"Son of a bitch! Quinn…..hey Quinn?"
"What?"
"Did you get one of these this morning?" Santana asked as she shoved her iPhone under Quinn's nose.
She studied the text carefully, a look of shock slowly creeping over her face. "Bloody hell. No, no I didn't."
"Well that's just perfect. Absolutely fucking perfect. What am I supposed to do now? I needed this job. I finally had a wage and could afford to live and then that bastard does this. Seriously Quinn, what am I going to do?"
"Ok Santana first of all calm down. Second of all something new will come up, it always just. I'll do everything I can to help you know that. We'll get you something again asap. You wait and see."
Quinn was always the more positive of the friendly pair. The glass was always half full with her but with Santana it was always practically empty and time to panic over it.
She and Quinn had worked at Icent Insurers for 2 years. She was an administrator in the claims department. She never enjoyed her job and it certainly wasn't what she saw herself doing for the rest of her life but it was a job. The first job after college and it helped her pay her way in the world. With her wage she could afford a small but comfortable apartment. She could afford to go out and have fun with her friends when she wanted and on occasions afford herself the odd treat.
But this email, this ruined it all and sent her head into a instant downward spiral. She saw herself back with her parents. Struggling by on the wage of a bag packer at the small local market. She saw the life she swore she would never have. This "Thanks for all your hard work, but times are hard and we are going to have to let you go" email was the last thing she needed.
Santana had never ever asked for much. She passed through school and college with out to many problems. Her grades were good, not great but good. All she wanted was a decent job, a nice life and eventually find the women of her dreams to settle down with. Yes there had been the odd girl in college who she thought could be the one but they always transpired to be those girls who just wanted to experiment. She just wanted a simple, quite and happy life. Getting this email was putting a serious chink in her plans and she didn't like it one bit.
"Look San, we'll grab a paper on the way home and get you applying for as many jobs as possible."
All Santana could do was sigh and nod slightly. She knew Quinn was trying to help but it didn't stop her from wanted to shout and scream at the world.
They had gone out for their usual Saturday morning breakfast catch up. It was usually the same conversation every time. Santana, just about coping each day at her job and Quinn, wondering when her boyfriend was going to propose. It was an opportunity for them both to vent and it was a ritual they both looked forward to. It was a shame that today's usual banter had turned so depressing.
"Come on lets go get you that paper. I'll help you look and apply ok. Don't worry it will be fine."
On the way back to Santana's apartment they picked up the papers as promised and now she was sat at her small breakfast bar with the job pages spread out in front of her. Red pen in hand she started circling the jobs that she liked the look of.
As that accounted to 2 jobs she started circling the jobs she was qualified for but wasn't sure that she wanted to do. Again that wasn't many so she gave in a circled all the jobs that sounded either slightly interesting, paid ok or that needed instant availability.
She held her head in her hands and felt like crying. She then heard a faint rumble from down by her feet. She bent down and picked up the little rumbler and put her on her lap.
"Hey Flupet. You'll still love me if we have to move back in with the parents wont you?"
Flupet gave her usual rumbling reply and then climbed onto the papers, helping in her usual cat like way. Santana had bought the little tortie kitten 6 months ago. She needed company at home. Talking to herself was not good, talking to her new kitten was perfectly normal. That was her reasoning anyway. Flupet had been a very welcome addition to her life and hearing that little rumble was always enough to make her start to relax.
"Thought so."
Santana lost count of the amount of jobs she applied for and the amount of interviews she went on. A small redundancy payout was enough for her to live on in the meantime without going into keep panic. But it wouldn't last forever and she knew she had to find that illusive job sooner rather then later.
Again looking thought the papers a job caught her eye.
Driver required.
Must be dependable, reliable and discreet.
Apply with references.
"Couldn't hurt" she thought to herself and drew her now to familiar red circle around the ad.
3 weeks later she received a phone call to attend an interview. She was asked to arrive at the Overview hotel at 10am. An interview in a hotel seemed odd but she never questioned it.
She pulled out her smartest suit and made sure her hair and make up were perfect before she left for her interview. She was nervous as hell but managed to swallow it down and conduct herself in a more professional manor that she ever thought was possible. She was never once informed who the client would be or what the job would entail. In fact the interview barely took 10 minutes before she was dismissed.
Thinking that was a bad sign she went home again feeling despondent and knowing it was back to the drawing board. So when she hung up after a call an hour after collapsing on her sofa with a tub of icecream she was in total shock.
"My god Flupet, I got the job. I got the fricking job!"
She picked the kitten up and gave her a strong but gentle squish. She was finally again in employment. And not just any employment, top secret employment.
"Looks like you won't be to deprived of catnip toys just yet little one" she giggled into the kittens head. Flupet, in her deep wisdom, just rumbled back.
Santana was told to again arrive at the Overview hotel again the next morning at 8am. She would be supplied with uniform and more details on what would be expected of her before she actually started the driving part of her job the following day.
She could not wait.
"So who is it then?" Quinn asked then next evening.
"I can't tell you. Part of my contract is total confidentiality and as I have not actually started work yet I don't want to risk losing my job before I start."
"So not even a hint then?"
"Nope sorry Quinny. But I will tell you I can't wait. Cheers!" She raised her bottle of beer to clink with Quinns wine glass.
"Make sure you don't have to many of them San. First day of driving around a top celeb tomorrow, I don't think it will be a good idea to turn up hungover, or worse drunk."
"Don't worry Q. Just this one and then it's onto the juice. Boring but necessary."
"Well I wish you the best of luck San. I truly do. Let hope this turns out to be a much more successful employment then your last one. And I'm sure it's going to be much more interesting."
"I'm sure it will be to."
They were both certainly right about that. From now on Santana's life was about to get interesting. Very interesting indeed.
I have ideas of where I want this story to go and what I want to happen. I just need to get them there.
Reviews/Feedback and Ideas more than welcome.
Ta muchly