Gemotions

"Did you hear back yet?" Maya's friend, Ben, asked as they waited for the train. He was practically bouncing. She’d applied for the same position, an entry-level position at a tech startup. Maya hadn’t exactly been leaping with joy. The application process was a means to an end – a way to keep her parents happy.

Maya watched the subway cars pull into the station, the screeching brakes grating against her nerves. The air smelled of exhaust fumes and something metallic. The interview had felt the same. The interviewer’s questions were formulaic, the answers she gave, equally so. She'd answered politely, mostly watching the framed corporate mission statement on the wall behind the interviewer.

"Nope," she said to Ben, staring down at her shoes. "Nothing."