Chapter 1
“Tonight, we are going to have some fun, Sarah.” My best friend Katy grinned at me. “We can do anything we want to do.”
“Well, we can’t really do anything we want to do.” I made a face. “We have twenty dollars to eat, drink, and be merry.”
“Hey, I’ve done all three things on less.”
“I don’t want to know.” I laughed and tried not to look at our squalid little apartment too closely. I was pretty sure I’d seen a rat running in our kitchen last night. If you could call it a kitchen. It had a small dorm room sized fridge, three cupboards, and a mini toaster oven. Next to that was the one and only sink in the place. It felt gross to brush my teeth in the same sink that held my dishes, but when Katy was in the shower, I had no other options.
“Nothing bad, Sarah, you know me.” She slipped her long dark hair back and did a little dance. “Come on, we live in the best city in the world, we need to enjoy it.”
“We kinda live in the best city in the world.” I half-laughed and half-cried. “We live in New York, but I think we live in the worst apartment that ever existed.”
“It’s not that bad.” We both knew she was lying. It was worse than bad. Not only did we seem to have a pet rat, we also seemed to have some pet cockroaches. I shuddered just thinking about it.
“Fine. What shall we do tonight?”
“Tonight, we’re going to go to the best bar we can find and we’re going to find two hotties that look rich as hell and we’re going to let them buy us as many drinks as we can handle.”
“But we go home together, right?”
“Of course, we go home together.” She rolled her eyes. “You start your new job tomorrow and I will not allow you to be late because you’re doing the walk of shame.”
“I don’t do the walk of shame.” I laughed. “I do the run.” And then we both started laughing. “Are we being totally irresponsible by going out tonight when we both have to work tomorrow and we have no money?”
“Girl, we’re young. There is no such thing as being irresponsible.” She grabbed her phone and started playing some music. “Find your sexiest dress and I’ll do your makeup. Tonight we are going to party like it’s 1999.”
“It’s 2020.”
“Close enough.” She winked and placed her phone on our small light pine Ikea table. “Okay, music is on. Do you want to shower first or second?”
“First, please?” I bit down on my lower lip, knowing I was being selfish, but the hot water tank in our building sucked so that there would only be enough hot water for one of us.
“Fine, but that means that I get to start drinking before you.” She smiled. “Margaritas or White Russian’s?”
“Hello, margaritas, please. Is that even a question?”
“I guess not. Now, shoo, Sarah. You have ten minutes in the shower and then I’m going to come in and flush the toilet.”
“You’re horrible, but fine. I’m going.” I shook my head at her as I ran to the bathroom and closed the door. I quickly pulled off my clothes and started singing as I got ready to enter the shower. As horrible as our apartment was, I loved living in the city. I loved living with my best friend, and I was excited for us to have an adventure tonight. “Tonight’s going to be a good night,” I sang to myself as I stepped into the shower. I was starting a new job the next day and even though it didn’t pay terribly well, it still meant that I would have an income. Some money was definitely better than no money. I grabbed the shampoo and poured some into my hands and rubbed it into my hair with my left hand while I grabbed my razor with my right hand. The good thing about living in a shitty apartment was that you became very good at multitasking. As I shaved myself carefully and rubbed my scalp, I saw something move out of the side of my eye and before I knew it I was screaming and on the ground, shampoo in my eye and my right knee cut and bloody.
“What happened?” Katy came running to the bathroom and looked down at me, naked at the side of the tub.
“There was a frog and it jumped on me.” I shuddered at the thought. “How do we have frogs in here?”
“Maybe it’s your Prince Charming. Did you try kissing it?”
“Very funny. Not.” I glared at her as she helped me up. “I can’t wait for us to leave this place.”
“Maybe soon,” she said, but we both knew that wasn’t likely in the foreseeable future. Not on our salaries.
“Yeah, soon,” I said and smiled gratefully at her. “At least we’re here together.”
“That we are.” She did a little pirouette and bowed and I burst out laughing.
“You’re a goofball.”
“I know.” And with that she left the bathroom, while I made my way back into the already lukewarm shower. Tonight, we would have some fun, and tomorrow I would start my new job and work as hard as I possibly could. Maybe I’d get promoted to head receptionist in a year or something. That would be amazing. I’d work hard, but I knew that I could do it.
“Katy, you will not believe it,” I squealed into the phone, barely able to contain my excitement. “For once, my name has helped me.”
“What are you talking about, Sarah?” Katy whispered into the phone. “I can’t talk long. My boss is riding my ass.”
“So, you know how today was my first day at Green & Hall’s Corporation as a receptionist?” I said quickly, hoping I got to tell her of my good fortune before she had to go.
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, let’s just say that today is my lucky day, because I am now a top executive working for the CEO, Mr. Green himself. And the best part is, he is out of town indefinitely, so I have enough time to become as top executive ready as is possible.”
“What?” Katy’s voice increased in volume. “How did that happen? No offense, but you are not a top executive, Sarah.”
I laughed into the phone. “Shh. So, it turns out that another Sarah Smith was hired for the executive position, but when I turned up, they just assumed that I was that Sarah Smith. I mean, at first I didn’t realize. I just thought they were rather nice to the new receptionist but it turns out that they thought I was the exec and by the time I realized what had happened I decided to just play along with it.”
“Sarah.” Katy’s voice was worried. “What are you going to do when the real Sarah Smith shows up? Then you’ll be out of a job, period! And I do not make enough money to pay the full rent.”
“Don’t worry about it, Katy.” I looked around before I said my next words. “I called the other Sarah Smith and apologized to her but said the position was filled and we no longer needed her. I felt bad because it turns out she was really sick with food poisoning from some barbeque she got yesterday and that’s why she never showed up today. For a minute, I debated telling her to forget about my call, but then I realized I really need and want this job. And she went to Harvard Business School, so she’ll have plenty of other opportunities. She’ll be fine.”
“Oh my gosh. Sarah!” Katy laughed into the phone. “What did you do? Are you sure this is a good idea?”