Rainy Day | Rhea Ripley

Chapter 1

Will you take the pain while you suffocate 

'Cause you know something is creeping in the dark

- Rainy Day by Ice Nine Kills

"Oh shit sorry" While I was rushing to get to my appointment I had completely missed the woman rushing in the opposite direction, running into her and making her scatter the giant pile of papers she was carrying. 

I knelt down trying to help her pick them up but ended up reaching for the same one she was already holding, ripping it in half. 

I apologized profusely and decided to leave her alone before I could make it worse. Mentally cursing myself for waking up so late that all of my careful organization had gone out the window I pushed open the door to the gym where I was supposed to meet the person who would hopefully be my future employer. That was if I could manage the job interview without destroying some fancy workout equipment or accidentally pushing them to the floor too.

I was hired as a videographer through the company I worked for and technically had already been given this job but the client wanted to meet me in person before actually making a decision on whether or not I was a good fit. It was in the nature of this job that we would spend a lot of time together so I guess she wanted to make sure I wasn't a weirdo. So now it was on me to do my best to pretend that I wasn't.

I entered the big main room of the gym, flooded with light and mostly empty as it was seven in the morning.As I was still trying to gain some orientation I felt someone approach me from behind."Hey, you're Alex, right?" A warm deep voice with a thick Australian accent said. I turned to her and smiled. "That's right! And you must be Demi" I stuck out my hand to greet her but she had already turned around to go back to the mat she had laying on the floor behind me. I tried not to look awkward and pathetic as I retracted my hand. "I'm sorry that I have to multitask but I need to get my stretching done while we talk." She apologised to which I just nodded.

"It's fine, if you want to you can just tell me a little bit about what exactly you were looking for when it comes to this position" my best attempt to sound professional. She rolled her eyes."I really wasn't looking for anything to be honest. My manager thinks it would be beneficial for my public image if I had a YouTube channel, I had one with a former partner a couple of years ago and it was generally well received" She started stretching out her left shoulder "However, as you can tell, I have absolutely no time in my day to take videos of anything and while I thought that that was a good enough excuse to not have to do this they decided to hire you behind my back. No offense" I tried not to take any but to be honest I didn't feel very welcome.

"So you, or your manager, are not only looking for someone to take the videos but also to edit and upload them? Like a social media manager? Because I actually have experience doing that" I tried one more time to sound like the well-organised professional I was supposed to be. She scoffed. "Well yes, that's what my manager wants, but there's another side to it for me. See, I'm on the road a lot so you would have to travel with me, spend basically all day with me in order to film anything interesting and you would have to keep up with my lifestyle. I'm going to be blunt here, I'm not convinced you can" Now it was my turn to scoff at her. "With all due respect, you don't know me. You don't know what I can and can't keep up with." At this, she finally looked up at me. I expected her to be annoyed or even angry but I was surprised that the look in her eyes was more... intrigued? "I didn't want to judge you" she continued "What I want is a trial period. Of course, you will get paid the agreed-upon amount, but if you are to take this job we are going to spend a lot of time together and I want to make sure that this works for both of us"I nodded. This did make sense. After all, if I was being honest I didn't really know what I was getting myself into here."Okay, agreed" I responded.

"Great" she went back to stretching her legs "we are leaving for Atlanta tomorrow, Meet me here at nine and I will text you the rest details.""Tomorrow?" I hadn't been expecting that."Yes, tomorrow. What's the issue? Can't keep up?" Her voice sounded so self-assured that I wasn't sure whether to be angry or flustered. I chose to go with cocky."Not in the slightest. I will be awaiting those details and I'll see you at nine am tomorrow.""Deal" was all she said before gathering her water bottle and yoga mat and walking off in the direction of the locker rooms, leaving me stunned. I didn't know what to make of her and her attitude but something about her made me want to do everything humanly possible to get her on my good side. At the same time, it seemed I couldn't stop embarrassing myself in front of her.As I stepped out on the sidewalk my phone buzzed. I looked at it and instinctually turned it off as if that would make the sender magically disappear from planet Earth. This was a problem for future Alex. Current Alex had to worry about packing for Atlanta.