Kylie took a deep breath, as she looked up in awe at the imposing skyscraper in front of her. She had only been in New York a week and she wondered, just how long it might take her, to get used to the towering buildings and bustle of the streets. She hoped never.
She had grown up in a small town in Texas and New York was everything that her small town wasn't. It was always alive with the sound of people's lives rushing ahead, never seeming to slow down or come to a stop. The streets were filled with mighty buildings and colourful people and it seemed, as though it truly was the city that never slept.
Kylie loved it though; it was everything she had ever dreamed of, even if it was a little daunting. Nothing ever happened in her sleepy hometown, it was as though the lives of the people there were set on loop and were cursed, to repeat the same mundane lives as their parents, and their parents before them.
In fact the only thing she loved about her hometown had left her when she was 13. He had been her next door neighbour and her best friend. They had grown up together, shared their dreams with each other and had promised each other that one day, they would escape to somewhere more exciting. Kylie was too young to know at the time but later realised that he had been the first boy she loved, and up until now it had remained that way.
Even though 8 years had passed since he had left, she still sometimes found herself wondering about him. She wondered whether he had found the life, which they had always spoken about, whether he was happy now, wherever he was and whether she ever crossed his mind as he did hers. She doubted that though, if he had longed for her as she did him surely he would have made contact. She'd done everything she could within her means to find him but she had no luck.
She walked into the mighty building, taking note of the 'DynaMatthews' slogan. She noticed that the lobby was adorned with several vases filled with Bluebonnets and her pre-interview jitters calmed down somewhat at the sight of them. They are the state flower of Texas and something that always reminds her of Noah, the boy who had got away.
The day before he had left, they had spent the day together exploring nature, they had stumbled across a cluster of the flowers and he had picked her some. To this day, she could still remember the feeling she had, had when he had handed them to her. Her heart had been racing, her cheeks heating and her heart had a pang of hurt, knowing that the next day he would be gone.
She couldn't help but feel as though this job was something she was meant to get, how could it not be, when the lobby had the flowers of her past, of her home? She walked over to the desk and introduced herself to the receptionist.
"Hi, I'm Kylie; I have an interview at 10 o'clock." She said brightly to the woman behind the desk.
The receptionist was clearly a New York native, you could tell just from looking at her. She was perfectly kept, not a hair out of place and wrapped in an expensive looking dress and blazer. The receptionist nodded and looked at her screen.
"Yes, Kylie, please take a seat." She said, gesturing at a long leather bench against a wall at the other side of the lobby.
"Thank you." Kylie said, nodding at the woman before walking across the room and taking a seat.
She had been preparing for the interview all the night before. This would be her first real job, if she got it and she wanted to make a good impression.
She had noticed since arriving in New York that the people here had a tendency to allow stereotypes to influence their opinions of a person. From her experiences so far, that once they had heard her soft Texas accent, they assumed quickly that she was naive and unaware in the ways of the world. She didn't want that to happen today and so she had made sure that she knew everything there was to know about the company. She was prepared for any question, they might throw her
Charles Tang, Gertrude Chandler Warner