Bells Ringing in the Summer Haze

Opening her eyes, Nora groaned and immediately closed them and threw an arm over her face.

“What the hell?” she grumbled.

Rolling towards her nightstand, she found two Advil’s, and a tall glass of water. The clear glass had condensation growing along the sides. Her mouth felt like a cotton ball, she eagerly sat up waiting to drink down the glass.

She threw her hand around the cold glass and brought it to her lips, gulping the water greedily. Taking a deep breath after she downed half the glass she looked at her clock.

The dark red 12:30 p.m. glared at her. She rolled her eyes and pushed the blankets off her body.

Looking around the room she saw her rumbled white shirt on the floor the strap clearly snapped off at some point. Her dark wash denim shorts near the dresser, with a mystery stain on the cuff, her tall black boots kicked behind the door, completely filthy, and her socks half in the laundry basket and one on the floor.

Looking down at herself she saw she was in a baggy black tee shirt, that didn’t belong to her, some boxer shorts and her hair in a messy ponytail, inching out of the elastic.

“What the hell happened?” she whispered to herself.

She stood and opened her door, instantly hearing noise from her living room. Raining an eyebrow, she padded down the wooden floors, quietly. When she reached the end of the hall her mouth fell open.

“Hey sunshine,” Isaac grinned as he drank from one of her yellow coffee cups. “There is coffee in the pot.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” She asked confused. She looked around and saw his jacket on a dining room chair, his phone, keys and wallet laid on the table.

He put the cup down onto her coffee table, and frowned. “You don’t remember?”

She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. “Um no, so spill.”

He wiped his hands along his dark denim jeans, and stood. His white tee shirt hung to his body tightly, Nora moved her eyes to his face. She watched a slight grin tug on his lips, but he shook his head.

“You and Val were out at Jo’s and since Brian is out of town, and you two were wasted, I came to pick you up.” He grabbed his leather jacket off of her white dinning room chair, and walked towards her.

“Well thank you,” She mumbled. He smiled and nodded before heading past her and down the hall to the door.

“You can return my shirt to me later!” He called just before the door shut.

-------

“No the shelves are going here, with the dimensions I gave you.” Nora said as she looked at her store door opening. “Well George that isn’t an option because the fitting rooms are going along the back of that wall so that would mean the shelves would go right through the rooms.”

She held up a finger to her cousin and walked to a table she brought in. Flipping pages in a notebook she groaned.

“That’s not okay, the deadline is in two months,” she closed her eyes and looked at Val. “Okay call me back.”

Tossing her phone onto the table, Nora walked to her cousin. “Welcome!” Nora said sarcastically waving her arm across the area.

The floor was a concrete slab with dust covering the surface. The walls had patches all over the wall where drywall needed to be fixed. The light bulbs overhead hung alone, wires ran all over the storefront.

“It’s a mess, I know,” Nora said as she shuffled papers around.

Valerie grinned and handed Nora a white Starbucks cup. “Thought you could use some caffeine after last night.”

“What happened? Isaac was at my apartment this morning but all he said was he picked us up. Why would he stay over? I woke up alone and fully clothed. ”

“He stayed? Did he stay in your room with you at least?” Val’s smile grew and she began to fidget, an excited trait Nora grew to know.

“He stayed in the living room you perv, alone.” Val’s smiled faded and she pouted. “Don’t start with me Val.”

“Oh c’mon! You guys are both attractive, he obviously likes you.”

“He’s not my type.”

“Oh Nora shut up, you don’t have a type.” Nora opened her mouth and Val shook her head. “It’s true, you’ve dated the losers and now is time for a real man.”

“Oh please, Isaac Wright is not a man. He’s barely a grown boy.” Val rolled her eyes and put her bag down onto the table. “I’m sure he can’t even cook for himself.”

“So what are your plans for this place?” Nora silently thanked her cousin for changing the subject; she didn’t feel like discussing Isaac Wright any longer today.