It was the third time I was late that week.
I could never find on the Internet any explanation of why a nap in the afternoon was so invigorating, but four hours of sleep at night were worse than just not sleeping. There were theories, of course, but I've never been too attached to them. Even because if it were, I would choose much more to look for a job at night and at dawn, and leave the afternoon to rest with the angelic harps that played at the time of the nap, unlike the night when insomnia knocked on my door and only allowed me to sleep after the late hours at dawn.If I had a choice, I would have preferred not to fall asleep, since this would imply the fact that I would erase to the point of not seeing if a herd of mammoths would run over me. But my body, despite the usual years of waking up early and sleeping late, still surrendered to fatigue when my daily tasks were over, and I barely noticed when I was already falling into that sleep of the dead. Therefore, the delays were constant. And the lack of rest too.I woke up with the brightness of the sun hitting my face, and I was surprised that at eight o’clock in the morning it was so sunny that way, but I blamed the fact that I had forgotten to close the curtains before going to sleep the next night. The sun's rays illuminated my old wooden wardrobe, and reflected against the mirror, provoking the damn light directly on my face.I didn't even have the strength to get up and close the curtain. I just blinked, falling asleep again, even aware that the strong sunlight was already heating up the leg I had out of the thick covers. The warm sheets were inviting, and I could not deny that offer of a few more minutes of rest, even if it was really already eight hours, I would only have half an hour to get ready and go to work.In addition to being late for more than once that week, I still had the constant habit of sleeping until the last second of my free time, totally implying my ability to become presentable enough. At that time, after eight years working in the same place, people were already used to my hasty choice of clothes, shaggy hair, and crooked glasses. One more day wouldn't change anything. It wasn't like I was going to need to be beautiful enough to please someone's eyes.A long time ago I had lost hope of finding a woman who understood me by what I was, and not by what was outside. Inner beauty was an important aspect for my relationships, since even far from my fifteen years, the strange traits remained.I was a twenty-eight-year-old man, too big, with too wide shoulders, and complicated to find clothes that didn't tighten - even though I was far from being overweight, I couldn't adapt to my own biotype. I was lucky in that, although I was unlucky at the same level. I had a body that didn't need muscles, because the bones were already big enough, and my sedentary life was grateful for the fast metabolism. However, little interest in pleasing. Little knowledge about how women's heads worked. And that made me a standard that no woman had ever been interested in.Whether for a Divine punishment or just for being, these genetic gifts did not attract women to me, although it was very easy to push them away. This is my lack of tact to know how to deal with a girl's temperament, and it was easy to understand why my previous relationships did not last what I expected.Maybe it was by the hair at shoulder height, which I used to attach to a low elastic band. Or the glasses of degrees that made my jaw more square and my chin with a hole. Or the lack of a full beard. If I didn't feel so much itching on my face... maybe I could let the hair grow, but that wasn't my reality. Not even the blue eyes had any flashy under all that mess that I was. In fact, lucky, but unlucky to the same extent.The night before, I had arrived home well after midnight. And I really wanted to be able to say that I was at night or with many women around me and that I had drunk enough to have a headache, but I would be lying.I didn't have a large number of women in my life at that moment, apart from my mother and my younger sister, some sweet cousins and aunts, there were none, actually. The reason for that boring and pulsating headache was for working so hard.I did some jobs as an assistant photographer - although I was still studying journalism - but I worked at night as a glass washer in a busy bar in the city. It was lucky that I was home shortly after midnight the day before, since the place worked until three o’clock in the morning. As I never fulfilled my workload, I always received less, but at least I could pay my bills.The night before, when I got home, I didn’t even have time to eat anything. I collapsed in bed and fell into a deep sleep, so much so that I didn't hear anything but my own snoring. So, when I was already ignoring the sunlight and going back to sleep, my cell phone vibrated darkly, like a living and impatient creature.Grumbleing that I still had half an hour to rest, I raised my arm and groped the wooden nightstand in search of the cell phone. My glasses appeared first, and I made a great effort to clean the residues of tiredness in my eyes and put on the accessory. I couldn't see shit without the glasses, and I was still unlucky enough to be allergic to contact lenses. Either I would face a beautiful surgery to correct the tiredness of the eyes, or I needed to get used to the small injuries that the long use of the glasses caused on my nose when I ended up sleeping with them. Luckily, I never broke it. By bad luck, I always needed it.My cell phone fell on the bed a few times, because my fingers were as tired as the rest of my body, and I couldn't hold it firmly enough to check the time. My consolation that morning was knowing that it was a Friday. At least I would have off on the weekend, but I would still have to study for the college exams, so it wasn't exactly a day off.Still grumbling as the cell phone escaped from my hands and my eyes full of remela did not allow me to see the screen reflected by the glasses, I thought about how wonderful it would be to have at least one day off from that shitty life.Just one day when I didn't have to worry about the bills, or the amount of electricity or water I could spend, and I wouldn't even have to pay the rent. Just one day was enough. I've never been too demanding, I would settle for a vacation, but I could never take a vacation. Since I was born, I had bills to pay, and I thought I would die owing some loan shark.