Right Now, I'm Anyone's

“Hey, Leila.” It was Georgia on the other end of the phone. “Jake and I are on the bus back now.”

“Good, I was bored,” I laughed.

“Okay,” she answered. “Get dressed so we don’t see you in your slummy clothes. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

I rolled my eyes and told her I’d get dressed, before hanging up the phone and shoving it into the pocket of the yellow hoody. I was in my room in ten seconds, pulling my skinny jeans and a black vest top out from one of the drawers in the chest. I quickly changed clothes, flinging the hoody onto my bed. I finger combed my hair back into a loose ponytail, pulling a couple of strands down to frame my face properly. I fiddled with my nose ring while looking in the mirror, before I applied some like make-up – foundation and mascara.

The front door clicked open just as I was putting my sweatpants in the washing basket in the bathroom. I quickly turned off the light and went back into our small living room. Georgia had dumped her bag on the couch after hanging her coat up by the door, as Jake followed behind her with Edie on his hip and a satchel over his shoulder.

“Hey,” I smiled. “How’d you get out so early?”

She shrugged. “Who knows? I managed it anyway.”

I laughed and said, “Right. Hey Jake.”

Jake smiled at me and set the satchel down on the floor next to the couch. He kept his arm securely around his daughter while he used the other to give me a quick hug. When he pulled back, Edie was holding her little arms out to me and smiled brightly. Jake laughed and passed her to me, making sure I had hold of her before he let go. Edie latched her arms tight around my neck as a greeting.

“Hello, Eeds.”

“Hi Leila,” she mumbled into my neck. Jake and I both laughed.

I turned to Jake. “So, where you taking my girl tonight?”

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “Dinner, drinks; normal stuff, I suppose.”

“Yeah,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows. “Normal first date stuff.”

Jake just narrowed his eyes at me and laughed. “Maybe.”

“There’s no maybe about it,” I said, hitching Edie higher up onto my hip so I wouldn’t drop her while we talked.

“Leila, shut the fuck up. Jake, sit down, if you want,” Georgia shouted from her room. “I’ll be ready in half an hour or so.”

I laughed and sat Edie down on the opposite end of the couch to Georgia’s abandoned bag while Jake sat on the arm behind his little girl. He looked around the small room, trying to get a feel for the place, probably. I lived there for over a year, I still didn’t have a feel for it.

“Want a drink?” I asked.

“Yeah. Water, please.”

I nodded my head and thanked God he asked for water, since I don’t think we actually had anything else in. I went into the kitchen and turned the tap on, holding a glass underneath. I sat on the opposite arm of the couch from Jake after handing him the glass.

“Leila,” Jake said, taking his eyes off of his daughter who was playing with Georgia’s house keys. “I’m getting a bit nervous.”

“Jake, I’ll just after her just fine, don’t w-”

“No,” he said. “I know you will.” Jake stopped and pushed his hand through his hair, sighing slightly. He put his hands on his knees, but seemed unable to stop fidgeting.

“What is it then?”

“I don’t want to say anything wrong again,” Jake said, laughing at himself a bit. “Don’t fancy having her hate me or something.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed too. “Don’t be silly. Georgia doesn’t hate anybody, and I doubt you’ll say the wrong thing.”

That was a lie, because Georgia does hate someone. My boyfriend. Jake just shrugged his shoulders and didn’t speak again. Edie crawled off of the couch and started moving around our flat. She disappeared from view through the door to the hallway. Moments later, I heard her squeal Georgia’s name like she’d just won a game of hide and seek. Jake and I talked during the ten minutes of Georgia and Edie’s absence.

Georgia walked into the living room again with Edie on her back. I laughed and got up to take the small child off of her. Honestly, Georgia looked amazing. She had her nicest pair of jeans on, with a long, red v-neck top and her black over-the-knee boots. She’s left her hair down, shining and poker straight and falling down to her collarbone. I glanced at Jake and saw him staring at her with the classic face of somebody that just saw something beautiful.

He stood up from the couch and waited awkwardly while Georgia collected her black cardigan from the airing cupboard, where she’d left it to dry. I elbowed Jake sharply in the arm and said, “Just be yourself, it’ll be fine.”

A couple of minutes after my little piece of advice – when Georgia had returned – Jake relaxed and acted really normal. While Georgia collected all the things she’d need, Jake kneeled down in front of the couch where Edie was sitting and put both hands on her shoulders.

“Be a good girl, and do as you’re told, okay?” he said. Edie nodded her head enthusiastically and smiled. Jake laughed and kissed her on the forehead before he stood up and walked with Georgia to the front door. I saw them out.

“Can you try getting her to bed by nine?” Jake asked me, biting his lip slightly. “She hasn’t had a decent nights sleep for weeks.”

I nodded my head. “Of course. Now go and have fun.”

*****

Around two or three hours later, I was sat on the couch with Edie curled tightly into my side. She had her head resting on my legs, which were curved around her, and her knees brought up to her chest. I stroked her chocolate brown curls, combing my fingers through it while she paid close attention to Anastasia. Jake had gone into worried parent mode the moment he left the flat.

Within the first hour, he’d called six times to check everything was okay with us. After assuring him for the sixth time that everything was perfectly fine, I could only hope that he wasn’t driving Georgia as mad as he was driving me with the phone calls. I made him promise to stop calling and have fun with Georgia, because everything was being handled brilliantly.

