3:26 am

f i v e

f i v e

I woke up to the sound of my doorbell and I jumped in surprise. I pushed myself out of bed and walked straight to the mirror that was in my bedroom. I cursed under my breath as I saw that I had fallen asleep with my makeup on once again, and prayed that my skin wouldn't punish me for treating it so badly.

I wiped under my eyes, clearing away most of the smudged mascara and ran my fingers through my hair before making my way to my front door.

I looked through the peephole and saw Ellie, which immediately relieved me. I slumped my shoulders instead of making an effort to straighten my posture, and unlocked the door before opening it swiftly.

"Good morning," I told Ellie as I smiled at her, opening the door wider so she could come in. She let herself in and I closed the door behind her. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

"I wouldn't call it morning, and it's definitely not good," Ellie muttered as she walked further into my apartment. My eyebrows furrowed at her tone and I turned on the ball of my foot to follow her.

"Elle, what's wrong?" I asked as I followed her into my kitchen. She had made her way straight to my fridge, which she usually did if she was wanting a beer. "Ellie...?"

"I just got fired," Ellie told me as she pulled a water from my fridge; the choice of water shocked me by itself.

"What?" I asked, finding myself more surprised as I registered her words. "Why? What happened?"

"I told you that I had started seeing Peter, right?" Ellie asked, referring to the guy that owns the bar she worked at. I nodded at her words and she sighed heavily before closing her eyes. "We got into a fight the other night because I gave someone a free drink, which I do sort of often. It was the end of the night and this guy had gotten stood up... I just wanted to help him out - I wanted to make him feel better, I guess. Anyway, Peter saw me give it to him and he got all jealous or something, and at first I thought it was cute, but then he got really mad about it. He started asking me how often I did it and shit, and I was fed up with him. He was making accusations that I didn't want to put up with," Ellie walked toward me as she opened her water, and continued to explain.

"Anyway, the last couple of nights had been fine. A little awkward, but I figured he was just blowing off some steam. The only night I was scheduled to lock up was the night you were at the bar, and he left early, so I haven't even seen much of him. But then, sure enough, he called me in this morning and fired me. Son of a bitch, that's what he is," Ellie started to shake her head and I bit my lip as everything became silent. "I knew I shouldn't have gotten involved with him... but I really liked him. I wouldn't jeopardize anything for a relationship, but he seemed worth it."

"I can't believe he fired you," I said, shaking my head to myself. "That's so unfair, that infuriates me."

"I know! God, I hope he dies lonely," Ellie said before taking a drink of the water which seemed to displease her; she screwed he lid back on and set the bottle on the counter. "God, I really fucking liked that guy."

"Elle..." I said, knowing she was starting to get upset. I wrapped my arms around her and she wrapped her arms around me.

"He called me to the bar, just to talk. But I knew what it was about, and I wasn't going to apologize, he was the one being completely over dramatic! I know it upset him, but it shouldn't have. And that's just it: he shouldn't have been so upset over it. After awhile of being cold to each other, he asked me how often I gave out free drinks so I told him that it wasn't super often, but I had given out plenty. I only said that because I thought it would make him feel better, that it would make the one time seem less flirty or something, but then he told me that he didn't need employees wasting the bar's money! I end up paying the cost of the drinks back, I work overtime almost every night and I never take my overtime pay. I'm not a bad employee, I'm just an idiot who liked being in a relationship," I looked at Ellie as she spoke and my eyes drooped as I saw her getting more and more upset.