was slightly open and when I sneaked a peek, i saw that the house was very clean, and she had an online meeting going on, which she had paused to attend to me.

“Who are you?” And then it occurred to me that people didn’t know me here, just as much I didn’t know anyone here.

“Your new neighbour. I live on the other end”

“In the quarters?”

“Ah yes. In the quarters” I was fidgeting because she looked intimidating. Or maybe I was just nervous, is all.

“I’m not sure… you don’t look familiar… what do you want though?” This woman must not need any friend. She was too sharp-tongued and hostile for my liking.

“I err… I am not sure. I guess I just need some..” i started to stammer because she didn’t look all that friendly to me. Or maybe she was just really busy.

“Some chit-chat ” i found myself saying, a stupid grin plastered to my face

For a start, this woman definitely worked from home. Two, she did not like strangers. End of story.

She gave me the up and down look, like I was crazy and did not know, and then pointed to a door in a distance.

It was literally the direction of Rooney’s apartment

“What?” I questioned

” Sorry I’m too busy to entertain silly talk. Go talk to our landowner. He should understand your stuttering. ” and then she slammed the door hard in my face so much that I literally shook.

Fine, it was a bad idea trying to make a friend. Wills must have no idea how hard that was.

Getting back to my row, I double checked Rooney’s door to see if he was back yet, but it was still locked. Then the rude woman’s words began to play back in my head. She had said, Go talk to our landowner

Landowner. Landowner? She must not mean Rooney Wayne, or did she? I gasped and made a mental note to ask him whenever he returned from wherever the fuck he went to.

Then I took out my booklist from my bag and ruled out ‘Make a friend’. I was never trying that again.

Then I called Jessie. She must be really busy, as she just started out her business, and was cleaning the building. She was going to open her own confectionery. Surprisingly, she picked on the second ring.

“Hey, Classy, you good, babe?”

“Yeah I am. How is preparation?”

“I needed more hands, so I asked Brad and Pete for help” she sounded out of breath, like a pregnant woman who had run miles and just reached the end of the race.

“How was it? Did they agree to help?”

“All they have done is take my voice away” I laughed because I knew what she meant.

They didn’t help much, and so she had had to scream at them too much. Her fiancé and brother were a hell of a annoying, hilarious bunch. I have only seen them twice or thrice and I already know

“I just sent them away, and guess what?”

“What?” I was already shaking with giggles.

“They happily left. Said they had a match to watch anyways” Jessie groaned, and I laughed harder until I started to forget why I called her in the first place.

“I wish you were here, Classy. I really wish. I feel bad for the older women helping me clean, they’ve been too much help I am starting to feel guilty”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be there for the grand opening, i promise” I really wanted to be there but I was not sure about it.

“You dare not miss it” she said and then asked the question I’d been waiting for her to ask since she picked up, “No work today?”

“No, i’m on a three-day sick leave” I sighed, remembering my loneliness and how bad I still want to claw Wills Taylor’s eyes out of their sockets.

“Why? Are you sick?”

“Apparently my boss thinks I need bed rest. Let’s not even talk about how he’s asked me to make sure I get some hobbies , and make a friend, because according to him, I’m the loneliest rat in my neighbourhood” I said, meaning every word but, Jessie laughed so hard i started to laugh too.

“You did not tell him you have the bestest friend in California?”

“He wouldn’t have any of it” I said, pausing for effect. “I tried making a friend here though. To cut a long story short, I already have an enemy in New York” I said, and she laughed again.

“At least you made an enemy. That’s progress. I’m proud of you”

I laughed again and wished I could continue the conversation, but then she said she had to go check on the bidding for paint.

“I miss you, Jessie”

“Miss you more, Classy. Bye for now, okay?” she said and hanged up.

I decided to spend the rest of the day writing about all my experiences in New York, including how I met my first enemy.