One in Six Million. (Hiatus!)

The Comedian and His Audience.

I woke up with a splitting headache. No… a splitting migraine. I could hardly open my eyes. But I sat up anyways and forced my heavy eyes open as best as I could. The light pouring through the windows was enough to make my entire head feel like it was going to explode. My eyes were still too sensitive, and I couldn’t help but squint. I blindly reached over to the side table next to my bed and felt around for my cell phone in order to check the time.

            “WHAT?!” I shouted as I cursed silently to myself. Somehow I had missed both of my alarms, and I had severely overslept. I was late for my next interview!

I jumped out of bed and ran across my room to get ready. I scrambled desperately through my dresser drawers and my closet in order to find something… anything!… decent to wear. Back and forth I went from the closet, to the bathroom, to my dressers again. I was just about to run over to my closet again when the full length mirror mounted on the wall in my bedroom caught my attention. I stopped before it, and stared at the reflection gazing back at me… and a small smile curled up the sides of my mouth when I recognized the black hoodie I was wearing. It was colder than usual in my apartment the night before… and I had forgotten that I put it on last night before going to bed.

But I had no more time to waste. I pushed last week’s memories from my mind, and I quickly pulled the hoodie over my head and threw it onto the bed. I ran to my closet and rummaged through the hanging attire once more.

After wasting about another five minutes or so, I gave up and settled on a plain black dress that I would decorate with a thick red belt around my waist. The “V” cut neckline revealed a little more than what would probably be considered professional, but I had no time to reconsider my wardrobe. I simply grabbed a red scarf and laced it loosely around my neck. It helped, but not as much as I would have liked. But I didn’t care any further. I slipped on my favorite pair of black flats and slammed the closet door shut. I briefly looked myself over in the full length mirror, and I sighed. For dressing myself in about five minutes, I didn’t look as bad as I thought I would, and I figured I could do some sort of pathetic makeup application during the car ride to Los Angeles. I turned away from the mirror and grabbed my purse, my laptop case, my camera bag, and everything else I was going to need for the next interview.

I ran out of my apartment, struggling to keep the bags strung over my shoulders and my purse in my hands as I darted to my car. Carelessly, I threw my bags into the passenger seat and climbed in after them. I started the car… and I sped off, silently praying to myself that I wouldn’t get pulled over for a speeding ticket.

                                                                   ***

I sat behind the wheel of my car… shaking my head in utter disappointment and aggravation. I knew I had forgotten something back at the house. Why I didn’t put my interviewer’s contact information in my phone, I’d never know. Better yet… how in the world could I have forgotten his entire profile package? It definitely wasn’t one of my smarter moves. All I wanted to do was call him to tell him that I was running late… and that I was extremely and ridiculously apologetic and just overall ashamed of myself. But of course, the only thing I had was the address of the interviewer’s house. I could remember an address… but not a phone number. Go figure.

My eyes continued to wander to the digital clock on the dashboard about every five seconds. I was about sixteen minutes late… and I was panicking. I could just call the office and get the information from there, but I didn’t want to risk my boss finding out. I didn’t want to explain how I was running late, and that I had forgotten my interviewee’s entire profile information. Although, I was sure if Spencer answered the phone it wouldn’t be a problem, but I really didn’t want to chance it. Somehow Mark would find out… and there was simply no room for error in this industry.