Antilove

Sei

CAPITOLO SEI

an uninhibited misadventure

***

IT TOOK A LOT erase the previous few days from her mind. Recuperation was spent with the door shut to her room and her taking two sick days and asking Amber to handle her shifts. Lucien didn't seem to understand her behavior but wandered off and did his own activities.

    "Hello? Is Doctor Manning there?" she calls.

    "No, Ms. Kaufman, but I do have you in scheduled for tomorrow. Are you calling to change?" the receptionist asks.

    "No, that's fine. I just had a few questions but I can hold off until then. Thank you," Rose says briefly and hangs up the phone. She shuts her eyes and tucks her hair behind her ear as she hunches over her desk. The surface is remarkably bare and the only objects on it is her fountain pen and her phone.

    The only light present in her room is artificial and she hasn't opened her blinds yet, even though it's past noon. There's absolutely nothing wrong with her but she doesn't care as there's little weight in her obligations. What she finds troublesome is that she's required to attend one of the model's gallery function tonight.

    So she finds herself going to The Grove and picking out an outfit for this evening. Her adoptive mother, Jessica, used to take her to the Farmers Market every weekend and shopping afterwards. Jessica Ramirez was infertile and in vitro was unsuccessful so in order to save her marriage, she adopted Rose when she was five. It worked magically, for the first few years, and just like all things, the bandaid fell apart and Robert re-associated himself as an uncle, rather than a dad. He's left for Denmark but calls back every once in a while and what Rose always found magical was how easy her mom and dad fell back into friendship.

    Rose ends up looking through Barney's, looking at playsuits. She muses over the prices for a bit before biting down and paying at the register. All would be good in a few weeks time, right? Her job gave her many benefits and hanging out with Lucien would only give her more—she found absolute comfort in that as she walks back to the garage with her purchase.

    Once she gets back to her apartment complex, she unties her strappy sandals and goes to her closet to find a suitable bra and a pair of appropriate shoes. Josh is playing music in his room and she—surprisingly—stops at his door to ask him how he's doing.

    "Good," he murmurs, focused on his laptop screen. It's been six months and she doesn't know what he does for a living (or his last name, despite it being printed on the roommate contract) but it seems as if he's not busy today.

    "Do you want to order something to eat?" she asks.

    He pauses what he's doing and slips his headphones off both ears. "With you?"

    "Do you have a problem?"

    "You're like, I don't know, my tenant. I can't be chilling with you," he says and immediately drops his stare.

    "It's not judgement day. Chill," she replies. It doesn't throw her off; she's been known to intimidate every and all of her renters. There are no rules in her household but she's kicked someone out for stumbling in at four in the morning and for slamming their door too loud.

    "Alright. Alright. Let's not make it weird," he says.

    "Get me a chicken-avocado-mango salad," she says and throws the menu at him.

    They settle down on the couch after they've gotten their food and watch whatever's on. Josh sits a few feet away from her and picks at his burger, concentrating hard on the television. Rose discovers that he's into graphic designing and has a hobby for making music. There's little to no room for conversation as he shushes her, too focused on the storyline of Breaking Bad.