It was early in the morning – so dreadfully and devastatingly early in the morning – and the annoying sound of her alarm’s unforgiving siren startled Ziggy from her dreams. Waking up in the middle of a dream is the worst, and Ziggy started her day off bad. It was a Saturday, too, which meant that there was a theater meeting.

The early hours of the morning were spent in the presence of emails about potential jobs – mostly sending her resume and a sense of failure written in it; Ziggy loves [i]Abracadabra![/i] but it doesn’t pay well. Plus, Ziggy was becoming increasingly mortified over being a nearly-thirty year old living in her parents’ basement. Unfortunately, there wasn’t many jobs around St. James that were in demand of Ziggy’s skillset. 

Her email was underwhelmingly bare, only a small unread blue circle from an interior design company in Charlotte Hills, Illinois. She had applied to it a while ago, before she joined [i]Abracadabra![/i], in the week after she was fired and her parents pressured her into sending in her resume. The subject field ominously said [b]“New Position Opened”[/b]. Ziggy lightly tapped her finger on her mouse, not hard enough to click anything – she could feel her toes flexing with the harsh burden of indecision. 

[color=#9C436E]“I’ll open it later.”[/color] She murmured to herself, closing out of her email and stretching. The clock on her computer told her that she should leave for the meeting soon, and it was a couple minutes slow. 

Ziggy grabbed her jacket and propped her foot on the first step out of her pathetic [i]temporary[/i] room, but the blue glow of the computer gave her a sense of guilt. Ziggy wanted that job – it’d be good for her, to get back on her feet. But that meant leaving a whole lot behind. Ziggy’s toes flexed again when she pulled out her phone and began tapping a message.

[indent][quote][b]To: My Main Squeeze[/b]
buy me lunch later
don’t have food need to go shopping
[/quote][/indent]

Shit, that sounded bossy. But it was too late to unsend it. It would really suck if Noa said no – Ziggy couldn’t even think about eating lunch with her mom. It probably would have been much simpler if Ziggy just said she wanted to see him, just so she could lie to herself and say that staying in St. James was the better option – because of the potential of [i]Abracadabra![/i] and they’re small but slowly growing relationship. But it felt clingy, and Ziggy would hate herself if she was the clingy type – how awkward. No, it was much better to pretend to be a starving actress.

[color=gainsboro]“Zdzisława, are you about to leave?”[/color] Ziggy’s mom bumbled through the door, a plate of waffles drowning in syrup in her hand. [color=gainsboro]“I was hoping we could have some breakfast together.”[/color]

Ziggy cursed her luck and her mother and those god damn delicious-looking waffles. Ziggy could never say no to her mother, anyways, not with her puppy dog eyes that looked so hopeful. It was disgusting. [color=#9C436E]“I’m running a bit late, so I might as well be really late for breakfast.”[/color] As an after-thought, Ziggy added, [color=#9C436E] “I’ll probably be out with Noa later, so I probably won’t be home for lunch.”[/color]

Her mother practically escorted Ziggy to the dining table, a watchful eye on her – probably to make sure she didn’t pull a Houdini and disappear. [color=gainsboro]“Noa? Why?”[/color]

[color=#9C436E]“Lunch date.”[/color] The waffles cut easily under her butter knife and Ziggy dragged a slice of it through the thick syrup. She pretended to be absolutely fascinated with her waffles, instead of glancing up to see her mother’s undoubtedly confused eyes.

Her mother gave her a moment of peace before she asked, letting Ziggy chew her food before she could further investigate. Ziggy took her time; the waffle became soggy mush too soon. [color=gainsboro]“Lunch date? Is he paying? When your mama and tata were dating, he was such a gentleman. He used to take me to all the restaurants and would always pay for my bill like it was nothing! I wouldn’t be surprised if he laid down in a puddle just so I wouldn’t get my shoes wet. You are like your mama, Zdzisława, you like gentlemen – only a gentlemen could take care of someone as particular as you. I hope this Noa is a gentleman.”[/color]

Ziggy flushed – only her mother could make her face this red so fast. Ziggy couldn’t wait to get out of this house. Even her mother thought she was high-maintenance, and her mom was the most high-maintenance woman she’d ever met. It was time to go-go-go before the topic spiraled even further downwards.

[color=#9C436E]“I should go now, I don’t want to be too late.”[/color] Ziggy made an exaggerated glance at her wrist. She wasn’t wearing a watch, but her mother couldn’t tell that since she was wearing long sleeves.
[color=gainsboro]“All right, I’ll clean the dining table, you hurry on and go.”[/color]

Ziggy rushed out the door and didn’t bother to look back; she might have even broken something when she slammed her car door too hard. Ziggy gripped the steering wheel and let muscle memory take her to the theater.

The theater is a sad looking, especially in the morning. It’s easy to ignore it falling apart at night, when they’re working like busy bees; but with the light shining on it, all the cracks and crumbs are visible. Ziggy belatedly realizes that she wasn’t late at all – her clock must be fast instead of slow – since there’s only two cars in the parking lot. Hers and, most certainly, the Director’s. 

The hidden wooden floor creaks under Ziggy’s feet and after a small cracking sound, she’s a little bit scared one of the planks will collapse. When she walks into the theater, she can see the wild brown mop of Art’s hair.

[color=#9C436E]“How long do you think it will take the others?”[/color] The question comes out more exasperated and snippy than Ziggy meant it to, but she wasn’t going to correct herself any time soon.