Chapter 4 Getting a job

• Sydney was still praising her stars while they drove in Mike's battered old Honda. She was overwhelmed by the generosity and opportunities which had suddenly fallen into her lap. They dropped off Leah. Next, Mike made a detour and headed towards the hyper-mart.
• "All the best, it's just across the street," he wished her.
• "Thanks,"  Sydney beamed at him and headed off towards the mart.
• ****************
• Aiden 
• It was a Monday morning and I was driving to my office. The traffic was maddening. The signal turned red and I cursed. Fates intentionally wanted me to be late. I sighed, as the pedestrians walked from one side to the other. I don't know why she caught my eyes.
• Was it because she was wearing a bright colour that singled her from the rest of the crowd? She was dressed in a deep red shirt and blue jeans. Or that she seemed to be struggling to walk because she was limping?
• She stopped right in the middle of the road, in front of my car and bent down. She took out the shoes from her left foot and jerked her feet a few times. Then I noticed her bandaged feet. Probably a sprain, she slipped it on and winced.
• It was then she turned to face me. The air from my lungs whooshed out in a second. She was gorgeous. Her auburn hair fell in soft curls around her shoulders. Her skin had an olive tone. She was taller than average women, around 5'8". Shapely hips flared from her dainty waist. Her face was exquisite. A Grecian nose, rosebud sculpted mouth and the dreamiest almond-shaped green eyes looked back at me, lined with the longest lashes, I had ever seen. She took my breath away.
• She jerked her feet again and this time when she bent down to put on her shoe, I had a great view of her ass. The lights changed right then, and I watched as the woman walked away from me. Fuck, I wanted her!
• The signal turned green and I had no choice but to move my car, but I couldn't stop looking at the rearview mirror trying to catch her glimpse. My body reacted and the heat of arousal rushed to my loins. This was going to be a hard day, literally. I moved further and lost her in the crowd. But her face lingered, her beautiful almond eyes haunted me. What was so special about her?
• I wanted to turn back, but it was a one-way road and the traffic was heavy. I couldn't have stopped even if I wanted to. How to find a girl you had just seen? No names, no number, not even a freaking clue of who she might be and if I would ever see her again.
• I walked to my cabin in a daze, replaying everything. Those long curls, how I wished to touch them. I shook my head and straightened my tie. I was a grown man, not a stupid teenager for God's sake!
• ***************
• Sydney
• I tapped on the car window to draw Mike's attention. He was engrossed in reading some magazine. He looked at me and gestured me to come in.
• "I did it! They hired me on the spot. Starting tomorrow. 10 dollars an hour!" I said in a single breath.
• Hastily, Mike crammed the magazine back into the compartment.
• "Woah, terrific girl! Guess we can celebrate a bit huh?  We are still early for my appointment with Rob, shall I take you around for a tour?"
• "Sure, thank you a lot for helping me. You and Leah seem heaven-sent. I have been getting an abundance of good fortune ever since I met you." 
• Unable to control my emotion, I leaned forward and hugged Mike. He seemed a bit taken aback, and awkwardly patted my back.
• "No problem. You looked kind of lost, like some damsel in distress, I couldn't help being the knight in shining armour." He grinned, showing a row of perfectly white teeth.
• I laughed.
• "Come on, I will take you to the biggest art centre and theatres in San Francisco. You will love it!"
• The next few hours were simply magical. Mike showed me the famous Palace of Fine Arts. I couldn't help being in awe. I could have spent days soaking in creativity.
• This is what I had always wanted to do, live and breathe art.  We grabbed some hotdogs and coca-cola for lunch. At about 2:15 pm we arrived near a small building. Mike parked his car and asked me to follow him. We climbed a flight of stairs and reached a glass door where a simple sign read 'Robert associates' and below that 'Every actor deserves a role, we help them find it.'
• As Mike pushed the glass door, a chime went off announcing to the occupants of the office that there were visitors. A buxom redhead sat at the reception.
• "Mr Scott, good to see you again. Mr Delaware is waiting inside. Shall I inform him you are here ?" The buxom redhead gave a toothy grin.
• "Hey Annie, how are you today, you look gorgeous and yes please tell Mr Delaware we are here." Mike greeted the redhead.
• "Aww... Mr Scott, you are such a sweet man."
• The buxom redhead grinned, she punched the intercom on her table informing Rob about their arrival. A voice crackled, asking her to send us in.
• "You can go in now, Mr Scott."
• He entered the office, and I decided to wait at the reception. With nothing much to do, I started chatting with Annie.
• "So, are you his girlfriend?" Annie asked, jerking her head towards the door through which Mike went in.
• "Oh no! We just met yesterday, I am his sister's roommate. He offered to show me around since I am new here." I said pleasantly.
• Annie seemed to relax a little.
• "That's very sweet of him, Mike is one of the nicest guys I know. Always ready to help others and he smells so nice." She said a little dreamily and I couldn't help smiling.
• "Yeah he is sweet, hey why don't you ask him out? Looks like you like him."
• Annie turned red," I can't do that, it would be unprofessional. He is our client." She shook her head, though I could sense, she wasn't opposed to the idea.
• "My boss would fire me if he had heard me right now," Annie said wryly.
• "Don't worry your secret is safe with me, you like him don't you?" She blushed deeper and nodded.
• Soon we were laughing and giggling, and planning how Annie could 'accidentally bump into Mike at his steakhouse.
• The door suddenly opened and we stopped our girl talk.
• "Hope, I didn't keep you waiting for long," Mike said as he walked out with a middle-aged, thin wiry man.  
• "He must be Rob," I thought.
• Mike introduced me to Rob and we exchanged a polite smile. Both men hugged and patted each other. On the way back to the apartment Mike seemed rather preoccupied, so we drove back in silence.
• That night I whipped up some chicken schnitzel, and coleslaw to celebrate my new job. 
• I told them all about my job interview,  and Leah, chatted away about her day but Mike was still a little distracted.
• After dinner, while Leah was washing up the dishes, I approached Mike, regarding his mood swing.
• "Is something wrong, you look a bit peckish ?"
• "What... no, guess I am just tired. I think I should wrap it up for the night. I will see you tomorrow morning." With that said, Mike gave me a thin smile, before disappearing into his room.
• "Where is my useless brother?" Leah asked after she finished the dishes.
• "Oh, he was tired and has gone to bed," I replied.
• "It's too early to sleep! Oh well!  Can you help me out in taking out the trash, Mike was supposed to do it. But as you can see he was 'tired'". Leah said rolling her eyes and raising her hand to make quotation marks in the air for the word 'tired'.
• "Certainly,"  I got up and helped Leah take out the trash.
• *************************
• That night when Sydney looked at her parent's photograph and thanked them for being her guardian angel. They led her to wonderful friends who would support her. She felt blessed and slowly drifted off to sleep, unaware of the brewing storm which would topple her life.