Taint Me More ☑️

Chapter One

My cell phone ringing made me slow from a jog to a walk. I tried to silence my panting as I hit answer. The autumn weather had my sweat feeling icy on my skin. I loved the New York weathers but I think autumn was my favorite. The parks smelled like dry leaves and the streets no longer smelled like garbage this time of year. The sound of little kids playing and dogs barking had a familiar welcoming feeling that calmed me, surprisingly.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Ilaria Vitale?" a female voice spoke on the other end.

"Yes, this is she."

"This is Kimberly Jones, you sent in your CV for a job vacancy at S&L museum. I'm pleased to inform you that a spot reopened and we'd like you to be on our team."

I came to a complete halt and squealed a little, ignoring the strange looks I was getting from other park goers.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this is so amazing, thank you, thank you," I spoke so fast, I'm not sure she could make out my words.

Ever since I moved to New York five years ago, job hunting had been a complete pain in the neck. I'd had a few jobs, yes, I even worked two different jobs while I was in school and then when I'd graduated, I started working as a secretary to some local news company. I kind of liked the job but I wanted more and so I continued my job hunt while I was fetching lattes and croissants for some tv crew and now, I was more than happy to send in my resignation letter.

Greener pastures.

"How would you like to resume Monday?" She asked like I was gonna say no. "We will be having our first showcase of the month on Monday Evening. You can come over tomorrow to get your picture taken for your work ID and discuss other management rules and the other information that was sent to your email this morning and you can call me if you have any questions," she informed.

"Yes yes, of course. Thank you." I was so excited to form actual sentences at that moment so I just thanked her some more.

As I jogged back home with a smile on my face and a slight dance to my steps, I couldn't help but stop at the liquor store as I contemplated my form of celebration for the night. I wasn't living a fancy lifestyle, the apartment I shared with Gabby—who happened to have been my college roommate—and her sister, Heather who was barely ever home. We moved in to this lowkey part of the city. Gabby was hell bent on living an almost "free and wild" lifestyle and I wanted the opposite.

Gabby and I hated ourselves when we first moved in together in college as freshmen five years ago. She was what I would call the lousy roommate and I was the no-fun one who sighed at nearly everything. In fact, she started to call me a "spoilsport" and a "party crasher" . Until she grew on me and I grew on her. We've been inseparable ever since.

And that was why I got into that liquor store and bought a few bottles of the good stuff to celebrate my new well-paid job with my roommate.

***
*

"Come with me, let's meet the team." Miss Jones said with a warm smile as she ushered me to the other side of the reception area and through the doors of a room surrounded by only glass walls, which were the only things standing between the room and the reception area. In fact, the entire place was one big room separated by glass.

"I flipped through your resume and your works are just something to look at. I'm sure this company will not regret having you as her content creator because we sure need one who knows her way around the art world."

My smile widened some more as we entered and I was greeted by two men and two ladies. One of the ladies was speaking into a headset as she moved around swiftly, tapping away on a tablet and the other lady was putting sticky notes on some papers.