Behind The Facade

Livia felt the ray of sun piercing through her windows touching her face,she struggles to reach for the alarm clock on her bed side table which appeared to have stopped working in the middle of the night.

With a painful groan she pushed it down forcing her body to leave her bed which was her sanctuary covered with cloudy white covers decorated with fluffy blue pillows which felt like her bed was her heaven, sitting up on she ties her waist length curly brown hair into a messy bun which slid down her forehead stopping on the bridge of her nose.

She shuffles the blanket around in search of her cell phone which drops face flat to the floor causing a painful hiss from Livia.

"Ay"

She picks up her phone one eye closed as she slowly brings it to her face level to check for cracks as if seeing one would pierce her eyeballs.

Graced with the spotless phone she turns it on and sees the time.

8:50 am. The undeniable fact that she was late for work hit her brain like shock waves as she gasps in complete disbelief.

" Oh God "

Tossing the phone back on her bed she rushed into the bathroom and immediately let out a short scream as the cold water ran through her body from the shower which needed time to let out hot water. But she didn't care.

Livia runs downstairs wearing a black body suit which defined her curves but was hidden by the big brown hoodie she wore over it and her hair tied in a neat bun. She ran past the bar causing her sneaker to squeak on the floors.

" Late again I see " a voice mocks as he watched Livia struggle to run out of the bar while shooting daggers at the tall black man with a neatly braided cornrows holding a white cloth.

He lets out a chuckle while shaking his head, placing an already clean glass on the wooden counter which was occupied by other dirty and clean glass cup.

He for his cell phone inside his apron and checks the time.

" Ouu 9:25 , chii she late as hell "

" Yo Liv, MAKE SURE YOU DON'T GET FIRED"

he yells towards the door.

Getting to the street a taxi stops in front of her, as she runs towards it she trips on her loosened lace and watched a man gets into the taxt and it zooms off.

" What the f-" she struggles to catch her breath as she ties the shoe in a hurry scanning the area for another taxi.

" TAXI " she yells out at the sight of another taxi speeding away.

Another taxi stops in front of her just by luck as she tried to open the door a woman in her late twenties reaches for the door handle with Livia.

" Ay, no, no , I called this taxi first " she struggles to open to the like she was fighting for her life as the woman watched her in complete irritation.

She opens the door and rushes into the car, struggling to adjust her curls which were entangling with her lashes.

" Vino Villa , please "

" Which one " the driver asks, glancing at her through the mirror.

"Urgh , Linkins park"

The driver nods and starts the engine leaving Livia in a state of panic and prayer.

""""

Livia struggles to catch her breath as she collides with a man who looks like he's in his early thirty's standing in front of the staff room entrance. He takes of his glasses and drops them hanging on his chest supported by a rope.

His bald head always made her question if he was actually in his thirties or lying in his resume. She never imagined that she would see a man so young going bald.

She always hated staring at Andrew and that happens often when she's late. She watched as Andrew cleans his glasses with a clean cloth and slides it back into his pocket.

The glasses rest in his yellow office shirt, he puts his hands inside the pocket of his grey office pants tapping his foot slowly on the floor causing an annoying rhythm with the wood underneath his black shiny shoe making the hallway to appear deadly silent to Livia.

She stumbles backwards forgetting the proper way to stand firm, hands gripped to a tight fist.

" You're late " Andrew says with a look of irritation and disgust. He walks towards a plastic table which contained various cleaning materials and tossed a dirty clothe at Livia, he turns towards the opposite direction and let's out a cough that sounded all to familiar to Livia.

It always has the same rhythm, like a frog approaching it's mate or a mad choking on food.

" The mirror in toilet needs cleaning " his words snaps Livia from her sorrowful thoughts to a sorrowful reality as he takes his steps, heading towards the exit.

" Okay, but which floor? " Livia asks , slowly following behind him.

" Fourth floor, while you're at it you can take a detour to the fifth floor and clean the Chief's office, he's not in yet"

Livia stopped at the sound of her claws twitching to commit murder as the fifth floor was strictly meant to be handled by Andrew because he had more experience in the company and well it's his job.

She roles her eyes and let's out a painful groan. Heading towards the changing room she puts on an ash colored overalls from her locker. She stares at her id card and puts it in her pocket while closing the locker.

""""

" Last night enough was painful and now this? " she complains to herself as she picks up the trash can by the side of a huge glass table.

She takes a moment to scan the office she found herself in, taking steps towards the huge window that captured the view of the city.

" What a view " she says to herself. She knew that it wasn't the time to fantasize but she couldn't help but admire the office.

The white shelf's filled with books and most importantly awards given to the chief for his hard work and dedication to the company. She glides the slightly wet clothe on the table removing mere dust from the surface.

She stares at a blue vase with sea waves painted it and couldn't help but be mesmerized. She walked away from it and say in the couch which faced a line of other couches facing each other.

Their black leather color made it impossible to not look sophisticated.

