Spring Day

fifteen

chapter fifteen ~ the one with the career change
Heather's POV

Moving in with Chandler and Joey seemed to be going better than I thought because even though I was afraid to ask, they had both been really helpful with the move. I thought that they would be more reluctant to give up their space but they weren't and I was really grateful for everything that they were doing for me. I was sharing the bedroom with Chandler, as my brother didn't want me to share with Joey and it didn't seem fair for someone to sleep on the couch for the next few weeks. As promised, Phoebe and Rachel went into my apartment whilst carl was in work and packed up all of my clothes so that I wouldn't have to go inside and Monica tried to pack as many of the items on my list as possible. I had made a list of some of my things, like books and DVD's so that I could have them in my new place; and luckily, she had found most of them when she went inside. There were only a few things left in the apartment that were mine but none of them were too important that I needed them right away.

Since the night of Valentine's Day, I had rarely left Chandler's apartment because I was too scared that as soon as I stepped into the hall, I would bump into Carl or even worse, bump into the woman that he was cheating on me with. The boys made sure that I always had food and when they weren't around, the girls would come over with more ice-cream and wine which I loved them for. A breakup was always hard, this one was worse than any of the others that I had ever been through before but I was trying to hold myself together because at some point I would have to leave the comfort of the apartment. On top of that, at some point I needed to find myself a job because there was no way of providing for myself without one. Chandler, being the amazing big brother that he is, promised to help me financially for as long as I needed but I felt guilty about it and decided that I needed to get a job soon so that I wouldn't have to rely on anyone.

The door to the apartment slammed shut and I turned around at the counter to see Chandler walking in with a spring in his step. "What's happened to you? Got a hot date or something?"

"No." He replied doing a weird dance around the table. "I quit my job."

My jaw dropped. "You quit your job? Why would you do that?"

"My boss tried to promote me-"

"You know, when most people get a promotion they don't quit; sometimes they book a nice dinner or go on vacation but they don't quit their jobs."

He dismissed my comment. "I quit the job because it was only supposed to be temporary. Getting promoted means that they would want me to keep my job for the next few years, I don't want that. Therefore, I quit so that I can live out my passion."

"What is your passion?" I questioned; an eyebrow raised because my brother had never talked about having a passion for something before.

"I don't know yet. But hopefully these tests will help me find out." He said, dropping a stack of books on top of the counter which nearly knocked me off the stool because of how many he had brought home with him. "You want to give it a go?"

"Sure, I need to find a job anyway; so, might as well find one that I'm passionate about." I shrugged, taking the top book off the pile and beginning our day of tests to work out what job we should have based on every aspect of our personalities.

~•~

Hours later and we finally had our answers. Mine was quite interesting and made me ponder whether this could actually be a career move for me because I wasn't doing anything else and I didn't have a big dream like some of my other friends. For example, Monica knew that she wanted to own her own restaurant one day and Joey knew that his dream was to become a world-famous actor. Chandler and I were similar in the sense that we had no idea what we wanted, we just floated around and tried different things until we found something that worked and got us money. It wasn't the best quality of life but at least we were earning a living; which was why these tests had pointed me in an interesting direction and I wanted to explore it in more detail.

"Oh my God, what happened to you?" Rachel asked as we stepped through into the big apartment.

We were both still dressed in the same outfits that we had worn when we started the tests that morning only now, we looked more frazzled than before. Chandler's shirt was all creased and his tie was hanging loose around his neck; my shirt had become untucked from my jeans and my hair was messily pulled on top of my head because it had gotten on my nerves and I hadn't brushed it in a few days. I hadn't realised how rough we looked until now and I was just glad that the universe hadn't decided to reunite me with Carl when I was looking as bad as this.

"Eight and a half hours of aptitude tests, intelligence tests, personality tests and what do I learn? You are ideally suited for a career in data processing for a large multinational cooperation."

Phoebe seemed more enthusiastic than anyone else in the room as she clapped her hands. "That's so great because you already know how to do that."

"Can you believe it? Don't I seem like somebody who should be doing something really cool? I always pictured myself doing something..."

"Oh, Chandler, I know." Rachel said, hugging him but then pulling away as a smile played on her lips. "Oh, hey! You can see your nipples through this shirt."

"Here you go. Maybe this will cheer you up." Monica held out a plate to him which seemed empty.

"You know, I had a grape about five hours ago, so I better split this with you."

"It's supposed to be that small. It's a pre-appetizer." The phone started ringing so Monica moved to answer it and the others turned towards me, waiting to hear what my tests had said and I was excited to talk about it because I wanted their opinions.

"So, Heather, did you do these tests too?"

"Yeah, my result wasn't that helpful though. It said I should go into Real Estate."

"That could be fun, selling houses to people." Rachel tried to make me change my mind about the whole thing. "Does it not sound fun to you?"

"It does but I need to do more thinking on it. If I want to pursue this then I need to get my Real Estate license and I'll need to join a company."

"You should do it. I can imagine you as a Real Estate agent, wearing a pant suit and carrying a clipboard around." Joey started fanning himself once he had finished speaking, shaking his head. "Wow, just thinking about you like that is getting me all hot."

"Okay, moving away from that conversation. Anyone want a pre-appetizer?"

a/n: this chapter is slightly shorter than what i usually write but i promise that things are going to get more interesting 🥺 in other news i have two boring seminars this morning & i'm absolutely dreading them 🤢 -lizzie ⭐️

date published: 29/10/20