Present Day (2018)
"Mommom Josephine, I'm going to be late!" I waited at the bottom of the fifty-year-old staircase for my grandmother, who loved to take her sweet time in getting to where she was going. "C'mon! I can't be late."
"Calm down, sweetheart." Mommom had been a soft speaker for as long as I could remember, bless her heart.
"It's my first day on the job, and I told them I could be there by 9."
"And?" she poked her head out from her bedroom door, which was just in view of the balcony upstairs.
I held my phone up to the top of the stairs as if she could see the screen clearly, showing her the time. "It's 8:51," I raised my voice, agitated.
"I'll be down in a minute, I promise."
Five minutes later, she reached the bottom step.
"Thanks so much for your punctuality," I whispered as I rolled my eyes.
"The pleasure is all mine, milady," my crazy grandmother whispered back in the same tone as she mimicked a curtsy. I giggled mildly, as I always did when she did these sort of things.
We stepped out the door at 8:57 and, after the 20-minute, should-have-been-10-minute drive I practically broke through the door of my grandmother's emerald-green coupe and sprinted clumsily through the front doors of the bank that I was supposed to be in seventeen minutes prior. I fell on the way in, falling to my knees in front of a less-than-satisfied, elderly woman in a form-fitting lavender suit that displayed not even one wrinkle.
"Surely, you're not Elise?" The woman tilted her head slightly to her left as her eyes narrowed as if focusing in on me. "Hmm. I knew I should have done more than just a phone interview," she sighed as she looked me up and down... or mid-height and down, I guess, seeing as I was halfway to the floor already. "You may leave."
"Wh-what?" I stuttered. "No, please. You have to let me stay. Show you I'm worth it." I rose slowly from the floor.
"Why were you late?"
I considered telling the woman that my grandmother had made me late, but something echoed in my head. Something told me not to tell this woman that... that she might not like to hear it.
"I was irresponsible. I have no excuse."
"I like that you take ownership of your mistakes. It is the beginning of true responsibility. You get one more chance," the woman stated as she turned, only to turn to me again. I almost felt as though some sort of burst of air hit my chest directly across from the finger she quickly pointed toward me, because I stumbled back slightly. "But: if you mess this up, I will not hesitate to fire you. Hear me?"
I nodded, looking away from the two amber circles that felt as though they were glaring through me. Into my soul, or something.
"Good. Asher," she raised her voice mildly, "Come get Elise started. I've got things to do."
A slim, anxious young man with shining raven hair and a suit that appeared to have seen better times sped over to me and tilted his head frantically in the direction he began walking. "This way... Elise, is it?" I nodded again, this time a bit more shyly.
"I'm Asher." He looked backwards to me with two lost, jade eyes that were practically their own cry for help. I looked worriedly back at him before he turned away, shaking himself out of it. "This is your desk... where you'll work. You'll be here," he repeated himself.
I hesitated before sitting down at the desk. "So... what exactly am I doing? I was hired for a teller position, so I'm not sure how exactly I'm able to do that from here," I chuckled lightly. He didn't laugh back.
