Pride (Living In Sin #1)

Chapter 2

Alec

Max left pretty quickly after his 'little talk', but I couldn't blame him. He hadn't been fantastic at confrontation during high school either. I didn't want anyone around anyway while I forced myself to actively try and find work for a change. When I looked through my contacts, the only people who would accept me would insist that I was employed.

Which meant I had to be at least actively applying and interviewing before the weekend started. A frustrating endeavor I'd probably fail at again. That couldn’t be helped. At least keeping up appearances was easy enough. It was also something I was quite good at.

The usual job seeking sites had little to choose from, at least with my limited experience. What they had, I didn't want to touch with a 10-foot pole. After 30 minutes of fruitless searching, I closed the laptop. If I was going to be writing applications all day, I wanted more caffeine.

Unemployment didn't pay a lot, and most of it went to Max for rent and utilities, but I always kept a little bit for food. If I was going to have to work for minimum wage with an asshole boss, I could splurge on a proper coffee before I started.

I didn’t bother getting changed after I tidied the lounge. I wasn’t exactly dressed the best, but I figured I wasn't going too far. The local café did a mean coffee and the usual barista was hella fine. I could use the 'pick me up'; from the caffeine and the perv.

The walk was cool, but pleasant. Even if I blinked at the sun a little. I didn't go out a lot anymore. And certainly not during the day. Day time was for sleeping, gaming, and tidying. Not noise, people, and brightness. The promise of coffee kept me from turning back around. The cafe was on the corner and seemed to do well for itself in an old style brick apartment block. It always seemed busy, at least. And I liked their mochas more than was good for my waistline.

From between Max's apartment and the cafe, there was a community board I rarely looked at. It was mostly bake sales and kids looking for mowing jobs, but the lack of jobs on the internet had me pausing. Maybe someone was looking for an odd job man and that had to be better than nothing. I just needed something that would get me another couch to surf on.

And who knew? Maybe my dream job would be on a flyer on a cork board? Stranger things had happened.

The paper was neon pink and, surprisingly, no one had ripped off any of the contact information or graffitied it. In fact, it was pristine compared to everything else on the board. At first glance, the night club logo almost had me passing it over. I didn't need to go to a rave. Except the next line drew me back.

Administrative Assistant wanted. Room and board available.

Blinking at the text, I couldn't help but read it a few times. I had never heard of an administrative position that was live in, but I really couldn't bring myself to care. It was like my wishes were coming true on one flyer that no one else had noticed. Someone out there was looking out for me.

Nabbing the flyer, I continued on to the cafe. I would not miss out on my coffee, no matter how perfect the job might seem.