Azalea

I liked having my parents around, but sometimes I felt smothered. So of course, when Monday morning rolled around, I was actually looking forward to going to work. At least my eye wasn't looking that bad and I didn't have any tours lined up for the day (but knowing Pedro he'd try to pull something stupid because he was lazy). I thought I was being sneaky when I woke up an hour earlier than usual so I could sneak out of my apartment unnoticed, but of course my mother was already awake, and of course she wanted to eat breakfast as a family.

I hadn't eaten a real breakfast since my freshman year of college.

It didn't last too long, but she did make me lunch, so I guess that was a plus.

It didn't occur to me that I'd have to see Phillip until I walked through the doors and flashed my ID at the security guard in the lobby. I groaned as I headed to the elevator. I hadn't talked to him since the fight obviously. I hadn't talked to Azalea since Saturday morning either, much to my disappointment. I shuffled into the hallway, straining my ears for Phillip's obnoxious laughter. I didn't hear anything, but that still didn't mean that he wasn't there.

I poked my head into the office, but Phillip's desk was empty. Willow was half asleep, and Rooney had the day off. I sat down at my desk and opened my laptop to check my emails. Most of them were from Pedro, so I skimmed them before opening a game of Solitare.

We had a staff meeting about filing protocols that lasted about fifteen minutes before we were off for our tours for the day. I spent the whole day wondering when Phillip was going to come and beat the living crap out of me, because he didn't seem like the kind of guy to take a beating lying down and I'm pretty sure that the only reason he didn't beat me to a bloody pulp a few nights ago was because Azalea dragged me out.

He doesn't show up on Monday or Tuesday, or even on Wednesday. I'm starting to think he quit, which would be kind of great, except I haven't heard from Azalea since Satruday morning either. And I mean, I could call her or text her or even look her up on Facebook (but the last one would make me feel creepy and I don't know her last name anyway) but I don't, for some reason. She could call me too because she has my number, but still.

The whole situation makes me feel uneasy.

And so, on Thursday afternoon - it's raining again - with shaky hands I call her, while sitting in my car, waiting for the light to turn green. For some reason, I don't want to call her around my parents. Probably because my mother won't let it go and will want to meet her and I don't think I'm ready for that. Not yet. (My mother has the bad habit of scaring girls away.) I tell myself sternly that I'm just calling to see if she's okay - because she's not my girlfriend - but I don't think I'll even get that far, because she's not picking up.

I'm about to hang up when she finally picks up, but she sounds like she's out of breath and there's someone yelling in the background.

"Hello?"

"Um, hey - I - it's me," I stammer, nervous, like I've been caught doing something I shouldn't be.

"Kibum!" she exclaims excitedly and I smile a little, turning onto the expressway. I've taken to driving to work because it takes a little longer to get home, meaning that it gives my mother less time to interrogate me about my personal life. "Hey, how are you?"

"I'm good."

"How's your nose?" she asks, laughing. And for a minute, I frown, then remember - Phillip - and I laugh too, just for her sake.

"It's good - "

"Taemin! Stop! Don't - " She sighed heavily. "My roommate and I are rearranging and he's dropping everything."

"He?" I squeak. Was he there on Saturday? Did she tell him about what happened? About me? And why did it matter? Why did I care? I groaned silently.

I was getting soft.

"Yeah, he. We're just friends. Wait - could you not - no! It should go against the wall!" She groaned. "We've been at it all day."

"Oh." I smile a little. "So, um, are you okay?"

"Yeah! I'm great." She paused. "Do you wanna come over later? I mean, when we get everything sorted? We're almost done. And he wants to meet you."

"He knows about me?"

"He knows of you. You kind of left one of your socks in the bathroom and he got all suspicious." She laughed. "What do you say? There'll be pizza."

"Uh... yeah. Sure. Why not?" I shrugged, driving slowly down my street. Now, to find parking. The eternal struggle.

"Awesome! I'll see you at 8. We'll watch a film and get some pies from down the street, yeah?"

"Yeah."

I hung up and stared at my phone, wondering how she roped me into going to her place for pizza and a movie with her roommate, Taemin.

Hm.