Chapter Text
“How ‘bout this one? Il Corvo is looking for a head chef. Bet that pays well” Enid announced, scrolling through job openings on her phone. The cafe where she sat was busy enough for a post lunch rush, so she’d snagged a table down the back in the corner away from the crowd.
“Baby girl, you burn toast. Nuh-uh, anything else?” Yoko asked, nursing an americano across from her.
“Touché,” she kept scrolling, nothing catching her eye. Everything was either not in her city or out of her educational range. Who knew not having a college degree would stop her from getting a job?
Most people, probably.
“Nope, nothing. Unless I want to do six months on an oil rig?” At this stage she was seriously considering it. She took a sip of her caramel mocha two sugars extra cream latte. The sugar cheered her up slightly.
“Oh come on, you’ll go on an oil rig to avoid coming to work with me and Div? Cold, Sinclair. Cold.”
“First off, no I’m not actually working on an oil rig, too… slimey. Second off, I’m not working with you guys because I can’t-“
“Don’t want to-“
“Can’t- Spend my time researching murder and crimes. That’s too gruesome you know I can’t handle it. I can’t even listen to your podcast most of the time.”
Yoko huffed. “Fine, fine. So, what are you gunna do? Not that I don’t love your butt print on my couch, because I do.”
Enid sighed, “I’ll keep looking. Something is bound to come up soon. How hard is it to find a job that I can do and that pays me enough to live?”
Yoko gave her a blank stare.
“Oh I’m sorry, am I asking too much?” She joked, still scrolling the job openings on her phone. Ever since she been fired from her last job for talking too much (turns out people did not appreciate her commentary on the newest movies while they watched), Enid’s life had gone from bad to worse.
Losing her job meant missing her rent payments. This meant eviction, meaning living with Yoko was her only option. Her friend had been a saviour three months ago, but Enid felt like she’d maybe overstayed her welcome. Not that Yoko would ever tell her that, these were Enid’s thoughts on the matter.
It’s not that she hadn’t been looking for a job. But since she’d dropped out of college she didn’t have a degree in anything, so options were limited. Very limited.
So limited in fact that she’d had to dip into her savings just to not feel like a total loser, helping Yoko with rent and stuff when she could.
Now though, even that was almost gone, meaning the urgency and desperation for a job was never more obvious than right now.
“You know it’s bad when you need to click on the tenth page of results. That’s, like, bottom of the barrel right there.”
As Yoko grimaced at this, Enid hesitated slightly. She had scrolled a bit on the page and found herself frantically moving her thumb back up the page.
“Huh” she said, clicking the link to get more information on this one job advert.
“Go on, spill. Is this like the one that asked for feet pics or the one that turned out to be your old job and blocked you from applying?”
“You’re funny, and no. Listen to this” Enid said, reading aloud the small description printed on the website.
𝚆𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍: 𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚎𝚛
𝚆𝚒𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎, 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚢, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚌𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜.
𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚢.
𝚁𝚘𝚘𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚘𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚍.
“Says to contact the number for further information. I could do this right? Plus it’s a place to live too, so two birds one stone; money and somewhere to stay that’s not your couch.”
Yoko thought for a moment, “I guess? Wonder what it pays?”
“More than the big fat zero I’m getting right now, that’s for sure. I’m gunna call. Worst case scenario it’s taken already.”
“In my experience the worst case scenario is you end up dead and buried under the patio. For women, at least.”
Enid’s face fell as she typed the number in. “Yoko! Don’t say that, I like living, thank you very much.”
“I’m kidding… kinda, anyways it says he’s a widower. Probably just some lil old man who needs help around his little house” She shrugged, sipping her drink and watching as the other girl called the number listed in the ad.
After a brief conversation that Yoko only heard Enid’s side of, the girl put her phone down on the table. “So?”
“Uh… I got the job?”
Yoko’s eyes widened in surprise. “You don’t sound so sure about that.”
“No- I mean I am. It was just so weird. He asked me a few questions and then was just like you can start Monday.”
“Thats it?”
“Thats it.”
Yoko shrugged, “congrats girl! Back in the land of the employed” she held her mug up and waited for Enid to click it with her own in a toast of sorts. “What’d he sound like? Old? Small? Bald?”
“What? No, how would he sound bald- don’t even answer that. He sounded young though. Like our age? Guess I’ll find out Monday though.”
“You get an address? A name, even?”
“Said his name was Tyler and he’d text me the address. Oh-“ she looked at the message on her phone screen from the number she’d just rang- “here it is.”
Yoko leaned over and read the message. “Hmm? Why does that address sound so familiar?”
Enid reread the address too before it dawned on her. She gasped. “Dude! This is one of those fancy mansions, up in the hills. That’s insane!”
“A mansion?” Too let out a low whistle in appreciation. “Guess it’ll pay well. If it’s a house up there then they definitely have the dough.”
Enid nodded in agreement. “Here’s hoping. I am so broke right now.” She looked at Yoko, whose shoulder had begun to shake with laughter. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m sorry. I really am. Just I realised that you’re gunna have to clean a mansion. That’s so much cleaning to do.”
As Yoko laughed at her, Enid’s shoulders slumped at this realisation. “Ah man! No wonder they offer a place to stay. I’ll need to be there to clean the seven hundred rooms they have.”
Yoko, who was still laughing lightly, gave Enid a pitying look. “Hey, maybe he’s like super handsome and you end up marrying him. Like in one of those boring period dramas you always watch.”
Enid laughed at this. “Either that, or I end up in a ghost story like those terrifying movies you watch.”
“Guess we’ll have to wait and see, Nids. I know which one I’d rather.”
Enid just rolled her eyes, trying to not let the nerves of starting a new job overtake the excitement of actually having got a job.
Good work, Sinclair. You got this.