The front door opened again and I craned my neck around to see behind me. Edie jumped up out of her place on the couch and peered over the back of it, watching Dimitri sceptically. He was coming home from work, I guessed. He smiled at me when he saw me as he hung his coat up by the door. He made his way over and stood behind the couch, leaning over to give me a hug.

“Hello, princess,” he said. “And...toddler.”

I laughed while Edie just watched Dimitri. “This is Edie. Say hello to Dimitri honey.”

Edie stayed silent, continuing to stare at Dimitri curiously. I could tell it was making him uncomfortable, because he smiled nervously and scratched the back of his neck or his temple every couple of seconds. Plus, I knew he wasn’t that good with children; he didn’t know what he could or couldn’t say to them, or how to act with them.

Eventually, Edie mumbled a greeting to Dimitri, before she turned back to the television and glued her eyes back there. Dimitri laughed slightly and made his way to his room. I turned back to the television and let Edie snuggle back into my side.

Over the next twenty minutes or so, I could hear Dimitri moving around in his bedroom, the hallway and the bathroom. He seemed to be in a hurry, because every time he walked back to his bedroom, he forgot that the door swings shut after you open it. I heard a muffled ‘fucking hell’, followed by a ‘stupid fucking door’.

“Stay here baby,” I said, turning to Edie. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Edie nodded her head and beamed at me, before turning her full attention back to the television screen. I stood up and walked through to Dimitri’s bedroom – he’d propped the door open with a shoe – and caught him pulling a shirt on over his head. I picked up a pair of rolled up socks I found on the floor and threw them at his damp head; I laughed when he swivelled around.

“What’s up with you?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he snapped.

“Going out tonight then?”

He nodded his head. “Yep. Met some guy when we went out on Monday; he asked me to come see him tonight.”

“Was it the blonde one?”

“How do you know these things?”

“Psychic,” I said. “And he was the only guy I saw you talking to.”

“Shut up,” he laughed and shoved me out of his bedroom. I rolled my eyes and went back to the living room. Dimitri took longer than I did prettying himself up, so I could relax before he came back out. I sat down next to Edie on the sofa. The film was up to the part where Rasputin’s demons try to coax Anastasia into jumped off the side of a boat, and Edie was clutching very tightly at the end of the couch. Maybe this film was a bit too scary, even if it was a cartoon.

Once Edie had realised that everything was fine, and the demons lost at the end of the scene, she relaxed and let go of the edge of the sofa. Dimitri came into the living room, dressed in a totally different shirt from before, his best pair of straight-legged jeans and his custom made Nike high-tops.

“Look okay?” he asked, making his way to the kitchen area to get a glass of water.

I nodded, only sparing him a glance. “Yeah, looks good.”

Dimitri laughed and rolled his eyes at my inattentiveness. “I love how there’s never food in.”

“Same,” I said, distracted. Dimitri came and sat on the arm of the chair near me. Edie completely ignored him and all three of us watched the television screen intently as Anastasia is interviewed by the Duchesses cousin, Sophie.

“I still think this films better in Russian,” Dimitri said as he heaved himself out of his seat. I laughed and turned to watch him collect his coat near the front door. The clock in the kitchen said it was half past seven already and we hadn’t had anything to eat yet.

“The fact that I can’t speak or understand Russian is a problem,” I said. “And Edie’s only four.”

“I could speak Russian at four,” Dimitri shrugged.

“Your dad’s Russian.”

“Shut up,” Dimitri said, leaning down to kiss me on the cheek. “I’m off now anyway, do svidaniya.”

I rolled my eyes while Dimitri gave Edie a small wave, which she returned with a distracted smile on her face; her eyes stayed on the television. I was distracted from the rest of the film, trying to think of what I could do for food. Jake hadn’t said if Edie had eaten, and if they came straight from Flux, I doubted she had. I could order take out, but I didn’t have any money on me. I could try and make something out of the stuff we had – i.e. nothing – so that was out too.

Just as the film was ending, an idea struck me. I got up and went to my room, finding my bag on my bed. I opened it and emptied out the contents, searching for my phone. I found it on my set of drawers and picked it up. I went back to the living room, phone pressed to my ear as it rang.

“Hello?”

“Oh, hi, Dean,” I said, awkwardly. “Is Johnny there?”

“No,” he said. “He’s gone out and left his phone.”

“Oh, alright then.” I scratched my head. What was I supposed to do now?

“You need help or something?”

I sighed. “A bit, Edie’s here and I don’t think she’s eaten.”

“Well, what’s in the fridge?”

“Hang on, I’ll go look,” I said, standing from the couch. I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Okay, there’s half a block of cheese, a yoghurt, about five olives and...I think it’s an apple.”

“That’s not good.” I heard him laugh on the other end. “Okay, how about I get a McDonalds or something for Edie and come over there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s not a problem,” he said. “I’m not doing anything anyway.”

“That would actually be so amazing of you,” I laughed. “Jake wants her in bed by nine, so as soon as you can please?”

“No problem,” he said again. “I’ll see you in about half an hour, Leila.”

After giving him directions to my house from the nearest McDonalds, we hung up the phone. I went back to the couch and tried to distract Edie even further with more films, just so she wouldn’t think about eating before Dean got here with something that she could actually eat.

When Dean answered his brother's phone, my stomach tied itself into a knot, and with every second I tried to distract Edie, the knot got bigger, and bigger.