Call Girl

Opening her eyes ever so slightly and then shutting them once again, Noelle lay on her couch still wearing the same clothes as she wore yesterday. The strong smell of liquor and smoke filled her nostrils, causing her throat to tighten and her head to throb. She lay there motionless for a further 10 minutes, but she knew that she would have to get up soon. Esmae was due home any minute and she didn't want her 4 year old daughter to see the state she was currently in.

Noelle forced herself to sit up, wincing at the pains shooting through her body and head. Placing one shaky hand on her head, she slowly glanced around the room. Empty bottles of spirits lay scattered all over the place and half smoked joints were gathered in a mountain on the coffee table in front of her. The curtains were shut tight, yet she couldn't remember closing them. The TV was on and she watched for a while as the blue screen flickered every now and then.

She rolled her head to the side and muttered what the clock read. “Nine a.m.” she whispered, her voice cracking. Eventually, she managed to stand up and cautiously made her way out of the living room. Her apartment was small, but cosy and well decorated. Noelle was always the person to ask when it came to decorating. She knew which colour would suit which room and what furniture should go where. It was one of her talents.

Reaching the bathroom, she almost gagged at the reflection in the mirror. She was ashamed of herself. Once again she had drunk and smoked herself into oblivion, not being able to function properly and had passed on the couch. If her mother-in-law decided to come early and rang the doorbell now, she would turn straight back around with Esmae tucked under her arm and that would be that.

Not wanting to waste time, Noelle jumped into the shower and washed away last night’s shameful antics. In the process of scrubbing her hair, Noelle continued on thinking about what she had done. She could have sworn she had left the house to buy more alcohol and somehow managed to get served at the convenience store down the street, even in the state she was in at the time.

She turned the taps off after rinsing the soap suds out of her hair and picked up a big fluffy towel, wrapping it around her body. She didn’t bother to get dressed just yet. Instead, she began to clean the apartment, worried that Esmae and her mother-in-law would arrive early and see the mess she had created.

It took almost 45 minutes to clean away the empty bottles, joints, sick, and broken glass from the vases and photo frames she had knocked over. She quickly rushed to her bedroom across from the living room and changed into a pair of black yoga pants. She threw on a loose, grey, half cut top that exposed a small proportion of her stomach before throwing her brown and naturally loose curled hair into a messy bun that rested on top of her head. As she slipped her flip flops on, the doorbell rang and she made her way down the hall to answer it.

She carefully opened the door, weary of the blinding light that might cause her to cripple over in pain. The cheery voice of her daughter instantly tugged at Noelle’s heart strings, reminding her of the recent loss of her fiancée.

“Mummy!” Esmae smiled, outstretching her arms for a hug. Noelle scooped her up off the floor and held her tight, holding the door open for her mother-in-law to enter. “I missed you mummy, but I had a good time and Grandma Lucy’s house. We made cakes and she showed me lots of pictures of daddy when he was my age!”

Noelle swallowed hard, a lump in her throat starting to form. She forced a smile on to her face and placed Esmae on the floor again. “Go put your stuff in your room honey; we’re going out for some breakfast.”

She skipped down the hall, disappearing into her bedroom. Noelle looked up at her mother-in-law, Lucy, who was watching her closely. “How are you doing?” she asked.

Noelle nodded, biting her bottom lip. “Good.” Her one word reply was progress; usually she would burst out crying when somebody asked if she was doing alright.

“Esmae told me about the fire,” Lucy cleared her throat, opening her mouth to speak again but was cut off my Noelle.

“God, it was nothing. I was cooking and the tea towel burst into flames, I blew it out like a candle. Nothing was damaged, it’s no big deal,” she shook her head.

Nodding, Lucy retrieved a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Noelle. “This was on your door.”

Noelle unfolded the paper, already aware of what it was. She’d seen it stuck to her door twice before. Big bold letters at the top of the page informed her that is was her final notice, her rent was due 2 months ago and she had not yet paid it. She had until the end of the week or she and her daughter would be evicted from the apartment.

“You have the money sitting in Esmae’s bank account, why don’t you just pay the rent?” Lucy questioned.

“Because that money isn’t mine, it’s Esmae’s,” Noelle sighed, walking into the kitchen and briefly looking around until her eyes landed on her sunglasses, phone, handbag, and car keys. She shoved everything into her handbag before walking back over to her front door where Lucy waited.

“Landon left that money to you and Esmae, he wouldn’t want to see you suffering like this. If he was here, he’d tell you to pay the rent and spend the money. I know my son,” she folded her arms.

“Yeah, well Landon isn’t here anymore. Esmae needs the money. If anything ever happened to me then at least she has money that is hers to keep her going when she is older,” Noelle replied harshly whilst slipping her shades on. “I’ll ask for a raise at work, I’ll find some way of finding the money. Landon would want Esmae to have a secure future no matter what, I know my fiancée.”

Her words cut through Lucy like a knife. She knew what Landon would have really wanted, but Noelle was blind to the fact that the money was left to her in her name, not Esmae’s.

Landon had always worshiped the ground Noelle walked on, he was so unconditionally in love with her and the fact that they had a child together at a young age made them both almost inseparable. Landon was on a good wage, working as a construction designer for a prestigious company, and so the money he made was placed into a joined bank account in his and Noelle’s name. He always wanted to ensure that she and Esmae had money. When he died, the money was left to her.

