hard | daniel seavey

chapter five

I smoothed out my dress for the 5th time as the elevator door slowly opened. Today was my interview for Simon and Schuster. Even though it was with Mrs. Lauck's son, my nerves were running high. I don't think I've ever been more nervous for something in my life before.

"Hi, my name is Madison Redding. I have an interview with Mr. Laucks at 6?" I said to the secretary, who almost immediately led me back to a room with Derek Laucks on the door. I sighed deeply as the door opened, revealing who I assumed was Derek.

"Ms. Redding, it's nice to meet you. My mother seems to be very fond of you and the input you put into her class. She was very excited to put your name in as a offer." Derek sat at his desk as I sat in front of him.

"I really appreciate the offer! I've always wanted to be an author or go into the publishing business," I smiled politely at him. He pulled out a paper from his drawer, the application I filled out in class the other day.

Derek asked me simple questions about my work ethics and such. He explained that the internship was really just reading over and editing manuscripts to see if they were 'Simon and Schuster' fit. It was about an hour into the interview when he got a phone call. He seemed frantic, so he told then to give him 10 minutes before he left.

"I'm sorry I have to cut this short, but in all honesty I don't need to know much more." Derek said while cleaning up the papers on his desk. "I think you would be an excellent fit for this position. You'll start with a weekly pay of $500, flexible hours because you're obviously still in school. How about next Monday?"

I looked at him in awe. Excitement flooded through my body as I nodded my head. "Thats perfectly fine with me. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!"

"Its our pleasure, the rest of the team will be glad to have you on board."

---

Walking inside the apartment, it was avout 8 o'clock and was completely silent. Aaron laid on the living room floor, dead asleep. Sighing, I went over to the coffee table and picked up the bottles. Aaron stirred in his sleep and slowly opened his eyes.

"You're home?" He rubbed his eyes and sat up. I threw out the bottles and turned towards him.

"Yea, I got the internship!" I said excitedly. He gave me a weird look and stood up.

"Well tell them you don't want it." He went to the fridge and pulled out another bottle.

"What is that supposed to mean? You were all for it last week?" I was getting angrier by the second. He was really telling me to turn down an opportunity like this?

"Well I thought it over. I don't want you to take it. I want you to stay here, with me. We moved out here together. We should spend time together."

"We do. All the time. Mainly because you don't let me do anything, Aaron. I could care less about what you do, but the one time I do something for me I can't even have it?" He shrugged in response. That was all it took to set me off the edge. I went into the bedroom and slammed the door shut.

"C'mon, Mads. Don't be like that!" Aaron yelled from the other side of the door. I changed into a pair of jeans and threw into a sweatshirt. I grabbed my bag and opened the door, pushing past Aaron. He continued to yell for me as I slammed the front door and ran down to my car. The tears were threatening to spill, but I couldn't allow myself to cry. Not this time.

Once I was in my car, I started it and began driving. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew where I wanted to go. I swiftly pulled out my phone, calling the person I wanted to talk to the most.

"Hey, uh it's me. Could I come over?"