After the Rain- Josh Kiszka

Chapter 20- Pink Slip

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock blaring beside my ear— a particularly difficult wake-up for this dreary Monday morning. I extended my arm and snoozed the alarm, exerting much physical effort in order to do so. My whole body ached, as the emotional stress had begun to take its physical toll on me. My eyes were swollen from crying, my head was pounding, and worst of all: my heart hurt. I sat up in bed, and pulled open the drawer to my nightstand to retrieve my cellphone. I powered it on and walked to the bathroom while waiting for it to load. By the time I had finished brushing my teeth and washing my face, my phone had long since powered on, and I checked it hoping to see the one and only notification that mattered to me.

Still nothing.

I tried to not let it get to me, and I let my mind focus on getting ready for the day. I got Lina up, fed her breakfast, got her dressed, and set her down to play with some toys on my bedroom floor as I got dressed and did my makeup in preparation to go to work.

My plan to return back to the label this morning was simple: keep my head down and work. I wasn't going to engage with any of the band members, as I planned to only be in the office until all of my tasks were completed and leave for the evening. There were no team meetings scheduled for the day, so I assumed I would be in the clear— able to avoid any potential awkward encounters.

After I had finished getting ready, I dropped Lina off at daycare and made my way to work. I got to the floor of my office where Alisa was stationed in her usual spot at the front desk.

"Hey Lady." She greeted my sweetly, giving me a look that told me she was analyzing my appearance heavily.

Alisa usually read me like a book, so I could tell she was probably catching on to how miserable I was feeling.

"Hi Alisa, good morning." I said with the biggest smile I could muster.

I tried not to linger long so she couldn't press me with any questions about what had been bothering me, but before I could get very far, she stopped me by speaking.

"Celine, um, Johnston wants to see you in his office. It seemed important."

I stopped in my tracks and turned to face her. "Do you know what for?" I asked immediately feeling a pit in my stomach.

She shook her head, but her sympathetic eyes in response to my nervous expression made my mind wander to the worst possible outcome.

I made my way to his office, my heart pounding in my ears with each step.

I knocked on the half opened door, "Mr. Johnston, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Celine, have a seat." He said, looking up from his computer.

I entered his office and closed the door behind me, sitting in the chair in front of him. Mr. Johnston looked down at his desk and shuffled some papers before returning his eye contact to mine.

He cleared his throat and began, "We're going to have to ask you to step down from your position of marketing head for the Greta Van Fleet project."

My heart dropped upon hearing the news.

"I- I don't understand, the project is virtually completed, we have the launch date coming up soon." I said in disbelief.

"We don't require your assistance with the marketing efforts anymore." He stated, folding his hands in front of him.

"Why? What happened?" I asked, trying to get a read on what he knew about the situation.

"Someone on the the band's team requested your termination immediately. However, given your performance and there not being a clear reason to substantiate the request of your dismissal, we feel it would not be appropriate to release you from your responsibilities at our company as a whole. You just won't be working on this project any longer." He explained, giving me a slight amount of insight on the decision.