It was that same year when Willow and that girl, Zoe Bordelier, from her class started to get closer.
They exchanged phone numbers, growing closer as both their boyfriends graduated college. Willow found it funny. Zoe found it coincidental. One thing Willow learned about Zoe was that she was very literal. Nothing ever seemed funny to her and nothing ever seemed that interesting- at least not enough to warrant a second sliver of a potential line of questions. Willow would have to have found the rarest diamond on the planet for it to interest Zoe.
What did interest her, that Willow had no desire to even begin to learn, was coding. She was brilliant, often writing out codes to make small things happen on a platform Willow could never remember the name of.
But that wasn't the part that had all of her attention. It was the slow draining sensation of money. Willow was vigilant, noticing that her father, a man who was from a family practically made out of money, began to show signs of anxiety at the mention of wealth. What was slowly killing the family was the closeness of age, and the fact that all of them got into an expensive situation with their education. Some prices were beginning to come close to the cutting edge- too close.
Willow knew that if she wanted to continue with her education, she'd need to work for it.
-
She sat across from Zoe, surfing the web for a job application. Many of them had to deal with a certificate she didn't have yet, and the ones that didn't were too sketchy. Willow groaned gently, throwing her head back. Zoe raised an eyebrow, lowering her computer screen.
"What?" She asked flatly.
"Nothing. It's stupid." Willow muttered. Zoe didn't move, her expression unchanging.
"Try me." Another thing about Zoe was that she would always try new things she knew wouldn't interest her. It was a thing about her that drove Willow crazy, especially when she would simply shrug and hum indifferently.
"I'm looking for a job." Willow stated flatly. Zoe's eyebrow quirked, her expression still unchanging.
"Okay?" She'd often lead Willow on a path where she thought she finally found Zoe's interest, but would quickly be proven wrong. Now, Willow would dance with her subject, letting a few interesting key details slip. She had gotten good at hooking people just because she was practicing on trying to impress Zoe.
"Anything sticking out to you?" Zoe asked. Willow huffed gently.
"Everything that does I'm not 'qualified' for." Zoe hummed indifferently, shrugged gently, slowly pulling up her screen again. Willow fell into silence, continuing on scrolling through the help wanted ads. Then, she laid eyes on something that piqued her interest. It was decent pay, and seemed easy. They were asking for multiple people who would be interested in working different positions. Willow scrolled through them, suddenly seeing something she was sure would pique Zoe's interest.
"I have an idea." She stated. Zoe looked back up from her computer, humming, letting Willow know she was listening.
"What if we work this job together?" Zoe knit her eyebrows together in confusion. Willow turned around her computer, showing her the ad and the positions they wanted to fill.
"A tech company?" Zoe asked sarcastically, her lip curling gently, eyebrows knitting.
"Yeah. You can do coding... and I can do shipping-it all works out!" Willow had a happy tone that she noticed made Zoe shrink back. Her expression said her words before she spoke them.
"That's sketchy as shit-are you sure?" Willow shrugged, looking back at the ad.
"The pay's good." Zoe leaned forward slightly.
"That's sketchy as shit. Are you sure?" She enunciated. Willow huffed.
"It's all I have right now. Do you want to work with me or not?" Zoe's hand came up, hiding her mouth and pinching her nose.
"Oh my God," She muttered. Then, she took a breath and let her hands fall back down to her computer.
"Willow, you can say no. I'm sure there are other job opportunities."
"There isn't." Willow replied swiftly.
"Do you want to work with me or not?" She repeated. Zoe seemed to think. Then, she shrugged, huffing.
"I mean... I don't-" She paused, staring at Willow's face, who was staring at her blankly, a frown on her lips.
"Sure. Why not?" Zoe said.
"Wonderful." Willow said, beginning to type on her computer again.
"You do realize I'm out of here in a couple months right?" Zoe asked.
"Yeah?" Willow glanced at her.
"I don't live here." Zoe stated flatly.
"Okay? You can get started on your debt. It's always good to have a head start." Willow said. Zoe didn't seem to argue with the logic.
"What about the commute?" Zoe asked. Willow glanced at her. For once, Willow saw some sort of question deep in Zoe's eyes whereas her questions were usually rhetorical.
"I'm sure you can figure it out." Willow reasoned, watching as Zoe shrugged, seeming to like Willow's standards of her.
"What's the name of this company?" Zoe asked. Willow raised an eyebrow, not looking up from her computer.
"Why?"
"I wanna write it down, so I don't forget." She tore her gaze from her screen and saw Zoe with her phone out, ready to type down whatever name Willow was about to give her. At that moment, it didn't ring a bell for her. Not the face, nor the name.
"Yeah, it's..." She was searching for it, wondering if that was really the name of the small company running this electronic shop.
"Marshell's Electronic Equipment."
YOU ARE READING
The Grean Household
Romance"It was a mistake..." She told her mother, folding her hands into each other. "Marrying him..." Her mother said nothing, she simply sat there as her only daughter stood across from her, on the verge of collapsing from bruised ribs and cracked shins...
