REUP

Part 2

The light coming in from the window woke me up.
That, and the throbbing headache and overwhelming nausea. I shifted myself upright, but a little too quickly making the combination of symptoms of a night of drinking wreak havoc on my senses. When my eyes finally adjusted, I found myself in my living room. I reached onto the coffee table and grabbed my phone checking the time. That's right, it's dead idiot.

I gained the strength to force myself to my room to grab my charger. As my phone came to life there had to be at least 50 notifications that came through. With 6 missed calls being from my manager.
Shit.
It was already almost noon. No time to shower I rolled on some deodorant grabbed my keys, phone, charger, and wallet then headed out the door.
How fucked up was I? I didn't even lock the door last night? What even happened last night?

These were questions that I didn't have time to find answers to right now. But still, I mentally scold myself for getting so out of control.
I locked my door this time and sprinted to the subway. I nearly missed the train but what really was the point considering I was already several hours late. I got off at South Street and jogged the block to the café.
Jeff was behind the counter serving guests, until he saw me and his face sunk.

"Oh my God. I thought you died! I've been calling you all morning. Oh God, Nora's gonna kill you. What happened?" Jeff rambled as I made my way behind the counter.

"Last night, is what happened."

He tilted his head to the side not entirely getting what I meant then his eyes lit up.

"Ohh. Like you got laid?" He whispered.

"What, no. I-."

"Louis, can I speak with you in the office please." My manager Nora cleared her throat interrupting our talk.

"Yeah, of course."

Jeff mouthed "Talk later."

I nodded and headed to the back with Nora.

I knew she was ready to tear me a new one.

She closed the door and sat across from me behind her desk.

"Nora, I'm so sorry for being late. I was having issues with transportation and lost my phone-."

She held up her hand halting my lie.

"Louis you're an assistant manager, right? What do your responsibilities entail?"

"Well, I open the store and-."

"And supervise other employees during your shift, right?" She interrupts.

I nodded not seeing where she was getting.

"See Louis, I'm not loving your attitude right now. You have such an important job and you seem to not care all that much about your duties. Never mind, being five hours late to your eight-hour shift. And what's this I hear about you encouraging the name-calling of customers, hmm? I was planning on giving you a warning but explain to me why I should allow you to clock in right now when you clearly reek of alcohol?" She leaned back in her seat and clasped her hands together waiting for my response.

I sat silent with my teeth clenched.

"Look maybe this isn't the job for you after all." She turned away.

There was a pause. Then I exhaled.

"Well, I should probably go pack my shit then."

"That would be ideal." She typed away on her computer not giving me eye contact.

I forced a smile and stood up purposefully letting my chair scrape loudly against the already work linoleum floor.

I opened the door right as a few of my nosy coworkers scattered away from eavesdropping.