She makes her way to another table which had different types of wine arranged in a circular form with a glass cup in the middle. After wiping the table clean she dumps the soaked napkins in the trash can and walks towards the cart she came in with.

Her foot collides with the massive black carpet in front of her causing her to lose balance. Not wanting the dirt to pour on her as she meets the floor she quickly tossed the can away from her body and lands on the floor.

She sits up shooting daggers at the black carpet which completely blended with the black glossy tiles as it to give it a warning.

" Well this is just wonder-" a crash cuts her off leaving her in shock.

" Oh Lord, please tell me that's my mental health crashing " she picks herself up in a hurry searching the office for the cause of the sound.

Met with a broken ocean blue vase which she recalled had beautiful sea pattern on it. Something she admired had to be her doom. She walks towards the broken vase, though it was broken it still had a touch of beauty and elegance that's when her head clicked.

Her heart sank as she realized that the vase could probably buy her and probably Jamaine's bar without hesitation. She puts her palm over her mouth in shock .

" Ay, caramba, No no no no , what the actual fuck" she paces back and forth with her hands on her waist and a thumb struggling for life in between her teeth as she destroys her already ruined black nail polish.

" Okay , okay . It's fine Liv, it's just like a puzzle " she squats down and picks up pieces from the vase trying to put them together to form what she thought was the vase.

She puts a few more pieces together creating a disfigured vase with the obvious cracks being visible. But she didn't care.

" Just like a puzz-"

" What are you doing ? " Livia's hands freezes on air as she heard a man's voice resonate deeply from behind her. She hears the door close shut as she slowly stands up, still facing her back towards the voice that called out to her, she quickly drops the vase piece which was one her hand causing it to shatter on the floor.

She swiftly turns to the man, head bowed and her eyes searching for some imd of answer of the glossy black floor which stared back at her with not reply.

" I'm so sorry, I was cleaning then I slipped on the carpet, yes the carpet, I didn't see it earlier and the tiles and the carpet kind look the same . I didn't mean to and it was-"

" Just clean it up " he cuts her ranting short.

" Yes sir, I'm sorry sir"

She starts picking the pieces together in a hurry, body trembling with each clink the broken pieces made at their impact with each other.

Picking up the last piece she shuts her eyes really tight lowering her head in shame and mouthing the words.

" Oh my God "

A strong but pleasing coffee scent hits her nose the moment she stands up. The scent causes her to take a deep breath, turning back to the man who just sat down at the center table.

His short jet black hair slicked back from what seemed to be his fingers, his vanilla skin shimmering from the sunlight seeping through the window. He was dressed in a black suit which wasn't buttoned giving her access to see his dark green shirt.

He looks up at her dropping his phone on his thighs.

" Done?" he questions lifting his eyebrows

" Yes sir, I'm so sorry again "

" it's fine " he counters. " you're excused "

She nods and packs up her cleaning tools quickly.

""""""

" You tripping " Jamaine struggles to keep his laughter in a chuckle but fails horribly as he bursts into laughter.

" Yo how much it cost " he asks, placing a shot of vodka towards Livia.

" They don't leave the tag on it Jay, the fuck am I supposed to know " she grabs the the shot and throws it into her mouth.

" I got lucky, he's not a bad person" she rolls the cup in circles on the table while looking around the bar.

" Business is fast huh? " Jamaine breaks her gaze.

" Yeah it is, what's keeping everyone on their toes tonight, I'm surprised Portia is serving drinks, shouldn't she be on her one thousandth level in that stupid game she constantly plays"

She turns back at a smirking Jamaine, his face slowly turns to a very annoying smile she was all too familiar with.

He only gave that smile for two reasons, either he invented something evil or he wants to invent something evil.

" I call it.. " he raises a class cup slowly and dramatically to his chest while reaching for two shots glass.

" Drumroll Liv" he closes his eyes feeling proud of the alcoholic invention which had a green glowing colour. He dumps two ice cubs into each cup waiting for the the drumrolls from Livia who stared at with a straight face.

" What ? " she asks shrugging her shoulders

" Wow, can I have the black side of you Livia ? "

" No, the latina in me is stronger " she replied grabbing the bottle from him and pouring the green liquid into the cup.

" Nah ha, not that much young lady, you still got work to do tonight, don't you forget that "

Jamaine grabs her glass, reducing the quantity in her cup.

" Ugh, right. I hope it's not like last night " she chugs the green liquid, crushing the ice cubes with her teeth.

" Ouu, that's actually good stuff " she grabs the bottle from him trying to read the label.

" I mixed it with that wine from the company you work at. " he snatches the bottle back from her.

" So we have soothing and sweet, but unpredictable and feisty. Two complete opposites. Kinda like you don't you think "

She smiles while standing up from the wooden chair. She drops a ten dollar note on the counter.

" Bye Jamie " she says while heading towards the exit, waving her hand over her shoulder.