Lara’s apartment still contained incontrovertible evidence of her ex-girlfriend. There were fingerprints on her coffee mugs, skin and hair traces between the slats of the floorboards. It made her slightly uncomfortable to be there. The job interview she was just leaving for was like a rope ladder hanging over her, to rescue her from too many unemployed days in her now empty home. She checked herself quickly in the mirror before heading out, and felt momentarily bemused. In place of the familiar jean-clad and messy boy-haired student she was used to, her reflection showed a young, neat office worker. It felt like playing dress-up. When she got to the train station and squeezed into an airless rush-hour carriage, it also didn’t quite feel serious. The words ‘first day of the rest of your life!’ rang dramatically through her head, from a high podium in the memory of her graduation ceremony.

She was wrapped up with rehearsing phrases from an online interview guide as she walked toward the station exit, and didn’t notice the ticket inspectors until she practically walked into one. An oversized navy blue jacket with an ID badge pinned to it loomed into her field of vision, inches from her nose. She tripped to a stop and looked up at the inspectors face, and her thoughts fluttered like a pack of cards thrown from a window. Her voice managed an “uhm”. The woman was gorgeous, in an angular way that cut straight through Lara. “Ticket please.” Her straight lips released the words disinterestedly, and her cool greenish eyes barely traced over her. Lara fumbled with her bag and finally extracted the ticket. The inspector nodded, and moved on to the next passenger. As she walked away, Lara turned around for another look, from a safer distance. She was tall, with pale hair drawn severely into a bun, probably in her thirties. Lara couldn’t help but think that if she got this job, walking past that woman every morning would be a definite perk.