“I don’t get why we had to wake up so early.” Chloe says complaining about the same thing for the 100th time this morning. It took half an hour to get her to get out of bed. I had to force her to go take a shower; she didn’t want to get out of bed at all.
I had to use all types to get her to start moving. I don’t get why I should work so hard to get her to fix her life. I set up this interview, I begged the office she’s going to, to give her a chance. And she wants to make me look like a fool by showing up late. These people are doing this as a favor to me. I’m not going to let her ruin my good name with them.
It’s a miracle they agreed to see her for an interview so soon.
“I’m not going to explain to you again why it’s important to show up on time for an interview.” Say and she opens her mouth to say something else. I raise my hand to stop her before she starts
“Ugh!” Chloe says when she walks through the door. I turn away from the TV and look at her. She looks like she walked through an automatic carwash. Her clothes are all over the place, her clothes are dry but she looks wet at the same time. She looks at me and for a second and then she walks away.There’s only one reason she would be so pissed off is her no getting the job. I know how much a no, can ruin your whole day. But she shouldn’t feel bad, we’ll try again at her different company, most people don’t a job on the first try. What matters is that she keeps trying; I can’t fault her for that.“Shoes.” I say before she gets past the kitchen. She walks back to the front door and takes off her shoes. She keeps making weird sounds the whole time. I watch her throwing her body around as she gets out of her shoes.She’s trying to communicate to me but she’s not using her words. I won’t let
“How are you?” My mother says on the other end of the phone. I have her on speaker as I prepare my work room. I have five clients coming in today to do their hair. I’m going to have a long day today and I need to be prepared. First on the agenda is making sure this room is clean and organized.I always look forward to the days I can work from home. I can set up the mood and make sure both my clients and I are comfortable. I make sure the room is the right temperature, it smells good. And I need to make sure all my tools are available to me at all times.“I’m okay.” I say redoing the bed Chloe left all messed up. It looks like she just woke up and pulled the covers over the bed. The corners of the covers are hanging at awkward angles, the sheets underneath are wrinkled. I can’t have clients in here when it’s like this. I remember telling her to leave everything exactly as she found it. Al she has to do is pick
“You look pretty.” Chloe says when I walk out of my room into the kitchen. I pour myself a glass of water and take a healthy drink. I’m nervous about tonight; this date feels very official and serious. It doesn’t feel like the spontaneous and carefree ones we had before. This feels very life changing and life defining.“Thanks.” I say looking at her. I haven’t seen her since the night of her interview. She’s been leaving early and coming back late from work, she decided to stick with the job and I’m happy for her. This is the first adult decision she’s made since she got kicked out. I have hope that she’ll be out of my hair a in a few weeks.But I don’t want to get too excited too early but I think she’s on the right track. Well I hope, I never know with her. She might revert to her old ways. She hates this job so she might quit anytime but she knows the consequences now. Let’s hope she
Simon parks his car at the back of a huge building. I look around to figure out where we are but I genuinely don’t know. Being here with him shows me that I don’t really go anywhere. I have spent my life within the limits of my city. We drove for about an hour out of the city but I wouldn’t tell you what this place is called.I realize I need to explore more. I need to open myself to the idea of going places. I have my own car and money there isn’t a valid reason why I don’t know a place an hour out of my town. It has never occurred to me to go on a spontaneous drive. I bet I would be amazed at the fun things I’ll find outside of my little town.I really should not it, not just think about it. I mean really do it. Pack up my car and disappear for the weekend. I spend too much time cooped up in my apartment. Now that Chloe is living with me, I have even more reason to go on adventures.“I’ll get the door.&rdqu
“Are you sure you’re okay with having burgers for dinner? We can go to a much better restaurant; we don’t have t eat here.” I say and Adira gives me a side eye. I feel bad for not taking her t some posh, expensive place. But she insisted we come here, we were walking around looking for a nice place to eat when we came across this small restaurant.It’s so small it only has ten tables, the inside is nice but it’s nowhere near posh. It’s more like a local, family owned restaurant. It looks like the menu and décor haven’t been changed in a long time. At least the place is clean, if I wasn’t working on charming Adira this would have been perfect. But I’m on a mission here. Tonight was supposed to be about me sweeping her off her feet. I wanted to make a real impression. I want us to move forward in our relationship. I want her to think of me as more than just a random guy she has fun with. I want her
“Welcome.” I say when we walk into my apartment. I switch on the light and Adira gasps in surprise. She looks at me and then she looks back at my apartment.“Thank you very much.” Adira says walking in. I close the door behind us watching her look around. She has this look of awe looking at the art work. I have all types of art spread out throughout the apartment. It’s refreshing to see someone experience my personal space like this for the first time,“You are welcome.” I say walking past her into the kitchen. “I have two different flavors of ice cream, chocolate and raspberry. Which one would you like?” I ask opening the fridge. I take a deep breath to cal m myself. I can’t believe she’s here. Now that she’s a few feet from my studio all I can think about is painting her. I want to d it so bad but I know I can’t ask her now. I need to gain her trust and get her to a plac
“Shit.” Is the first word that comes out of my mouth when I open my eyes. I can’t believe its morning; I turn so I can see behind me. Simon is not in bed with me, I lie still listening to the sounds outside his room. I can hear him walking around out there. I think he’s in the kitchen, I can hear plates clinking together.I close my eyes for a second and feel myself fall asleep again. I open them quickly, I can’t fall asleep again. I have to get home. I don’t remember when I fell asleep last night. We spent the whole night talking about art, food and anything else we could think about.We laughed so much the muscles in my stomach hurt and then I don’t remember what happened. I don’t remember coming to bed. But I can tell you I had the best sleep of my life. I didn’t wake up at all through the night, that’s rare for me. But last night I knocked all the way out.
“Are you okay?” Simon says looking at me as we walk down a long path of a park in the city. The path is made of this shiny rock that looks like someone spilt water on the ground. And that water froze in place. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in a long time.“No I’m not okay.” I say looking at him. I take a deep breath trying to clear my mind of the clutter rattling around in it. What Chloe said is echoing in my mind. I hate to think Simon and I will end the same way Phil and I did. I’m trying not to give her words any more energy but she hit home with her words.I like Simon a lot and I don’t think I would survive him doing that to me.“Do you want to talk about it?” He asks concerned. How do I tell him what my sister said without sounding crazy? Can I trust him with something so vulnerable? Can I even let him know how much I like him?“I want to but I don’t know