Unrestrained Desires

Chapter 3- Tea, shoes and men

My alarm blared out, and I groaned and sat up, pressing my palms into my eyes trying to reach the dull ache settled behind them. Cindy and I had spent the remainder of the night gossiping, she'd gotten a taxi back to her apartment and I'd just about made it to my bed before falling straight asleep. Notice, no drinking of water underwent, and now my body was thanking me for that. I slid out of bed and planted my feet on the cold wooden floor trying to focus on the cool slats and not the nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Trudging to the sink I got myself a large glass of water and forced myself to drink it, I didn't care if it would make me bloated, my brain needed it. I picked out one of my looser suites and to make myself feel better chose my most expensive heels to go with them.

Half an hour later, after a relatively healthy (and absorbent) breakfast of porridge and jam, I stepped out into the brisk London air and made my way to the train station, proud of myself for fighting the urge to call in sick. Not that I would ever do that. I stepped onto the train 20 minutes later and headed for my usual seat opposite Sarah and Johnathan in the third carriage, noting that Sarah had decided to spice up her usual attire by adding a fluorescent pink cardigan. Lovely, just what my eyes needed this morning. I tried to compose myself; I would not be the hungover one on the train. To distract myself I focused on Sarah's conversation, low and behold this time it wasn't about their cat. I perked up. Maybe I'd gain a little more information to work with when I'm creating their backstories.

"So, have you figured out what you're going to wear yet? The wedding is in two weeks you know", I turned my head slightly so I could see them in my peripheral vision. "You know I don't like planning that sort of thing" replied a disgruntled Johnathan, I blinked, they were always so lovey-dovey on the train. "Oh I know you don't sweetie" and she nudged him with her knee, "but you should put some effort into it, he is your son after all". My mouth opened slightly and I internally squealed, they had a son! That blew my current life stories for them out the window. I wonder if he was like them, at the very least, he must be a bit quirky. The train began to pull into Euston, never had a train ride gone so fast. Frowning I stood up and slowly drifted to the door trying to catch more of their conversation but the train screeched on its tracks and I gave up.

I stepped onto the platform admiring my shoes, paired with the new backstories for Johnathan and Sarah whizzing through my brain I was striding more confidently past the shop windows in the station. I made it to the firm early and strode into my office, confident that I wouldn't let Sean get the better of me today. I sat down in my swivel chair and got out the small stack of case files I had left to look over before the week was done.

A couple of hours into a solid case I was taking a look at and I was not coping well, the headache I had diminished this morning had made a vicious comeback, and I needed a break. Standing up I pushed my swivel chair away and left my office to walk down the kitchen. Time for some tea. I chose the biggest mug and took my time choosing a herbal tea for a change, settling on jasmine I poured boiling water on it, and made my way back to my office excited to indulge myself in the exotic sounding drink. I stared into the cup while walking, poking at the murky coloured teabag with my spoon, suddenly my shoulder came into sharp contact with a hard object, reeling, my tea fell to the floor and the boiling water coated the tips of my shoes narrowly missing the exposed section of my feet. I gasped and took a couple of steps back, my head whipping up to meet the smirking face of none other than Sean. I stood there with my mouth open for another couple of seconds panting while the tea soaked into my shoes warming my toes, "Oh! Sorry El! You know how clumsy I can be, let me get you some tissue for that" he strolled off leisurely down the hall to the kitchen and I slumped against the wall and stared at my ruined shoes, my eyes smarting.

I bent down, picked up my wet mug, and walked quickly back to my office- I would not stand dithering in the hallway crying like some sop. I would dither and cry within the privacy of my own office. I went back and shut the door leaning on it with a sigh, allowing a couple of fat tears to drip down my chin. God I'm such a wuss, I feebly thought, cursing myself for not at least shouting at Sean. I had had enough, I could finish the report at home. I folded up the files and grabbed my handbag and my coat, signing out early for the first ever time. I strutted down the hall, my damp shoes rubbing my ankles, and stepped neatly over the sad-looking wet puddle of jasmine tea. Sniffing again I held my head high as I walked past the kitchen where Sean was flirting with the secretary and just about made it to the elevator before the tears started flowing again. To distract myself I focused on finding some ibuprofen from my handbag to dull the ache that had taken over my entire frontal lobe, and got my phone out of the side pocket to send Cindy a 'please come round to my house with wine later' text.