The elevator door opens and I walk out. I walk to my desk and Max looks up.
"You're late." Max says as I put my backpack down.
"I know." I say.
"If you're not careful, your ass is gonna end up at Buzzfeed posting quizzes about which French food you are." Max says.
"I know." I say.
"I'm a croissant, cause I got layers, baby." Max says.
I squint and he chuckles.
"Y/n." Someone calls.
I look around and see Austin.
"Fuck." I mumble.
I follow Austin into his office and he shuts the door.
"I know I'm late, I'm sorry." I say.
"It's okay." Austin says.
"I set 5 alarms but I somehow set them in PM. The only reason I woke up was because of my neighbor banged on my door and he did that because my dog got out of the gate. So I had to chase him-" I say.
"It's fine, I understand. We all make mistakes and things can go unplanned." Austin says.
"I wanted to ask if you were free on Sunday." Austin says.
"Uhh..." I say.
"Sorry, I just realized how weird that sounds. I was wondering if you could cover the Surfey's for me on Sunday night. You know, talk to celebs and do some interviews." Austin says.
"Me? Me of all people?" I ask.
"Yes." Austin says, laughing.
"I'm gonna have to pass. I don't want my bad luck to ruin anything." I say.
"You serious? You're one of my best journalists, I couldn't pick anyone better for this." Austin says.
"I just really feel like I'm gonna mess this up." I say.
"Do you seriously think you're jinxed or that you have some or curse?" Austin asks.
"I know I'm jinxed." I say.
My family's jinxed theory goes all the way back to the 90s, when my dad was still playing in the NFL.
My dad was hooking up with some woman and he dropped her after he met my mom. She was pretty heartbroken but my dad didn't seem to care all that much and that only made her even more upset.
"She said to me, I'll curse you and every no-good Y/l/n that'll ever live - anything that can go wrong, will. After those words left her mouth, shit hit the fan." Dad says.
My dad thinks she practiced witchcraft in her free time because anything that could go wrong, did. It got so bad that my dad had to retire because his performance was dipping.
Do I seriously believe we got cursed? As a kid? No. As an adult who has lost so many opportunities because nothing ever goes right? Yes.
"You can believe whatever crazy stories you wanna believe but I want you to do this. Take some time and think about it before the end of the day." Austin says.
"Okay." I say.
Austin smiles and I walk out of the office.
"Look who just lost their job." Max says.
"I didn't lose my job. He wants me to interview celebs at the Surfey's." I say.
"A real world example of pretty privilege. Imagine if I showed up late to work for the 3rd time this week. My shit would've been in a box when I got here." Max says.
"But you show up late 3 times in a month and the CEO damn near gives you a promotion." Max says.
"Oh, stop it. You're a handsome guy." I say.
"Shit, I been knew. I just be tryna stay humble. You know me, I'm a THUG. Truly Humble Under God." Max says.
I laugh and Max smiles.
"Can you make 3 copies of this for me?" Henry asks walking over.
"Yep." I say as he hands me a sheet of paper.
Henry smiles and I turn towards the printer.
"You gonna take his offer?" He asks as I put the paper under the scanner.
"I dunno, I've got that jinx thing going on." I say as I change the number of copies to 3.
"That shit's not real. Just say you're a schizo and go." He says as I press confirm.
Papers start flying out of the printer and we stare at each other.
"I changed it to 3, by the way." I say.
Max looks at the printer screen and widens his eyes.
"300!" Max says.
"What?!" I ask.
I press the cancel button and the final papers fly out.
"If anything can go wrong, it will." I say.
"You need to stay your ass the fuck away from me. I don't want the hoodoo on me!" He says.
I chuckle and shake my head.
Time Skip
I glance up at the clock and the hour hand strikes 5.
"Thank you, Jesus." Max says getting up.
I chuckle and he puts his stuff in his bag.
"One thing, before you go, ladies and gentlemen." Austin says walking out of his office.
"We did great this quarter so you all can expect an extra bit of cash in your checks this week." Austin says as I put my laptop in my bag.
Everyone cheers and Austin smiles.
"Thank you all for your hard work this week, enjoy your weekend. I'll see you guys on Monday." Austin says.
Everyone finishes packing up and starts to head out.
"Imma catch you." Max says as Austin starts walking over to my desk.
I nod and Max leaves.
"So?" Austin asks.
"It's a lot of responsibility." I say.
"I know and that's why I want you to do it. You have mishaps, but I trust you. I think you'll do great." Austin says.
I sigh and nod.
"Okay." I say.
Austin smiles and nods.
"And if anything does go wrong, don't sweat it." Austin says.
"Well, that makes me feel a little better." I say.
"Good, I'll be in touch with you." Austin says.
I nod and he walks away. I grab my backpack and walk to the elevator.
I press the down button and wait. The elevator doors open and I walk inside. I press the ground level button and the door shut. The elevator starts to go down and slowly stops.
"Oh, come on!" I say.
1035 Words
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