Shifting Plates

Chapter Two

     The following weeks were a nightmare for Miranda. Her boss at her part-time job was only scheduling her for no more than ten hours a week and her loan payments were dipping deeply into her emergency savings account. Something needed to change. She reflected to the conversation she had recently with Bethany.

     "Jack has been in touch with me lately. Has he emailed you or anything?" Bethany asked. Miranda stifled a laugh.

     "Uh, no. Why would he?" Miranda cringed as she relived her rambling and the look he had given her at the festival.

     "Oh. Well," Bethany responded, clearly not recalling her best friend's moment of embarrassment, "he offered me a position at the organization!" The jealousy bubbled within Miranda. Why couldn't opportunities pop up like that for her? Still, she was not going to throw any kind of pity party. Bethany had always been the most capable of the two and, Miranda reminded herself, Bethany hadn't made herself look like a complete fool.

     "Congrats! I'm so happy for you. Now you can leave your other job!"

     "Oh yeah, I know!" Bethany's face brightened. "I put in my two weeks notice the second I finished my hiring papers for Jack. It was like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders!"

     "I bet," Miranda said. She longed for that feeling herself. "So when do you start?"

     "Well, the next event is about two weeks away, but Jack wants me to come into the office to help with some things. But, oh my god, guess who I'm going to be working with at the event? Timothy!" Miranda was only slightly excited upon hearing the additional news.

     "Oh, really? He was cute. But don't completely forget about Eric, you know, your boyfriend...," Miranda said playfully. Bethany rolled her eyes and dismissed the issue with a quick flutter of her hand.

     "I know, but like do I even have a chance?" Bethany eyed Miranda skeptically. "I mean, he's probably got an amazing girlfriend anyway and I bet he's used to girls falling all over themselves to be with him." Miranda nodded her head in agreement.

     Miranda's phone vibrated, taking her out of her reflection. The words UNKNOWN NUMBER presented themselves on the screen. She answered anyway.

     "Hello? Miranda? This is Jack. From All About Earth? How are you doing?"

     "Good, thanks."

     "Ah, awesome to hear. So Bethany spoke to me today saying that you'd be interested in volunteering with us again, which is great! Is there any chance that you'd have Saturday free? Some of our staff members are headed to a protest in Utah and we need some people to aid the ones that have to stay in town. It'd be an early shift, for about four hours? Are you up for it?"

   Miranda looked over at her best friend with a smirk. She replied to Jack,  "Oh, sure! I'd love to." Bethany put up two thumbs and mouthed, "You're welcome!"

     "Wow, thanks Miranda, we appreciate it. I'll send you an email with all the details. Remember: dress in layers and no open toe shoes!"

     "Okay, sounds good." Again, Bethany was mouthing to her,  saying "Timothy" and forming a heart with her hands. 

     "See you on Saturday, Miranda!"

     Stifling a laugh because of her best friend's behavior, she managed to say, "Yep, bye." She hung up the phone barely comprehending that she had just agreed to another rendezvous with other people's trash.