Love At First Lie | Herophine Fic

Why The Hell Not?

JOSEPHINE

The familiar, pointless bleeping of my alarm clock blares through my bedroom. Just like it always does. I've not had the heart to reset it or remove the alarms. I like to think they give me a bit of a routine, even though my life has been far from routine this last month and a half. All thanks to some fucker with insane amounts of money buying the company I used to work for.

Genuinely, growing up, I never thought I'd be one of those people who would say I love my job. Not at the young age of twenty-five. But I do. Or rather, did. Because I now no longer have a job. I have nothing to get up for or look forward to anymore. All thanks to one word. Redundancy.

It was a typical Wednesday in the office and there were already rumblings being spread. The walls had ears in that place, you couldn't say anything without it being the talk of the town within a week. We'd heard rumours that we were in line to be bought out. The company I worked for wasn't in financial difficulty but a consortium had discovered just how lucrative creative marketing could be. If it's done right.

The rumbling rumours stretched on for a good while before the fateful Wednesday when it was confirmed that we were being taken over. And along with that takeover came a few surprises. The first being our wages were halved. Literally halved on the day and in place from the get-go. Something I and a lot of others didn't need. Living in London is bloody expensive and with my family being in Perth, they could only help so much.

The second thing was redundancies. And a fuck ton of them. In every department too. Not only in the main area of the business - marketing - but in admin, accounts, design, legal, fucking everywhere. And, of course, one of those redundancies was me. My ex-manager, Leah, said it was nothing personal and not even worth getting upset about. But how do you not get upset about losing your job and livelihood? It was ripped from me. I had no intention of leaving or parting ways. I loved it there. I had a great manager, a great team, friends there and great prospects too. But all of that was ripped away. I packed my desk, left and haven't been back or feeling myself since.

Since graduating from University with my roommate, best friend and fellow Aussie, Mia, it's all I've known. I fell into the job and jobs in marketing are currently few and far between. So, needless to say, I've still not found anything new to replace what I lost. My days for the last month and a half have consisted of getting up and moping around, with the occasional pep-talk from Mia. Or in her case, me being given down the banks because I still haven't found a job yet.

Reaching over to my phone where the noise is coming from, I tap the button that reads stop and roll over onto my back, letting out a sigh as I do. Time to face the music, I guess. All over again. I grab the corner of the duvet and pull it from me so I can sit up. Bringing myself to ninety degrees, my legs stretch out in front of me and my arms rise above me while a yawn falls from my chest. Somehow, I'm tired. It's surprising how tiring doing nothing can be, I'm proof of that given my last six weeks.

Once I know my body's awake, I slide out of bed and pull the duvet back into place before smoothing the pillows back down too. Slowly, I turn and grab my robe from the back of the door. Wrapping it around myself, I knot it on my waist before heading on out, feeling goosebumps rise in the places my robe doesn't cover. It's getting colder and colder now as we head into autumn. Leaves have started to fall off the trees and turn the city into a variety of red, orange and yellow hues. That's one of the many things I love about London. It's such a mixture. I like to think of it as an urban jungle, the perfect marriage of skyscrapers and greenery.

I pace down the hallway towards the open living-kitchen area. Mine and Mia's flat is on the simple side but considering where we live, it has to be. We live in Marylebone, central London. I love living here as does Mia but it costs a pretty penny. And those pennies for me are running horrendously low. I didn't get a great redundancy package and left with just over a wage and a half. But now, I'm feeling the pinch and need money.