“Oh, holyshit!” I cursed when I turned on the cell phone screen, getting up in a jump. The glasses slipped, almost falling, and my cell phone also almost collapsed from the fright. “No. No. No.”I was finally able to check the time.And it was past ten in the morning. The damn ray of sunshine rose a little more in front of my wardrobe, as if mocking his attempts to wake me up, and that terrible sleep that still made my eyes burn, even widened by the despair of delay. I was screwed. Totally screwed up. Once again that week, my delay would earn me more despicable looks from my co-workers, and less credit from my superiors.Jumping from the bed, falling face down on the floor, I pulled the blanket out of my body. I had the habit of curling up like a caterpillar in the cocoon, and although that was great for cold days, at the moment of despair, it was hell.I started running through the small apartment, sticking myself in the bathroom with the door slightly tilted to the side (which I had already complained hundreds of times to the landlord that the fault of the falling of the door was not mine and, yes, of the termites), and then running frantically to get the pants and the crumpled shirt on the couch and wear it anyway. I didn't answer the phone and he kept ringing with Ruth's number.Ruth was my boss. Ruth could send me away in a magical way. Ruth was the name I thought the most about from dawn to dusk, because that was my work shift. Rute gave me an opportunity at the renowned station to which she was executive director thanks to my mother.Both for my mother and Ruth, I was a disappointment. I stuck a tasteless toast in my mouth, put the cell phone in my pocket, and groped the strands of my hair to keep them aligned. I mean, as aligned as possible for a person who sweated all night and caused the long strands to curl up in curls and fall on the forehead.I didn't have time to apply gel that day. I used to fill my hair with any cream or ointment, just because people on the station said I had to look better, and I was always late and never seemed better.Despite always cutting my hair, they grew so fast that one week it was already possible to realize the size, but nothing could defend me by keeping the strands long. I could very well leave it at the height of the nape of the neck, in a way that normal men used to leave, but the sloppiness never allowed me to go to a barber to do the cut. I myself ventured with a small silver scissors and swore it was good enough. In my head, the small elastic tape I kept to attach it would be enough, but the strands in front were shorter and kept loosening at any sudden movement.So, as soon as I knocked on the apartment door and the movement caused a breath of hot air against my face, my hair fell back on my forehead. I cursed as many swear as I could, and it was still very early. My neighbors were already used to the rush I provoked on the stairs when running down and because of my haste that prevented me from greeting them with more than shouted words.When I arrived at the courtyard of the building, I ran away from my bike, always located on the side of the building to facilitate my rush, I rode and started cycling towards work. Ruth would kill me. Every time my cell phone warmed up in my pocket for another missed call, I knew she cursed me and wanted my head on a tray. I didn't judge her. It must be horrible to give someone the opportunity and see that person not fulfilling their obligations.However, she understood that my life was not easy. She understood, because, at some point, she was already that way, until her position in the company made her grow enough not to depend on how many jobs arose in the week. I wasn't late because I was partying every night, or because I depended on some public transport.My problem was being an extremely unlucky, tired and indebted guy. My name was so dirty that I didn't even know what it was like to receive a call other than charges. I didn't even have the money to use buses and avoid the fatigue of arriving sweaty and even more tired at work. It was a vicious and hellish cycle.The city sighed with a long traffic and full of angry people, horns sounded everywhere, swearing and complaints as well. I deviated three times to get there faster, even so, when I saw the station building and mentioned going into the garage with my bike, I had to brake at the last minute, because Ruth in person was waiting for me at the doors.With her arms crossed and an unfriendly expression, she acted like a mother who intends to beat a child the moment he decided to pass by her, raising an eyebrow in a gesture of threat.“Where is that asshole?” shouted someone in the back of the studio, being reprimanded at the same time. That place was chaos, a joke. I've never seen a more disorganized team. “Can anyone call Hazz? Why doesn't that sonso answer this cell phone shit?”“He's late” shouted a female voice, followed by a chorus of boos. “I've already warned him that he should leave the house two hours in advance, if he has so much capacity to be late. But does anyone listen to my opinion in this place?”“Keep checking the sound, Amelia” cursed the first voice, and I moved my eyes to the man with headphones and black robes, who shouted orders and pointed everywhere. “I want to know why that guy hasn't been sent away to this day?”“He is protected from Ruth” joked another man, messing with the big cameras that made the live broadcast. “She will only send that scam away when there is no longer a single soul that does not complain about his delays.”The place looked like a pandemonium. In fact, everyone seemed
“I can't believe you did this to me again, Hazz!” Ruth practically dragged me by the ears. “You keep complicating me with your habit of being late.”“Ruth, I swear to God it's not a craze” I spoke in a whispered tone, because I was afraid to scream for the hand she held in my ear in that painful pinch. “I ended up sleeping too much. I didn't hear the cell phone ring, and when I noticed it in the sun, I was already two hours late. I swear to God I won't do it again.”In every corridor we passed, everyone looked at the scene and laughed. She was just grumbling, but my way of walking in a hurry should be the fun of the time.“Oh, aren't you going to do it again?” she asked, ironically, still pulling me forward with her hand in my ear. Despite the anger in her voice, she no longer pulled me hard, she only did that to vent some of that fury into her little body. She was so smaller than me, that I might as well have straightened and run away from the reach of her hands, but it seemed cruel t
