Window Seats

I woke up curled up—uncomfortably—in Roy’s tiny couch.

Alison was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, having told Roy he had to start cleaning up before I woke up. There was already a mess of flour on the counter and Roy’s small dog was whining at her feet. She had giggled before giving the dog a piece of toast

“You shouldn’t feed the dog that, Roy’ll have an aneurysm,” I said as I stood up and stretched my arms over my head. She turned around startled and placed her hand on her chest. She narrowed her eyes before smiling widely.

“What Roy doesn’t know won’t hurt him” she sang before going back to making some waffles. The longer she stood in front of the stove, the more mess was created around her.

“So where were you last night? You completely vanished, Roy went crazy trying to look for you all over, but then he noticed your groups of friends weren’t here either. He put two and two together, “she wagged her eyebrows suggestively as she served us both some coffee. “So how was your night?”

“Fine Alison,” I answered as I grabbed the mug and some sugar, “we watched some movies at his place and ate some sweets. It was nice, better than having to listen to Rihanna all night long.” We both laughed, it was really no surprise that Rihanna was one of Roy’s favorite artists and whenever there was a party he felt the need to put as on as many of her songs as he could.

“Are you sure, is that all?” she asked a bit disappointed. “I was hoping for something interesting.”

“Yes Alison, I’m sure,” I shrugged my shoulder, contemplating whether or not to tell her about the end of the night. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to, I wasn’t sure it even meant anything. Maybe it was something like New Years when people just grab the nearest person to them and kiss them when the countdown ends. I was the only girl close to him and some sort of countdown had to have finished by them.

In the end I decided not to tell Alison, why make a big deal out of practically nothing? Besides Roy would have probably tracked Vincent down and bully him into telling him what his exact intentions with me were. I wasn’t ready for a situation like the one I had had with my previous almost boyfriend.

“I’ve got to get going,” I said as I stood from the table, Roy had decided to join us for breakfast as soon as he claimed to have finished cleaning up my flat. “Jane sent me a message that I needed to go in to work today. The new girl, Samantha, wouldn’t make it in today, some dumb excuse.”

Roy nodded his head as he shoveled his food into his mouth and Alison looked at him with a disgusted look. “Come back later,” he said between bites, “we can do whatever it is you wanted to do for our birthdays instead, and plan something for Christmas.”

I nodded my head before exiting his place and going into mine. I wasn’t too surprised when I entered my flat and saw it in disarray, Roy would always claim he knew how to clean properly but it was obvious he didn’t. The proof was the various bottles of liquor hidden in the pantry and behind my couch. Thankfully no one had ventured into my bedroom.

Jane apologized profusely when I entered Willow.

“I’m so sorry, you probably have the worst headache in the world right now and you’ve got to be working. This girl, Samantha, said her cat or something was sick. Like I didn’t say that when I was working for other people, it’s the dumbest excuse ever.”

“Its fine Jane, I didn’t even drink last night.”

“Oh I know it’s fine, it’s your job. Your day off was yesterday, I was only being nice by giving you today too,” she said as she folded sweaters. “You didn’t drink, then where’d you go off with…I don’t even remember his name. What is it?”

“Vincent,” I answered as began undressing a mannequin, “his place, Roy playing Rihanna was getting a bit annoying.”

She turned to me wide eyed and dropped the teal sweater, “God Annabel, what have I told you about going to stranger’s houses? You never do it; you never know how someone really is.”

I shook my head, “It was fine, besides I’ve been talking to him for a few weeks. We’re hardly strangers Jane.”

“Still don’t like the idea of it, you’ve got to be a bit more careful with people. What did you do?” she asked smiled.

“We just went back to his place, ate some dessert-”

“Tiramisu?” she asked cockily.

I nodded my head and laughed, “of course, and we watched movies.”

“That’s nice of him to do. It also sounds a lot better than having to babysit Roy and Alison all night like I was stuck with doing. You’re lucky you got out of there so quickly with a boy no less. Did any else happen?” she smiled widely as she folded her hands over her chest.

I contemplated telling Jane. She wasn’t a gossip like I felt Alison was but she had the habit of blowing everything out of proportion. If I told her Vincent had kissed me before he left she would surely think we were on the path to marriage. Jane was just a hopeless romantic. She was also one of my best friends, and if I wasn't going to tell Roy then I would have to tell her.

“So after we watched some movies yeah?” I started. “He walked me home, but I ended staying Roy’s cause the party was still going on. So we just talked for a bit, drank some coffee listened to some music. Got to know each other a bit more and then”

“Oh god, you had the sex didn’t you?” she asked as her face scrunched up and she turned away.

I laughed loudly, “Oh god no Jane. Why would you even think that?”

“You’re just building up to this climax, I didn’t know what to think!” she exclaimed.

“No Jane but as I was saying, so we talked a bit. Then when it was getting to be the morning he had to leave so I walked him out to the door and then he kissed me. Nothing big, nothing fancy. Just a peck on the lips.”

“Well, what did you do after that?”

“Nothing?” I questioned. “He left before I could really do anything.”

“God, that’s like the worst story you could have told me. It doesn’t even have a proper ending.”

“Oh shut it Jane,” I mumbled. She heard and laughed before she resumed folding sweaters and I dressed a mannequin.