CHAPTER ONE
( THE INTERVIEW )
THE PEN IN her hand taps wildly against the suave and sleek black leather case of her portfolio. The noise catching the attention of the over-polite receptionist, who turns her chin up to see what was making the sound. January smiles apologetically at the woman, stopping the pen with her two fingers. She had never been so nervous before. In her mind, she had every right to be. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity after all. Her stomach churns, as she tries to find some meaning to distract herself. She places the pen inside her portfolio, her fingers delicately skimming over the new business cards that she had paid a pretty penny for. She liked seeing her name etched in black against the card. January Jenner. She had yet to use one and wrote it off as a luxury to have a stack.
Especially in the case that she was currently unemployed and living in the most expensive state in America - California. Living in California has its perks, more job opportunities, higher wages, hot and sunny most of the time. It also had a variety of scenery, drive to the east towards Nevada there's an arid and dry desert, drive North towards Oregon and there are thick and lush forests that reminded her of home. A home that she never wished to return to.
Wisconsin was too small for her in her opinion, however, her parents and her brothers thought otherwise. She had made it a point to only go home when it was the holiday season. Her eyes gaze out of the large glass window, watching the cars from the interstate zoom by without any care of what company they were passing. Granted, the building appeared to be much smaller on the outside, the interior, however, was large, spacious.
There was an unwelcoming presence about how barren the inside was, it was inhuman - lacking anything sentimental or warm. She swallowed the lump that was starting to build up in the back of her throat. She had to convince herself that this is how most corporate office must look like on the inside. Especially if their main export was weapons. She was actually surprised at how much light filtered through the open windows, as if they were begging for someone to come look in their windows, a challenge, to see what they were developing - if they even could.
Nervously, January began writing things down into her portfolio. Skills that she could share with them, even if she had never actually had experience in this field yet. Skills that included her being able to work under immense pressure, relying on nothing but her quick wit to get out of sticky situations - things that she had only ever displayed in college and sometimes at her old job. Her stomach flips involuntarily once again, causing her to let out a small gasp at the feeling. The longer she waited the more anxious she was becoming. She had a tendency to do this, to hype something up to the point she felt sick.
She attempted to shake her head to clear the feeling of being dizzy without drawing too much attention to herself. She tries to convince herself that this is part of the interview process. Patience was the most important virtue of them all even if this was a fast-paced company and work environment.
Not long after her moment of self-doubt, a pair of heels clicking in the distance catches her attention. Eagerly, she whips her head in the direction of the sound, a light red hue spewing across her face as comes to the sudden realization of how naïve and inexperienced she looked compared to the woman walking towards her.
Her light red locks were tied up in a neat, pristine bun, a tight-lipped smile spread across her thin lips as her gaze rested upon her. "Miss Jenner?" the woman calls to her, clutching on to her clipboard. January sucks in a deep breath to stop the tightening within her chest as she stands up, her dark heels also clicking on the linoleum floor.
"Y-yes," she stammers out, afterwards quickly clearing her throat and extending her hand towards the woman. She takes it in a light shake, her blue eyes holding her own, looked tired and worn out as if she had been through this process millions of times before. "My name is Pepper, you're here for the one-oh-clock interview?"
"Yes, that's correct," January affirms with a nod of her head. Her hands grip on to her portfolio tightly as she places it in front of her. "Great, follow me," Pepper instructs with a warm smile - the most genuine thing she's seen in the building since her arrival twenty minutes ago. January follows closely behind the woman, trying to not trip over her feet in the tall heels. She regrets not wearing shorter heels as the glossy floor threatens to be her downfall, one wrong move could lead to the worst slip up of her life.
"How are you today?" Pepper speaks up, trying to make small talk. "I'm fine," January answers, her brows furrowing as she looks to the floors, pleading with herself not to fall but to look confident in these shoes. "Traffic is horrible but, you know," January continues, stopping short as Pepper stops abruptly to unlock a pristine white door. The woman snorts at the comment. "Don't I know, takes me at least an hour to get home and I don't live too far from here,"
January forces out a chuckle along with Pepper as they enter the small office. January hesitantly looks around, admiring how homey and quaint the office felt while also looking professional and clean. This was the thing she was after, trying to have an office like this was what she's always dreamed of. She places herself in the chair across from Pepper, looking at how everything was strategically placed on her glass desk.
Her business cards were placed out in front where anyone could take one. In bold font across each one read the same thing, "Pepper Potts: Executive Assistant". Pepper turns her attention from her computer towards January, who snaps her head towards her with a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to -"
"It's quite alright," Pepper excuses her. "I'm a fan of them myself," she then looks to the paper in front of her, undoubtedly her resume. January taps on her portfolio, contemplating on opening it up. All that was inside was her resume and a copy of her degree along with a couple of certificates showing she was more than qualified for this job, just not experienced. "So January, that's a unique name,"
"It's a family name," she replies shyly. "It was my great grandmother's name,"
Pepper merely nods her head at this information before concentrating on her resume once again. "You went to the University of Chicago. How was that?"
