Chapter Three
Three
The doors opened up to a world of sterile white and cool shades of gray. I took a deep breath and could still smell the fresh paint. A few feet from the elevator entrance was the reception area, with a curved wall that wrapped around the desk, hugging the cupboard behind it. It was the focal point of the room. The Technix logo was the only adornment, with the T and the X in large calligraphic letters.
Danuwoa leaned against the tall desk, sharing pleasantries with a young and petite Black woman with a twist-out updo and gold accessories that winked in the overhead lights. She looked up at me and gave me a cursory once-over, assessing me from top to bottom.
“Hi, I’m Ember Cardinal. I’m here for an interview with Monica Lewis.” I smiled and hoped she couldn’t smell me.
“You’re kind of early,” the receptionist said.
“Phoebe.” Danuwoa’s voice sounded like a reprimand, like he was accustomed to reminding her to be less judgmental.
“I had a bit of an accident. Could I use your restroom?” I waved my hand, showcasing the wet stain as if it were the prize of the hour on The Price Is Right .
“Oh my, yeah, it’s back there. Let me show you.” She got up, but a frantic older woman approached the desk.
“Do you have extra stamps up here? We need stamps,” the older woman said. Her thin gray hair was held up with a claw clip.
“Charlotte, it’s okay. We have plenty of stamps.” Phoebe looked at me apologetically and turned behind her into the cupboard.
“I’ll show her to the bathrooms,” Danuwoa said, pushing himself off the desk and heading toward the back of the room. “You comin’?” He didn’t even bother looking behind as he asked me.
I ran a few steps to catch up. We walked through a maze of cubicles with half walls, so you could see over the top of everyone’s heads. I’d never been in any office before, but I thought cubicles had walls that went to the ceiling or something and offered a little more privacy.
Danuwoa turned and looked at me and must have noticed my confused expression, because he said, “This is our new open floor plan. It’s supposed to be more productive and equalizing.” He motioned with his hand to a swinging door and led me through. To the left of the hall was an open kitchen and dining area. He stopped and pointed at the bathrooms to our right.
“Good luck, Ember Cardinal,” he said with a wink before walking into the kitchen.
I pushed the door open, and the bathroom was empty. I sighed; I’d worked so hard to land this interview, I wasn’t going to let this spit-up stop me. I set my tote bag behind the faucet on the sink and worked to pull out the twenty bobby pins digging into my skull. I had to shove that many into my hair to anchor my bun to my lower neck. I tried just sticking the pins in my mouth, but it quickly grew to be too much. I spat them out into the sink. Once I removed the last one, I ripped out the two elastic hair ties and uncoiled my long espresso-colored hair. It hurt so good letting it fall. I flipped my head over and massaged my scalp where the elastics and pins had pulled at my hair.
When I came up to check the damage, I was lucky. My hair was still damp from my shower this morning, so the tight bun gave it a little bend and wave. I raked my fingers as best I could through my long tangled tresses and pulled them all over to my left side, covering the stain. I could still smell my conditioner, and as long as this Monica Lewis wasn’t a hugger and didn’t invade my personal space, then she shouldn’t be able to smell the vomit too much.
I dug through my bag and checked my phone. I had ten minutes until my interview. I also had a few questionably motivational texts from Joanna—they were all GIFs of Britney Spears with the words you better work, bitch in large flashing letters.
I took a mirror selfie showcasing the stain and sent it to Joanna. She texted back immediately, Eww what have you been doing???
I sent the eye roll emoji followed by the baby and vomit emoji, threw my phone back in my bag, and took out my lizard key chain. I squeezed it three times for luck and then headed back out into the corporate world of Technix.
More people were milling about in the break room, and I saw Danuwoa approach me, holding a Technix-branded mug full of coffee.
“You should’ve worn your hair like that from the beginning. It looks nice,” he said, smiling.
“Smells good too. Come on.” I curled my fingers in a come-hither way. “Have a whiff.”
Danuwoa took one step forward and gave me another exaggerated sniff. After, he pursed his lips and shrugged. “Coconut baby vomit. You have refined taste.”
I laughed at how completely ridiculous and confident this man was. Who the hell was he? I didn’t have time to go down that rabbit hole. “I need to go to my interview.”
“You got this.” He lifted his coffee in a salute, and I went back through the maze to reception.
“Much better,” Phoebe said with a nod. “You can have a seat. I already let Monica know you’re here.”
“Perfect, thanks.” I sat down on the modern futon-looking couch in the corner next to a potted ficus. I crossed my legs at my ankles as Queen Clarisse Renaldi taught me when I was a kid. If dorky Mia Thermopolis could be a princess, then I could get hired here. I just needed one company to tell me yes. Technix was going to be that company.
A few minutes went by, possibly an eternity, and then I heard my name.
“Yes?” I looked up to see a mature-looking woman wearing a turquoise tunic, leggings, and a big chunky beaded necklace. It was an ugly outfit, but I was impressed we could wear leggings in the office. I said we , like I was already an employee. I was really great at this feigning confidence crap. Who was I kidding, my anxiety was through the roof.
“Hi, I’m Monica.” She extended her hand; I took it in what I hoped was a just-firm-enough handshake. “Why don’t you follow me back this way.”
We snaked through the other side of the floor through another short gray cubicle jungle, similar to the one Danuwoa showed me, until we reached the farthest back wall and entered a glass-enclosed conference room. When I walked past her inside, she sniffed twice. In my nervous state, I opted to ignore it and pretended I didn’t smell anything. Once I sat down facing the rest of the office, a few heads poked out from their workstations and stared at me.
I had never had an audience for an interview before. Unless you counted the one time I applied to Abercrombie I gave it to her. Those who cooked didn’t do the dishes here.
“It’s not a fetish,” I practically yelled so she could hear me over the running water. “I just love when a man has long hair. It’s not creepy. I don’t, like, collect hair and get off on it.”
She came out of the kitchen and leaned against the wall. “I don’t share a room with you. Maybe you do.”
“Ha ha ha.” I rolled my eyes.
She jumped back onto the couch next to me and swatted my arm. “Check your email.”
“No way Monica would have sent me something this soon.”
“You said she winked. That was basically her saying you got the job.”
“Don’t jinx it!” I pulled out my phone and opened the email app.
One unread message.
No. Way.
Sender: Monica Lewis
Subject: Technix Accounting Assistant Position
My stomach immediately dropped, and my heart started beating faster. Joanna leaned over my lap to look at my phone.
“Open it!” she commanded.
My thumb had a mind of its own as it tapped the screen to open the email.
Dear Ms. Cardinal,
We are pleased to offer you the position of Accounting Assistant reporting to Gary Horowitz in the downtown Oklahoma City office. Starting salary is $50,000 with a discretionary bonus. We are proud to offer full health benefits, including vision and dental, and eligibility starts immediately. We offer new employees 15 days of accrued PTO. Technix employees also receive free snacks daily and catered lunch once a month and membership to the building gym. The dress code is business casual. If this offer sounds exciting to you, please let me know at your earliest convenience. We are anxious to get this position filled, and we look forward to you joining the Technix team. If you accept, we would love your first day to be next Monday.
“Holy shit! Fifty thousand dollars a year?! You’re rich, Ember! Rich!” Joanna jumped off the couch and gave a cry so loud there was no way our ancestors above missed it. “Yeeeeeeoooow!”
Tears blurred my vision as I set my phone down. I did it. Someone like me did it? I couldn’t believe it. I jumped up and joined my best friend and danced around the living room.
I was officially an accountant!