Forever

Chapter 6 (Raya's POV)

Today was the big day.

Gala Day had arrived.

But that had made it no less stressful for me.

Last minute preparations were in order, ranging from making sure of any last minute changes to the guest list, to making sure that the menu was as requested.

In the moment, I wanted to just collapse into the earth without a trace.

Or go deaf.

The amount of times I heard my own name got exhausting after the hundredth time.

Raya do this, Raya do that.

It's enough for anyone to-

"Raya!"

Lord, I'm trying to do right by you, please, don't make me resort to murder!

I inhaled deeply, plastered on my best fake smile and turned around to face the person who interrupted my current task of filing Simone's client files. At first, all I saw was a pair of long, shapely legs staring back at me. But then, I looked up, and was face to face with the head of the Arts department, a middle aged woman by the name of Barbara Reinhart.

I felt my face twitch, as I nearly grimaced in disgust, but manage to keep up my facade.

The woman was actually another bane of my existence, and a constant thorn in my side. Thank god she wasn't my boss, because I would've been fired a long time ago. In fact, if it were up to her, I probably wouldn't have been here in the first place. But well, I guess I can't blame her; After all, her ex husband left her for a much younger, much browner, woman.

I guess that explains all the collagen and botox in her face; not to mention the obvious, sickly orange tinge that her skin had. She was definitely trying too hard.

But of course, I'd never tell her so.

Because, once again, my job was more important than sassing a superior.

"Yes, Ms. Reinhart?" I answered, hiding my contempt for her under a sweet tone.

"I need you to schedule a last minute meeting. I need all the department staff to attend. Can you do that?"

Did she seriously ask me to fulfill a task she could've done, yesterday?

Instead of saying no, I simply nodded.

Let's hope this meeting is quick. I have a few errands to make before the gala tonight.

-------------
I hate running errands.

I hate procrastinating.

But guess what I had literally no time to do because I was so stressed with the gala preparations? Just that. Up until this point I had been surviving on carrot sticks and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for every meal.

The pinnacle of the poor girl struggle.

So buying actual groceries was the first thing on my to do list.
The next thing I needed to do was find the perfect dress/outfit to wear. And finally, I needed to decide how I wanted to do my hair.

Unfortunately, Murphy's law is apparently an actual thing that happens in real life. Everything that could possibly go wrong, did.

It took me a good fifteen to twenty minutes to pick up all my groceries, and thirty more to actually get through the cashier line. The store was unreasonably crowded for a early Friday afternoon, and to top it off, my cashier looked like she was present at the last supper.