Relatives and messes

What the hell, I thought as I sat up. He was the one who disappointed me but he had the guts to leave when I was asleep. I spotted a note on the stool and grab it.

Had to leave for an early meeting with one of our distributors. Xo, Dave.

My shoulders drooped. Getting out of bed, I stalked to the living room where I had left my bag. Opening it, I fished out my phone. It was 6:54 am.  He had never had to go for meetings that early. 

Was he hiding or just so embarrassed about last night that he couldn’t face me. I realized I had to do something to make him feel better. Dave had great sexual prowess and I was not about to let one lousy night ruin our happiness and his confidence.

Dressing up, I locked the apartment and leave, heading for mine after sending him a good morning message. 

Cold air bit into my skin as I stepped out of the building. Since I didn’t live very far away, I decided to walk. It was time for my usual morning jog, anyway.

When I get to the apartment, it was quiet and I thought everyone was still asleep. We didn’t always get up early unless we had to practice. Most of our gigs are in the nights so we ended up staying up late a lot, and that meant no early mornings. Opening the door, I screamed after seeing the body of a large man passed out on the couch.

“Who are you?” I yell at the strange man and he opened his eyes. He looked around the room. “Where is Maria?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I just came in. did you come with her?”

“Yes, and others. Whatever, I’ll leave now.”

“Good.”

He stood up and instead of heading to the door, he came towards me. He reached out and touched me on the waist. I screamed, pushing him off me. Frowning, he staggered away. 

“What a way to treat a homeless man,” he muttered under his stinky breath.

“April, is everything alright?” Maria called from her bedroom before the door opened.

“Hey cuz,” she said to the man who slowly returned to the couch and lay down, pulling the blanket over his big body.

“That’s my cousin Herbert,” Maria told me. “He was thrown out by his friend last night. Please let him stay for a while. He won’t cause any trouble, I promise.”

“Whatever, as long as he doesn’t try to touch me again.” I said before opening my door. This was why I needed to get out of here. I was not very comfortable living with perverted strangers even though they were related to my roommates. 

After taking a shower, I tried to call Dave but his phone was off. Unable to do anything about it, I decided to go to the kitchen and make myself breakfast. I had just started piling items on the table when my phone started ringing. Seeing Jenny’s name, I decided to ignore. I knew it had to be about work and I was too frustrated with my boy issues to deal with that. What sort of boyfriend returns after months and doesn’t want to spend time with his girlfriend. Something was fishy and I knew I would not be able to relax until I knew what was going on. 

Jenny called again. This time, I decided to answer. I was too broke to be arrogant. If jenny fired me, I didn’t know where I would go. 

“Hey,” I said. “Good morning, Jenny.”

“Why are you not picking my calls?”

“I have picked up now, haven’t I? What’s up?”

“We have a gig later today,” she said. “Wake those sleepy heads and come to the club for practice right now.”

“Where is it going to be?”

“At Mason Steele’s house.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to go today,” I said. “I’m not feeling quite well.”

“Why don’t you want to go?”

“I’m not feeling well,” I lied. I was not feeling well but that was not the reason I did not want to go to Mason’s mansion. He was a dangerous man, and I didn’t want to put my life at risk by being at his place. He seemed a bit interested in me and I didn’t want to encourage that in any way. The fact that he had requested for me alone twice was a warning sign. A man like Mason Steele couldn’t possibly love music that much. 

It seemed he saw me as an object of pleasure, something I did not want. In showbiz, we women get treated like objects a lot even when we are just trying to do our job of entertaining people. It gets annoying, but some women like it. I didn’t. I absolutely abhorred the times Jenny forced us to wear very skimpy outfits in order to attract more attention.

 “I know that’s a lie,” Jenny said. “You know you can tell me anything, right? Did Mason Steele do something to you? Did he touch you inappropriately? I know I seem like all I care about is money but you girls are like my little sisters. I care about you and I wouldn’t put you in a harmful situation. If he did something, just tell me and I will make sure he never does it again.”

“No, he didn’t do anything of the sort. I just don’t feel like performing today. I’m having issues with Dave.”

“What issues?”

“Personal issues.”

“Well, April. You have a job. Leave personal issues at home and do your job first. I need all of you here in less than an hour.”

Jenny ended the call before I could say anything. Sighing, I placed the phone on the table and went to wake the others. Not bothering to knock, I pushed Maria’s door open. She was lying on her side, her left arm wrapped around a pillow in front of her. Opening her eyes, she glared at me. 

“What do you want?”