Goodnight Moon

17- It's What I Do Best

I don’t work out on Sunday and it makes me feel like a slug. I’m not one for excuses when it comes to working out because I just feel like a lazy lump if I don’t work out once a week. Once a week is both my minimum and my maximum because I’m too lazy to work out more than once but I hate this sluggish feeling that I get if I don’t work out at all.

However, I feel like absolute crap no matter what and just forcing myself to go over to the gym that’s just down the hall is too much for me today. Forcing myself to go down to the kitchen to eat proved to be too much for me today as well, so I made a phone call early in the morning, just as I woke up.

“The Jane residence, Henry speaking,” Henry Jane answers the phone. His wife, Heather Jane, has both a beautiful name and a beautiful talent in the art of cooking. When my dad is home, he often hires her to cook a family meal because all three of us are completely clueless when it comes to the kitchen for the most part. However, Heather doesn’t just cook, she absolutely loves to grandmother me and Adan when she’s here. She cleans up and brings us food and it’s all wonderful. Heather Jane is an amazing women and the perfect person to spend this craptastic day with.

“Hello, Mr. Jane,” I sigh into the phone, putting on my happy voice for the nice middle-aged man. “Is Mrs. Jane home?”

“Yes, just a moment,” He confirms and then there’s a static silence before Heather is on the line.

“This is Heather,” She pipes.

“Hi, Heather,” I chirp, trying to sound polite and happy although it’s hard because I’m just waking up and I’m also in an awful mood. “Are you busy today?”

“Ariel? Oh dear, I am never too busy to spend some time with my favorite client. Is your father home again?” She wonders on the other end in her ever present happy tone that just makes me want to smile and most of the time, I do, but this time, I don’t.

“No,” I deny. “It’s just me but I’ve had a long weekend and I’d like to both stay in bed and also eat my feelings. Can you help?”

“I will be there in a jiffy,” She chirps.

In the perfect situation, when I’m feeling this shitty about something, I would call my best friend and she’d make me feel better with ice cream and cheesy 80’s movies. However, this obviously isn’t the perfect situation and I’m tired of making excuses for Leda and forgiving her all of the time. I understand that she wants me and Lake to get together, that’s fine for her to want. However, it is not okay for her to tell Lake something that I told her in secrecy. That’s one of the first rules in the girl code. Maybe it’s not the first one, but it’s sure up there at the top. She is just trying to get what she wants, no matter who gets hurt, even if she says that she’s doing it for me. I’m not the one who wanted me and Lake together, she wants it more than anybody. So, I cannot call my best friend and ask her to binge with me and that sucks so much.

Heather arrives at the house and then cooks for half an hour before bringing it all up to my room as I’m watching Stuck in Love with my laptop on my lap and my phone to my side with a whole bunch of ignored texts from both Leda and Lake.

“Here you go, Ariel, I brought you your favorite- pancakes with Nutella and a side of bacon,” She chirps, carrying the tray of food into the room. I shut my laptop and push it to the side as I take the tray of food and put it on my lap where my laptop just was.

“Thank you, Heather. I really appreciate this, especially coming on such a short notice,” I tell her gratefully. She really is an amazing person and even though I haven’t seen her in a few months, she still acts like a grandmother to me and I love that so much, especially because she’s not really old enough to be my grandmother. She’s actually only a few years older than my dad. I also love it because my dad’s grandma passed away before I was born so I never got to meet her at all.