"It was great," January replies with a smile, although she secretly hated reminiscing about when she lived in the city. It was the first-ever real-time she was on her own, away from her family. She was poor - poorer than she was at the moment. Switching from class to class, debating on dropping out at one point but, the pure thought of going nowhere in Wisconsin terrified her. "Loved the city, loved the lake. The planetarium was always my favorite place to go when I wanted alone time,"
"I always liked going to the art museum, seeing whatever new piece they had on display," Pepper states in a dreamy tone. She clears her throat, shuffling the papers in front of her. "Tell me, how would you plan, organize, and prioritize your work?" she questions, throwing January a dazzling smile. January's mind goes blank for a moment as she peers into Pepper's eyes. She wanted to kick herself, she was struggling to find an answer.
"Well I-I'd," January starts with a stammers. "I'd make sure that my client comes first. Any tasks that are thrown at them I'll try to absorb it and make it better for their image. Anything after my personal client I'd spend time trying to promote the companies image. Of course, I can always reverse those whenever or whatever has a higher priority," January lamely chuckles at her response. She knew she was failing already. She just wanted this torment to be over with already, she never felt so humiliated. "I'm sorry," she adds catching Pepper's attention. "I'm just a little nervous,"
Pepper once again flashes a warm smile. "That's alright, I can see that this is a little different than what you're probably used to," she states, examining her past employment. The action makes January's cheeks heat up once again. Her confidence was easily fleeting. "Can you give me an example of when you went outside the box for an employer?" Pepper questions.
"Ah, well," January sneaks a peek at the notes she had taken in her portfolio to try to think of something. Her heart stops fluttering in her chest once her eyes rest on a side note that she felt confident in. "At the restaurant, I used to work at before moving here, we held a Make-a-wish event. It was for a little girl, who wanted to be a mermaid. I was in charge of the promotions, and getting all the connections for the event coordinator. We made enough money to give her the party she always dreamed of, we were even able to get an actress to come in and dress as Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I got recognition on the company website and even made the newspaper,"
"Is she still -" Pepper begins to ask the inevitable question. January sighs heavily and shrugs her shoulders, looking solemnly to the ground. "I'm unsure. I believe my manager got something from the family but never came upfront about it," She confesses. She watches as Pepper scribbles notes down on the side of a piece of paper. "Well, you what you did sounds wonderful. You helped make her dream come true," she says, her voice trembling a little.
January tries her best to hide the smile that was threatening to splay across her lips. She always knew that story was a tear-jerker, she dubbed it the "guilt trip" story. Someone would have to be a monster to not feel sorry thinking about it. "How do you plan on handling information from several sources since there's bound to be a few overlapping stories?" she questions, finally getting the nerve to look at her in the eyes.
"Well, first I'd search to see who was the most reliable source of information. See which parts of the story seems consistent in all of the sources. If it's good, then promote each of the source's information. If it's bad, find some way to twist their stories to make it seem like the client or the company was in the right and in the worst-case scenario: doing anything with the best intentions," January answers to what she deems as flawlessly.
With each question, she could feel her confidence coming back. She felt like a natural, and could only imagine what it would be like to work in this building all the time. Her cockiness was going to be her downfall. "Lastly, what are your long-term objectives?"
This ends her ego-praising streak. Personal questions didn't come naturally to her. "My long-term objectives?" she reiterates the question, unsure, only to receive a nod from Pepper. "Profession wise or life-wise?" she attempts at joking, only to let out a humorless laugh as she tried to get out of the question. A feeling of self-loathing burrows its way into her chest as she tries to think of the best possible answer as fast as possible. "Either or," Pepper states as she writes down something on the side of the paper, making January drown in doubt.
Both things she's never really thought of before. Isn't that thing? Go to college, get a job, find someone, start a family, die. She had never thought of the in-between. She gnaws on her bottom lip before flashing another nervous smile. "Profession wise, I want to be the best there is. I'd like to picture myself as a large part of a company or to my client's reputation. I'd like to be a valuable asset," January shortly answers.
"Well, here at Stark Industries, we think everyone is a valued person. Not just an asset," Pepper hums. Doubt once again floods her veins. She knew she had said something wrong but that was the only answer she could think of on the spot. She wished she had more practice with this sort of thing. She may as well just chalk up Stark Industries under "Failed Interviews".
Her bottom lip finds its way under her teeth as she looks around the office one last time in a fleeting attempt to memorize the setting of what she wanted but could never have. "It's been a pleasure, Miss Jenner," Pepper states as she ushers her out of her office. Unfortunately, even being out of the technical interview she knew anything she said now would still reflect on her being an applicant. "I could say the same as well, Miss Potts," January politely replies with a small smile. "Good luck with the traffic situation," she attempts to joke. Pepper offers her one last handshake. "We'll be in touch,"
She then turns on her heel and walks in the opposite direction, back to her office. January offers her a fleeting look before returning to the lobby area where she had sat in limbo waiting for her to call her up. Tears threatened to overflow as they began to prickle at her eyes. Once she reached the safety of her car, she took in a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. She had become so dead set on nailing this interview that she hadn't thought of what would happen if she bombed it, which she felt as if she did.
A few tears escape her, causing her breathing to become more infrequent. A whimper escapes her as she places her forehead against the steering wheel of her car, letting more tears pour from her eyes. Perhaps her parents were right, maybe she wasn't cut out for big city life. She wipes the hot tears that ran down her cheeks away, as she tries to compose herself. She hadn't even made it out of the parking lot of Stark Industries before she started to break down from embarrassment.
There was only one way she knew how to cope with her unwavering feeling of instant regret. She throws her car into drive and heads towards the only place she could drown in her self pity.