Things To Say Before I Go

Chapter 2: Nate

I didn't want to but I finally did roll out of bed. I looked at the alarm clock on my nightstand which read 1:30. This was typical for me since I still, emphasis on the STILL, didn't have a job. Sure, I was looking, but I didn't just want a job that I would hate and want to shoot myself by having. I wanted something that excited me. 

My roommate, Mark, however just wanted me to get a source of income so I could help put some money towards paying the rent. He constantly reminded me of this by circling open jobs with a red pen in the newspaper and leaving it for me on the kitchen table for me to find whenever I ended up getting out of bed. 

I slipped on some pants, got a quick shower and got clothed. I grabbed a banana and headed to the gym for an hour and half. Then, I came back and turned the TV on. That's where Mark found me at 6:00 when he walked in the door. 

"Please, God tell me you've moved from that spot at least once today," he jabbed as he came in the door.  I started to say something but he cut me off to say, "And no, getting up to go to the bathroom does NOT count." 

Damnit. I guessed I've used that too much. "Yes, I went to the gym," I replied. "I'm not completely incapacitated." 

He hung his bag on the side of the one of the kitchen chairs and loosened his tie. "And did you find a job at all?" 

The untouched newspaper on the table pretty much answered his question for him. "Nate, you are a college educated man. You sleep until the afternoon and the only things you do are go to the gym and watch TV. Get a fucking job and start helping pay for the bills around here." 

I hated when he was right. He went over to the fridge to grab a beer and said, "And to help pay for the some of the food you so graciously eat," he said laughing. 

I moved over to let him sit on the couch next to me. "So how was work?" I asked him, eating another handful of popcorn out of the bowl. 

He took a drink from his beer. "Terrible. Jim is hassling me again to handle this Johnson case and I just can't deal with him. Johnson refuses to listen to me. I give him all the help in the world and he just shits on it. How am I supposed to work with that?" 

"How is anyone supposed to work with that?" I asked, half listening. 

Mark grabbed some popcorn and we watched the rest of whatever crappy TV show I was watching. He finished his beer and went to go throw it into the recycling bin. 

He came back and said, "Oh, by the way, Dana and I broke up." 

Dana had been Mark's on-and-off girlfriend for eight months. She was highly emotional and every little thing bothered her or made her jealous or whatever it was. I was just hoping that this was the last time I had to hear this from him. 

"Really? Again? I'm sorry, man," I said. I looked at him and though, and he didn't seem that upset. 

"You know," he said. "This is it. I'm not getting back together with her. I'm so sick of dealing with her bullshit. She's like riding a fucking roller coaster, one minute she's up, the next she's down. It's just too exhausting." 

I slapped him on the back. "That's the right thing. And I don't mean to be that guy, but I did say that after the third time y'all broke up." 

He shot me a dirty look. I put my hands up in defense. "Just saying! No need to be a bitch about it." 

He slapped me and got up to go into the kitchen. "Chinese or pizza?" 

"Pizza!" I yelled back at him.

The pizza arrived about a half hour later. The two of us sat there, eating dinner and watching Criminal Minds on the TV. 

When it went to commercial, Mark muted it and said, "Alright, Nate look. I want you to promise me right now that by the end of this month, you will have found a job or at the very least gone on a god damn interview. That gives you 9 days. Promise?" 

I looked at him. He was right and he knew he was just pushing me because in reality I really needed to get off my lazy ass and do something with myself. 

I sighed and finally said, "Fine, you win. I promise."

***************************

The next morning, I woke up at 10:30 for a change and actually took a look at the classified section that Mark had left out for me. I found a couple that were available, however none really looked appealing. I found one at a building working for a legal company downtown. I went online to their website and printed off an application.

I then turned on my laptop and printed out a copy of my resume. I had one already completed and up to date. I had done it a couple of weeks ago to appease Mark and to make it look like I was working on finding a job. I filled out the application, bullshitting a lot of the questions with answers I knew they were looking for. I stapled my resume to the back of the app and stuck the whole thing in an envelope. I did the same thing with a drug store three blocks away and a management company right next door to the legal company. 

I went down the street to the post office and mailed the three apps hoping one would respond soon. Mark got home the same time that night and asked of my progress. "I mailed three applications today," I informed him. "And I'm pretty sure I also lost a few pieces of my soul in the process." 

He sighed, not really taking to my jokes. 

"You know, why can't you just get me a job where you work?" I asked. "Then I wouldn't have to do all of these applications? It would save me a ton of time and effort." 

"Um, because we aren't hiring?" He said sarcastically. "And it would save you time to do what? Watch more TV and eat more of the food you're not paying for?" 

"Well, okay smart ass." I said. "I'm just saying it would make this whole 'getting a job' thing a lot easier." 

He laughed and shook his head, grabbing a beer from the fridge. "It's life. It's never easy."

*************************

A week passed and I got a rejection from the management firm and the drug store. The drug store was supposed to be my safety net, but apparently not. The legal company was my last hope. So while I was waiting anxiously for the next couple of days for the decision on my employment, I decided that for the first time in a while, I would actually get out and do something besides just go to the gym. 

I went for a run in the park across the street from our apartment building. It was a nice little fenced in park with a small playground for kids to play on, a running path that snakes its way through, a well manicured lawn and a couple of really big oak trees that a couple of the kids like trying to climb. It was a sunny day as I grabbed my iPod, jammed the headphones into my ears and started to run on the path through the park. 

I passed a couple other runners while I ran and waved to a couple of others around that were either with their kids or walking their dogs. I ran for about two hours and went back to the apartment. It was while watching my third straight episode of Judge Judy that I realized that this was my life. I had no money to go do anything else, no job to get the money to do anything else, not many other friends besides my roommate, and no girlfriend. I felt like I was just wasting my time. A twenty five year old sitting in his apartment and exercising. That's it. I didn't grow up just to sit around on my ass, bored with my life. 

So when a letter finally came from the legal office, I was hoping like hell that it was a job offer. I scratched it open and quickly grabbed the letter out from inside the envelope. Mark was patiently waiting by as he had gotten home and brought the letter to me himself. I quickly scanned the letter and to get the jist of what it said. However, I really only focused on the part where they offered me a job.