Chapter 1
Eleanors day started like any other. Waking up at six, brushing her teeth, and getting dressed. An hour later she was in line at her regular coffee place to get her regular order. A guy named Phill took it and not long after gave her her finished coffee along with a sly smile. A few streets later Eleanor threw a away the napkin that had a smudged scribble of his number.
She entered the office building shortly after seven. Greeting the secretary - whom she had the deal with to always correct her stamp in time digitally - and using the elevator while sipping on her still hot coffee.
Eleanor had a desk near in the corner, very much to her liking. At the desk next to her was a young guy in his twenties who was convinced he will become a millionaire by rapping - Eleanor thought that his skills were rather convincing. And in front of her, only seperated by a plastic wall, a freshly turned forty and also freshly divorced woman who was somehow able to complain about everything.
„Early as always”, Katherina snarkily remarked as Eleanor walked by her. She did not give her any response, just added her to her mental list of people she would fire if she ever became the boss of this place. Which to be honest would be disappointing in Eleanors eyes.
She sat down on her chair and put down the coffee. In comparison to her neighbors desks it was pretty minimal and clean. On the right side next her two monitors was a fake three dollar ikea plant and a pen holder with three ball-point pens she took from a study and work fair. While on the left side there was only a sorted organizer she got from her mom after her graduation.
Evelyn, the woman opposite of her, had her full desk cluttered with photos of her kids, folders, one or two (also fake) plants, pens, sticky notes, papers and sweets. Tom, the guy at her side, had an also more clean desk, yet he had a lot of figurines, like one of mf doom, kanye west, nas and some other guy. Inbetween was one of a storm trooper. He also had a glass jar filled with m&ms (except that no one is allowed to touch it)
„Does that like even taste good.....with nothing?“, Tom asked munching on a protein bar pointing to the coffe.
„Doesenˋt have to taste, has to work”, she answered booting up the pc and logging in.
„Have you heard of what happened to Tina?“, Evelyn asked peeking up from behind the plastic.
Eleanor shook her head but not looking up.
„She got pregnant! Now guess by who!”
„I donˋt know. Who ?” Eleanor asked back while scrolling trough her E-Mails.
„Daniel!”
„The one from sales?“, Tom intervened.
„Yes, exactly. But the worst part is”, Evelyn leaned forward:“He has a wife.”
Tom audibly gasped. Eleanor took another sip.
About three hours later and Evelyn had told Daniels whole family history including Tinas. Eleanor was scrolling trough Amazon looking for a pricy coffee machine. Tom had successfully analyzed a rap song and scribbled down very important notes.
„Do you have any plans this weekend?“, Evelyn once again peeked up.
„Not yet.“, Eleanor also now looked up.
„I have decided to finally do more things on my own after you know, my divorce, and I am having a BBQ party inviting friends, aqquaintences and people from the office. Do you want to come?”
„I have to see”
„Awesome. Are you vegan or anything? Do you like buffalo cheese? I just bought it and it cost a lot so it must taste nice. Oh and bring a swimsuit. All of my friends are really friendly so you do not have to worry. Or get anxious. It’s on saturday starting at 6 pm. In case you want to bring something you can bring these fancy herbal-baguettes.”
Eleanor nodded along and took one of the till now unused blue sticky notes and wrote down:
Evelyn party, sat. 6 pm, bring swimsuit and herbal-baguette
„What’s your adress?“, Eleanor interrupted Evelyns talking.
„Yeah, right. It’s Oak street 1097. You really can not miss it. It has a lot of pretty flowers I planted after my now ex-husband left. They are growing really good. And also there are a few statues - not big - but you can easily see that it’s mine.”
„Alright”, Eleanor gave her a thumbs up.
„You guys want something from the vending machine?“, Tom asked, standing up with his black-leather wallet in his hands.
„I would love a snickers right now” Evelyn murmured and searched for her own wallet.
„What about you, Eleanor ?”
„No, thanks”, Eleanor asked, reading the reviews of a twenty dollar coffee machine.
The time went slow. In between the three did do some work, occasionally calling costumers or other colleagues from different areas.
At 2:59 Eleanor packed up her thrifted dark red prada bag - which is also the only expensive thing in her pretty wide fashion collection - her coffee-cup, the scribbled note, closed the tabs on her pc, logged off, said goodbye and stamped out at exactly 5:00:37 pm.
Just twenty minutes later she was in an asia shop buying spicy noodles and salads. The subway was packed. It was not even summer yet but it was still hot. She continued scrolling on her phone, listening to music and sorting pictures to boards on pinterest.
At 5:39 pm she opened her apartment door. While heating up water on her stove she packed herself out the lillet she saved for special or challenging days. But everyday was a challenging day for her in some way.
Eleanor never thought her life would lead up to this; sitting at her shiny kitchen counter with no goal, no aspiration or motivation, an average-paying office job and on the search for a non-expensive coffee-machine - after realising that buying coffee every morning is something that only long-haired hipsters with a successful and eco-friendly start up can afford.
When she was younger she had tons of dreams; football, ballet, science and even military. But one thing stuck to her. Art. Becoming an artist was always her biggest dream. Her mom always told her that only dead artists become rich and she should choose a better paying job. But Eleanor didnt give up and continued pursuing her dream. Because of her 4.0 GPA she studied in Europe - the reason for her 30k debt - but still returned to America.
While in College she met her third boyfriend - William. He was pretty in a Michelangelo way. His personality and the way he talked was rich. It was rare and refreshing. Being with him wasnt. He was self-centered and was obsessed with learning languages and studying, something Eleanor got tired of quickly. She stuck around for a bit longer, than she wanted to - he was pretty rich too - but after a really big fight they broke it off, closely before graduation.
The water was done and she filled the cup to the rim. After that she took some strawberries from the almost empty fridge, the noodles and the lillet to her grey soft couch - also from ikea.
The sun was starting to get overshadowed by dark clouds and soft droplets were falling against the windows.
In the evening, while she was sitting in her bed, she wrote a list:
- buy baguette (with herbs !!!!)
- pay monthly rate
- pay rent
- find boyfriend (optional)
She folded the paper neatly and layed it down on her nightstand next to her floral lamp she bought from a thrift shop when she moved in. Then Eleanor took out the sketchbook and the acrylic markers from the only drawer in her nightstand. She sat down, put on her music and started sketching the scene of a forest. The moon light faded lightly trough her courtains and the sounds of the street, cars and people were surrounding her.
She set her alarm to five, closed her window, checked if she closed the door correctly, brushed her teeth and got in bed.
Eleanors life was messy, her dad left her and her mom at a young age. Her mom had alot of her own issues, having Eleanor at only 19 years old. They weren’t rich, the average household. Her mom working two jobs, one at a retail, the other as a waitress in a cafe. Her dad paid his regular alimony and with that they got trough. Eleanor had a best friend growing up, who she still has contact to nowadays. Other than her she also had a few other friends and later in high school two boyfriends, each of them not lasting for long. Her favorite was definetly the second - Jason, who was also the quarterback, whith whom she also wanted to adopt a kitten. They broke up after he moved to another state.
Whith him in mind she fell asleep.
