Is This a Dream or a Reality

I looked around at my small apartment, boxes stacked high and furniture strewn with no real direction.  When I was younger, my parents moved us around the country a lot.  Always moving from place to place, I wasn’t unaccustomed to the smell of cardboard and the stress of a new home.  What I was not used to was the back breaking labor I had to do myself.  Usually my father had the red carpet rolled out for us, with strong workers to do this part, the carrying and hauling.  But I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.  Literally.  I traded in my overalls and corn field view to move to Austin, a city so amazing and exciting I couldn’t wait to see what it had in store for me. 

The bad part about living in an amazing city-the shitty apartment.  My new “home”, if you could even call it that, consisted of a living room big enough for a chair and love seat, a kitchen that could be accessed by pivoting on one foot, and a bedroom that fit my king bed and one dresser, without much room to walk to the en suite bathroom.  It was small and cozy, and for a young girl like me on her own, it was all I needed. 

“So Rudina, why do you want a job at Rooster Teeth?” The founder of the company looked at me pointedly, probably assuming I was lying on my resume just to try and get a job here like every other fan.  But I wasn’t just a fan.  I was an organized, hard-working young woman who, by watching years of content, easily could see how things should be done here.  And that’s what I told him.

“Sir, I get your reservations of hiring me.  Besides the fact of the popularity of the company, I am a young woman with little college training and not much of a prestigious background-“

“Aren’t you trying to get a job?” one of the other founders, Geoff Ramsey, asked with a laugh, amazed at how I would put myself down in an interview.  But I wasn’t done.

“But,” I put emphasis on the but to get my point across that I was not finished, “what I can tell you about me is everything you need.  I’ve been watching the content for years.  I admit I don’t know everything about the ins and outs of Achievement Hunter, but I know more than any random person off the street.  And my skills, though not college trained, are full of variety and experience.  I was a college student at one point, having to drop out for personal reasons, and before I left I made a point to get close with my professors and learn as much as I could.  You’ll see them in my references, I still stay high in their minds and any one of them will tell you that finding someone as eager to learn as me in near impossible.  I catch on quick, I listen well, and I adapt to my surroundings,” I paused for a minute taking in the founders of the company around me. “I know that I can wow you if given the chance.”

They all looked at each other thoughtfully, seeming to share unspoken words.  Burnie looked at me again.

“How do you feel about the privacy of your personal life?”

That was a tough one.

“To be honest, a job in this city would be a new start for me.  There are things in my past I don’t want to think about or have ties to anymore,” I saw the slight look of worry on their faces and realized how that sounded.  “Nothing illegal don’t worry, but moving here would be a new start with a new family.  I would devote myself to the company, making it my family and caring for it like I would for my parents or siblings.  But the new memories I make from here on out are for the world to see if they wish.  I have no secrets and don’t expect to.”

They excused me into the hall for them to discuss for a bit.  But a bit turned into a while and soon it was an hour.  I had a feeling I wasn’t getting the job, so I got up and made to leave when the door opened.  Mr. Burns smiled and me and held out his hand.

I smiled as I reminisced the feeling of joy for being offered the job.  It wasn’t anything huge, I was just the personal assistant to Achievement Hunter, meaning I would schedule recordings, go run errands, remind them of meetings and such.  Basically taking care of six children.  No problem. 

My clothes and toiletries were unpacked, and my bed was made.  Everything else seemed so looming and exhausting, I just decided to jump into my pajamas and curl in bed with a good romance novel.  These were my guilty pleasures.  I know they are cheesy and dumb but they’re still fun to read and imagine life being like that. If only...

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