Glimmers of Glass (A Glimmers Novel #1: Cinderella)

Chapter 14

I had never been so nervous in my life. It was Monday. I was having dinner with the Faerie Queen tonight. Between now and then, I also had to get Elle to talk to me.

I'd sent her texts, which she'd ignored. I'd sent her a Facebook message, which she hadn't read. I'd waited outside one of her classes this morning, but she'd managed to slip past without making eye contact, and now, I stood poised outside the door of World History.

It wasn't just the job thing, though that was motivating enough. But Elle was mad at me. And, much as I knew I wasn't supposed to get emotionally involved with clients, I hated her being mad at me.

Elle was interesting, and she was nice, and she geeked out over environmental conservation strategies as much as I did. I didn't have many friends outside of Imogen and Lucas, and she seemed like she might become one. Now, though, she wouldn't talk to me because she thought I was a nosy invasive jerk.

The worst part was, she was right. I'd realized this job was going to take a lot of my time and involve boring work. I didn't realize it would try to steal my soul.

I looked for Elle through the glass window in the classroom door. She wasn't visible from here, though I could make out a pink-nailed hand I was pretty sure was Imogen's near the middle of the third row.

"You okay?" a voice said. I looked up. Lucas was looking down at me with a concerned smile on his face. I flushed, remembering the last time I'd seen him. Don't be weird, I ordered myself, and offered a smile back.

"I'm fine," I said. "Just got a lot on my mind. You know. Nothing new."

"Tell me about it," he said. "Pre-calc is trying to eat my brain." He leaned up against the wall opposite me and tilted his head. "What are you worried about?"

"Work," I said. It was a vague answer, but an honest one. "I'm just not sure I've got the right job."

"What do you do?" he asked.

"I work at a life coaching agency downtown," I said. 

That was my stock answer. It was the closest thing to what we actually did, and most people were so skeptical of the idea of life coaching that they didn't ask too many questions after that. "I don't think it's really my thing."

"That's surprising," he said. "You seem like you'd be good at it."

"Yeah?" I said. "Why?" I'd never heard anything like that before. I wished I could tell him the whole story. He seemed like the kind of person who'd know how to listen.

"You just seem like a good person to take problems to," he said. "Like you'd help people figure out their own solutions instead of force-feeding them. You know what I mean? I hear that's a good thing in a life coach."

I felt almost sick at how exactly wrong he was. I'd been doing nothing but the opposite, force-feeding Elle against my better judgment. "How do you know so much about it?" I said. His attention was a limelight, hot and too bright.

Lucas laughed a little, the self-deprecating laugh of someone who'd told too much. "My mom's been through a few," he said.

I remembered his mom. She'd been a loud, opinionated person with lots of energy and motivation but also a tendency to crash and burn when she overexerted herself. I could see her going through all kinds of coaches and therapists. 

The image of her burning out one after another must have made me smile, because he said, "You can laugh. You didn't have to join in on the 'values clarification' and 'finding your inner self' exercises."