"Hey sweetie, I've been waiting for you where have you been? I took the cab from the airport because you weren't answering my calls. I missed you, you know?" Colette hugged Richard and kissed him, as Richard kissed back, Colette noticed something wrong. Richard was acting a little weird, it's as if he was kissing her but his heart was not into it.
"What's wrong Richard? Are you okay sweetheart?"
"Yeah, just tired. How was your trip?"
"It was okay, tiring but okay. You want to rest now? I mean we could catch up tomorrow, if you know what I mean." She wiggled her eyes and laughed.
"Yeah sure. Good night, Colette"
Colette was bothered by Richard's reaction but decided not to confront him. They slept on the same bed but Richard was very far away.
______________________________________________________________________________
"Double scotch please."
Olivia sat down on the bar chair, noticing how the bar looked more crowded than ever, couples dancing on the dance floor, groups of friends who are all struggling to maintain their balance while wearing their stupid looking 4-inch heels, the groups of men trying so hard to get a woman on their bed tonight and of course the good looking guys everywhere she looks, then she took out her cigarette and lighted a stick and puffed some smoke. As the smoke fills up her lungs she exhales and suddenly felt a head rush. After smoking for four years, she still experiences head rush.
She puffs another smoke and it fills her lungs, she did not know what to feel anymore. Or if she can still feel anything at all. She let go of the man that made her happy for the past few months. A lot of things are swarming in her head right now, she is very vulnerable. She was in a very unstable emotional state right now and not even a one night stand can help her get over her problems.
A young man probably in his mid 20s approached her and said "Hey is this seat taken?"
Such a cliché, Olivia thought. That was exactly how she and Richard met 8 months ago.
"Nope. Go ahead." As Olivia was smoking her cigarette, the man asked her if he could buy her a drink.
"Can I buy you a drink... Ugh what's your name?"
"Liv, the name's Liv."
"Yeah, Liv. Can I buy you a drink, Liv?"
"Okay sure."
"I'm Danny by the way."
"Hi Danny." Olivia was clearly uninterested in this man, and she showed no effort in trying to hide it. As the bartender gave Olivia her drink she looked at Danny and said:
"You should know I'm not going to sleep with you and be your mistress until your wife comes back. Okay?"
Dumbfounded, Danny responded "Um, okay. And I am not married and I'm definitely not thinking of sleeping with you."
"Yeah? Okay, just so we're clear and I'm sorry for rambling. I didn't mean that."
Danny and Olivia tried so hard (to no avail) to keep the conversation going until it was time for Olivia to go home.
"Thanks for the company, Danny. I should get going now"
"Yeah sure. You're welcome. Good night, Liv."
As Olivia was about to exit the door Danny held her arm and asked her "Can I at least call you tomorrow?"
"Are you asking for my number?"
"Yep, if it's not too much to ask. But if you don't want to give me your number, I will very much respect that."
"Okay. Here." She got a tissue paper and her tri-pen, wrote her number in black ink, gave it to Danny and left. Never wanting to return to that bar again.
Instead of hauling a cab to go home, like she usually does, she decided to take the long way and rode a bus. After finding a seat beside an old lady wearing a loosely knitted sweater, she took out her iPod and started listening to her favorite playlist. Her realizations were deep, like how deep she had fallen for a married man, and how much the relationship had meant a lot to her, how much Richard had meant a lot to Liv, but she knows that it was over the second Colette's plane landed. Liv was thinking about a lot of things she almost missed her stop.
She went down the bus and walked the remaining distance from the bus stop to her apartment. She missed the times when Richard would walk her home instead of driving her to her apartment, he said it would be a lot longer if he would not take his car and longer time for them to be together.
She knew that this moment would come, she thought she can handle it, but she thought wrong. It destroyed her, not being near Richard, it devastated her, shattered her heart into pieces, yet she was still breathing. Dead but breathing, that was how she felt.
As soon as she entered her apartment her dog, Chloe, wagged her tail and licked Liv's foot. She patted the dog on its head and she made her way to her yellow tiled bathroom to change into sleep wear. As she was about to change her clothes, her phone buzzed and an unregistered number showed up on the screen.
"Hello, who's this?"
"Hi, is this Liv?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry who's this?"
"Hi Liv, it's Danny. From the bar, remember? You gave me your number, and I told you I was going to call tomorrow but I really can't wait so here I am... Calling you."
"Yeah, I remember. What's up, Danny?"
"Nothing, really. I just wanted to hear your voice again. Am I keeping you up? I'm sorry, you must be tired."
"Actually I am. So good night to you, Danny."
"Good night, Liv. Can I call you tomorrow?"
"I don't think that would be a good idea. I have work tomorrow so I guess next time would be better. "
"Oh, is that so? Okay, maybe some other time then?"
"Yeah, maybe some other time. Good night Danny."
"Good night, Liv." Goodbyes were exchanged between the two, Liv dropped her phone somewhere and slept on her queen sized bed. Her thoughts still ran deep and this made her fall into a deep slumber.
Morning came and Liv woke up and headed to her mini walk-in closet, she tried to brush her unruly hair while noticing her eyes are very red and puffy, probably from cryin herself to sleep last night, she brushed the thought because it's still so damn early to think of all the bullsh*t that has been happening in her life right now, and with one final look on her mirror she walked to her kitchen where she finds Chloe sitting on her chair and waiting for her food, so she started preparing her breakfast and Chloe's. She cooked some pancakes and tossed 2 slices of bacon into the other pan. She gave Chloe her dog food, and they ate in unison.
Liv is a perfectionist, she sees to it that everything is in their perfect order, she fixes everything in order and doesn't want her apartment messy. From her kitchen where a cabinet is solely dedicated to her herb spices and condiments, to her living room where her collection of dvds of her favorite series are in order from the first season to the second and so on, the most organized part of her apartment is her room, her books and study table sit at the far end of the room and her queen sized bed is on the opposite side, her bathroom is adjacent to the walk in closet.
After Liv and Chloe ate, she washed everything she used and placed them on the rack. She decided to go to her room and propped herself on her bed, she carried Chloe and put the dog beside her. She opened her phone and found several messages from Danny, he's really very determined, so she decided to reply to his message.
"Hey Danny, what's up? Good morning btw!" She pressed send and settled her phone on her bedside table.