“Ricardo crashed his car this morning” said Rute, performing a dejected expression. “He sent a message from the hospital, saying that he would only return later with a certificate. He said you already knew you had to be here to replace him. So we all thought you would be on your way, of course, ten minutes after the delay, I made sure to call your phone desperately myself. Like all the others who tried, I was ignored.”“I'm sorry, Rute” I spoke in a sincere tone, but I quickly processed the rest of the information. “About Ricardo, it's a lie, it's all a lie. He said the night before that he wanted to go out with his girlfriend to celebrate another year of dating. There's no accident.”And no one in their right mind would doubt that Ricardo would invent that kind of excuse not to attend. He was the one who lacked work the most, even so, the fact that he was the son of the owner of the station made him have carte blanche to never be present when necessary. I didn't even know what the qua
“You don't have to be in such a hurry now” I spoke in a sharp tone to the interviewer, while he fixed the lapel of his suit and stared at me. Gabbie was finishing fixing my hair and kneading my dress for the long time I spent sitting. I hadn't even looked in the direction of the camera. Living in that artistic world, I learned that photographers never expected a sign of confirmation after we looked in their direction, so I avoided it until I felt really ready. Gabbie walked away, I raised my head and turned to the interviewer. “I've missed at least four appointments since this whole interview started. Don't blame the boy for the lack of preparation of his studio.”“I'm sorry, Miss Jones” said the man, in a tone of someone who doesn't feel much at all. I took a deep breath to push the words that threatened to come out of my mouth. If the nice journalist hadn't been putting herself between us to take the photo, I would have already lost my patience and punched the man. “We are trying to
My smile grew even more. Gabbie snorted. Despite working for me, she was what I could call her best friend for the worst hours. She was the only one - with the exception of my family - who knew my biggest dramas and revolts with men of whom I just had sex and then disappeared. She was the one who answered the messages that I so ignored from those contacts already used. At least she didn't used to scold me for every broken heart I left on a corner. Just for this reason, I gave her my best look of promiscuity, as she said:“Take a way to take him to my dressing room.”“Oh, no, Jessy... Choose someone better” she said, containing a shiver. I giggled low, still watching the stranger move away. He really had a very nice ass. “Can you have sex with everyone, being a man or a woman, and choose that thing? He'll think it's a scam. Poor people always think that anything is a coup.”“Let me think, just take it to me” I asked again, turning my eyes to my feet, in order to see a small thin one tha
If I wasn't fired by the end of that day, then I would be promoted soon, because people's indignation was general. In every corner I passed, every trip I took, everyone looked at me with an ugly face or grumbled. I found Ruth in the back of the studio and gave her the camera.I knew all the editing materials that Ricardo used, but no one would let me complete the work. They would need to give the credit, and they didn't want a novice - although I've been working in that place for eight years - to be receiving the glories of a job for which he wasn't even qualified. Anyway, it was a weight I took off my shoulders.Not at all would I be able to make any changes to those photos. The famous one I didn't even know the name was extremely hot. I would have male and professional problems to view the result of your photos. She had such a beautiful body, so different.The breasts were wonderfully rounded in that strapless dress and that enhanced its light skin tone, through the dark and slightly
I blinked more strongly. What the hell was that? A group of employees emerged in a corridor, certainly going out in search of lunch. I had already been late to the point that an entire shift of work was leaving for the break. I took advantage of the situation to try to escape from the woman and her strange questions.“Girl, I need to go to work... Can we talk about it later?” I disguised it, turning around as fast as I could. A sound of rattling of clothes and the dye of bracelets told me that the stranger was following me. I looked out of the corner of my eyes, she practically ran to stay on my back. She was still typing on her cell phone. I turned around, she hit her face on my chest. “Girl, why are you asking these things?”“Do you still live with your parents?” she asked, raising her eyes from the cell phone screen. He didn't even seem to feel any pain from the shock of our bodies. The thin fringe caused some strands to fall against her dark and heavy makeup eyes. “Or have you been
With the strong lights of the dressing room on, that man's clothes became even more flashy. He had to have a very high self-esteem to use that, or an insane courage to put up with comments for his bad choice. Anyway, I opened a smile that I was sure would captivate him, letting him see how my crossed legs highlighted the thickness of my thighs.I wasn't stupid at all. I knew how to understand men. It was my best weapon to never get attached to any of them. And I had seen that stranger's eyes shine towards me. He wanted that. He wanted to be alone with me, he just didn't believe it could have happened. I didn't believe it either.My pattern for men has always been more based on the height and firmness of the body, because I liked long sex resting on a wall, and a thin man could not support me. That guy had a man's aura that could drive a woman crazy in his bed.He had long fingers, strong arms, thick thighs... It was common knowledge that men with thick thighs fucked well, they had mor