Heartbreaker - Episode 1

Coffee And WiFi

Oh I tried, looking for a job. I really did. I even knocked on a few doors, talked to bosses, managers. Nope, I'm not the type to give up after a single day of job-searching but the general vibe of the city generally sucked. Unemployment was skyrocketing.

So I just sat on a coffee shop and banged my head on the table.

I was crossing out job listings, calling people on my phone and looking up addresses. The waitress brought me another cup of their cheapest coffee.

"Thanks," I told her. "Hey! Are you looking for any more waitresses?"

She smiled at me, "No, sorry. There was a spot last week but it's taken."

"That's alright. Thanks."

My phone buzzed. Again. It was Ryan. Again. I rejected the call and wished for something more powerful than a lame touchscreen swipe.

I sipped my coffee and went through the job listings I had ignored earlier. 'Girl under 23 years old with experience?' Really? First of all, that was insane and secondly, when had I gone up to 25 and unemployable?

I sagged and banged my head on the table again, making the coffee cup rattle. As I held my eyes closed, Ryan called again.

I rejected, again.

A muffled voice and a tap on the window next to me made me look around.

Daisy, of all people, was there, talking to me, leaning in and shading her eyes from the sun to see inside.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

She talked but I couldn't hear anything. She was flailing her hands wildly for some reason.

"I can't hear you," I said.

Daisy gestured for me to come outside.

"I'm lazy," I said.

She gave in and came in the coffee shop. Then sat across me, and she was way too excited. "Eris! You won't believe what happened."

"We won't know until you blurt it out," I said with snark. I regretted it instantly, Daisy was a nice person. I was just frustrated at the moment.

"We got like a hundred breakups!" she said finally.

"Great," I said and propped my head on my hand so she could really see I was bored. "Get on with it then. Pack lots of tissues on your way to the office."

"No," she shook her head wildly. "I can't do them. Ryan can't do them either. you have to, you were great yesterday!"

"Whatevs. Fine. Am I getting paid?" I said, showing one percent less boredom than before. Then it hit me, and I woke up, "Hey! Wait, how did you find me?

Daisy said, "Ryan was looking all day for you after you left. Tom saw you online, pinged your IP address. Since you're on the WiFi of this place, it's public info.

I was dumbfounded. "You're telling me that Tom can stalk me anytime he wants to?"

Daisy winced, "It was an emergency?" Then she pulled my arm and stood up. "Come on, let's go back to the office."