Flashbacks

The First Day

Jonathan woke up at four in the morning, even though his alarm was not meant to go off for two more hours. He decided to get up and go for a run. Careful not to wake Brittany sleeping next to him, he crawled out from under the covers and quietly walked to his dresser to find his running clothes in the top drawer. Within a minute, he was changed and out the door. As he ran, he felt the cool breeze of a summer morning hit his skin. Ever since he got into running, this was one of his favorite feelings and it was hard to think of much that could top it. While he was running, he also noticed that New York City at four in the morning was a lot busier than the suburban neighborhoods of Mansfield at this time. This city seemed even busier right now, as Jonathan ran in the early dawn hours, than Mansfield was during most after work rush hours. Jonathan was wondering how long it was going to take him to get over the culture shock of constantly seeing people whenever he left his house. To be honest, him and Brittany were not used to a big city like this at all. Also, something people seem to forget to mention about New York City whenever they talk about how great it is is how much it stinks. Him and Brittany noticed the smell of sewage as soon as they stepped out of their car in the city. Some people they had met as they were moving in said they would eventually get used to it. Well, it had been about over a month now, and Jonathan definitely did not feel like he was used to the NYC scent yet. He hoped those people would eventually prove him wrong.

After finishing his run, Jonathan checked to see if Brittany had been woken up by him, but she still seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He made himself some breakfast to eat and made sure to make extra for whenever Brittany woke up. After eating, he hopped in the shower and changed for his first day of work at his new job. He was actually feeling really good about it, and he figured his early morning run was probably helping with that feeling.

By the time he was about to head out the door to make sure he arrived at the law firm early, Brittany still wasn't up. He decided to leave her a note.

Good morning beautiful <3
I have gone to work.
I made eggs and toast and there is extra.
It's on the table in the kitchen.
You might have to heat it up.
Te amo
_________________________________

Jonathan stepped through the doors into his new job and straightened his back in an attempt to appear more confident. He walked up to the woman at the front desk and introduced himself.

"Hi. I'm Jonathan Pierce. I'm here to meet with Jack Jones. It's my first day on the job."

"Hi Jonathan. Nice to meet you," replied the woman. "If you just want to have a seat in one of those chairs right there, Mr. Jones will be down shortly."

"Thank you," replied Jonathan.

He walked to sit in one of the black chairs the woman had pointed to. As he sat down, he finally gave himself a chance to take in his surroundings. He noticed the ceiling of the building he was in was very high and the general floor plan seemed very open on the first floor. He looked around at some signs and realized this building was host to many different types of law. He saw signs for criminal, entertainment, environmental, and business law. He was starting to get nervous, realizing how big of a deal this job actually was. Him and Brittany were both kind of in disbelief when they found out the Jones Law Firm had wanted to hire him. Yes, Jonathan went to Cornell and had an impressive background, but he was also a Puerto Rican man working in corporate law. In general, Hispanic people were rare to find working in legal fields, but corporate law was even more insane for a Puerto Rican person to try to pursue. He knew he was qualified for the job, but he figured being latino would be a disqualification in the eyes of Jack Jones and his superiors. To be honest, it had probably helped Jonathan's case that he had what some people would consider a "white man's name."

Not realizing he was nervously tapping his foot and looking around, he was startled when he heard a voice say his name.

"Jonathan!" the voice called, and he saw the man attached to the voice walk towards him. It was Jack Jones.