Arms Length

Chapter 8: Sunglasses & Advil

**Jade**

What is that law? Murphy's Law? Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. I overslept, now granted I was told by Sara I didn't have to come into the office until 12pm, but I still wanted to be able to wake up early enough to work-out, shower, enjoy my coffee and endure the oh-so-wonderful L.A traffic. I woke up with just enough time to shower, no coffee, no work-out. Oh, and my car isn't starting. So, I get to call a tow truck when I get into the office and find someone that can fix it that won't cost an arm and a leg. I literally want to cry. I love my car. And I know the cost to fix a classic, yes classic is probably going to cause me to sell a kidney or something. And I know what you're going to say "Jade, why don't you just get a new car?" Because I don't want a car payment, and I like the looks I get when a 5'3" girl gets out of a classic muscle car, tell me that's not hot.

"Sunglasses and Advil..." Not to quote Kanye but that's how I'm living today. I set my backpack on my desk, my phone between my ear and my shoulder, the lady from the towing company placed me on hold 15 minutes ago; the music is no longer playing it sounds like dead-air. I look at my phone and end the call I don't have the headspace for this shit right now. I pull my laptop out of my backpack and make sure I have my badge, the last thing I need is Danny giving me another lecture about how unprofessional I am. I set my backpack on the floor and set my sunglasses on my desk as I see Sara make her way to my desk. I see she's dressed in a semi-professional manner and mentally pat myself on the back for listening to my gut and wearing the same simple black wrap dress and heels I wore my first day. I should at l least invest in a pair of decent pants. I see Jordan make his way to Sophie's cubicle, I'm assuming he's about to give Sophie the same pep talk Sara is about to give me, great.

Sara takes a seat inside my little cubicle and hands me a cup of instant French vanilla coffee. "It's the best we have."

"Thanks" I smile and sip the sickeningly sweet beverage. I'll get up early enough tomorrow to enjoy coffee at my place.

"No problem. I just wanted to go over a few things with you before the meeting. I know I gave you an overview in the email, just be prepared for Danny to grill you about your internship in Austin, Billie can be a little intense and..." she pauses.

"Suffers from resting bitch face?" I ask looking down at my coffee.

I hear Sara genuinely chuckle, "Yeah, but she's a sweetheart, don't let that stoic exterior fool you. If me and Jordan didn't think you could handle this project, we wouldn't have recommended you for it." She nods. That doesn't ease my nerves at all, considering the awkward tension between myself and my soon-to-be boss for the spring/summer.

"No..." I sigh trying not to lose both my temper and patients "my name is Jade, like the color... not Jace, my car is the grey z28...." I tell the lady, whose name I've learned is Janice, of course it is.

"I'm sorry, Jade Holland." Janice says with heavy sigh. "So, we have your car here, Charlie hasn't had the chance to get a good look at it just yet. As soon as he's able to look at it he'll give you a call. Is that okay?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose, it's not like I really needed my car, "Yeah, sure, that's fine." I don't even allow her to confirm a good call back time, I just hang up. At this point, I don't even want to go to this bullshit of a meeting in 20 minutes. I take a deep breath, pop a piece of gum into my mouth, stand up grab, my laptop, and bottle of water and smooth down my dress. I internally give myself a pep talk and tell myself to calm down so I don't snap and say something that will get me fired before I've been officially hired onto this internship with Billie's tour.