The first time Noelle had seen Landon Chapman, she was 15 and working in a café on a beach in California. Landon had wandered in with his parents and being only 1 year older, had taken a shine to his waitress. Every weekend, Landon would return to the café and the pair would sit and talk until the end of Noelle’s shift. On Noelle’s 16th birthday, Landon informed her that he was joining the army and would not be back for a while. Heartbroken, Noelle had refused to say goodbye and told him that she never wanted to see him again. 3 years later, Noelle had just turned 19 and was still working at the same café. Landon had walked through the doors dressed in his army gear and swept Noelle off her feet. He had proposed and the couple decided to move to New York where Landon’s family now lived. It wasn’t soon after the pair began trying for a baby. Noelle had given birth to their gorgeous baby girl, Esmae Chapman, 3 weeks after her 20th birthday. When Noelle turned 23, she began planning her and Landon’s wedding. When she turned 24, she received a knock at the door. 2 policemen informed her that Landon had been stabbed to death by a gang on his way to his car after work. Noelle’s whole world had come crashing down.

That was 3 months and 2 weeks ago. Struggling with life, Noelle had been put on anti-depressants and sleeping pills. Landon’s mother and father, Lucy and Daniel, would help out with Esmae whenever they could. After Landon’s death, her own parents, Karen and George, had moved to New York and bought a house not far from their apartment. Noelle and Esmae needed all the support they could get.

However, 14 weeks later and Noelle was still unable to move on. The days dragged by and it was beginning to get harder and harder for her to cope.

“You need somebody,” Lucy sighed. “You need to move on from Landon. You need to go out and you need to find a man to look after you and Esmae. She can’t grow up without some sort of father figure in her life. Just, think about it.”

Without another word, Lucy left. Noelle was baffled. She needed to move on? She was still grieving.

“Mummy,” Esmae clung to her leg. “Can we go now? I’m hungry.”

Noelle looked down at her daughter. She had Landon’s eyes and nose. But there was no doubt that she had Noelle’s hair and lips. She was truly beautiful.

“Should we go to Starbucks?” Noelle smiled, holding her daughters hand as they left the apartment. She locked the door behind her and they began making their way down the steps.

“I know what I’m going to order!” Esmae jumped up and down. “Hot chocolate with marshmallows and then a cheese and ham Panini!”

Chuckling, Noelle unlocked her blue Renault Clio and buckled Esmae into her car seat before climbing in herself and starting the engine. She carefully backed out of the car park and sped off down the road.

♥♥♥♥♥

“Come on Esmae, eat properly please,” Noelle tried to stop her daughter from eating with her hands. “They give you a knife and fork for a reason.”

“Me and daddy always eat like this,” Esmae replied with a mouthful of food.

Rolling her eyes, Noelle began sipping her coffee. Starbucks wasn’t as busy as usual today, and for that she was thankful. She could relax without having to hear a baby screaming or a loud mouthed women order a ton of food.

“That man is looking at you,” Esmae interrupted Noelle’s thoughts.

“What are you talking about?” She asked, one perfectly shaped eyebrow raised.

Esmae motioned towards a blonde haired man sitting a few tables away from them. “He keeps looking at you and then every time I look at him he looks away. I think he wants to kiss you.”

Noelle shook her head and tried not to laugh at her daughter. “How about you continue stuffing your face so we can get out of here?”

Esmae let out a cute giggle before picking up her Panini and shoving it in her mouth. Noelle glanced to where Esmae had pointed and noticed that the man was in fact staring at her. He quickly looked away, pulling out his phone.

He looked familiar. He had a small amount of stubble across his chin and dirty blonde hair. He was muscly, that’s for sure, and very handsome. For some reason, the hood of the jumper he was wearing was pulled over his head. How strange, she thought, it’s boiling outside.

Turning back to drink her coffee, she noticed it was gone and the disgusted look on Esmae’s face confirmed Noelle’s suspicions that she must of drank the rest thinking it was hot chocolate.

“Don’t like coffee, huh?” She chuckled. “Maybe that will teach you not to take mummy’s stuff without asking.”

Esmae looked straight past Noelle and up at the blonde haired man that was standing directly behind her. Noelle turned around, following her daughters gaze and jumped at the sight of him.

“I’ve been sitting at that table over there,” he pointed to the table he was previously sitting on where she had caught him staring, “for the past half an hour, waiting for you to finish drinking your coffee so I can buy you a new one.”

“Um,” Noelle was shocked. “I’m good thanks, we’re going now anyway.”

“Really?” the guy asked, raising his eyebrow. “You’re going to leave here, knowing that I have just spent 30 minutes of my life drooling over you, without even letting me buy you another drink? You’re going to be that cruel and deny me of the company of you and your lovely little girl?”

Noelle let out a soft chuckle. “I have to give you props for trying, that’s for sure.”

“What’s your name?” he sent her a gorgeous smile which she returned.

“My names Noelle Campbell and this is my daughter, Esmae.”

“Nice to meet you,” he smiled, pulling his hood down. “My names Ryan… Ryan Gosling.”