nineteen (Jonathan Toews)

four

The next day, I slept in since I didn't have a job to wake up early for. Around 9 I finally got up and started my day. Before noon I had applied for several of the jobs I found last night and was feeling productive.

Ryan got home late last night and left early this morning so I didn't get a chance to tell him about losing my job yet. Maybe I would surprise him for lunch and tell him then.

I got dressed and drove over to his office around 12:30. Hopefully he hadn't eaten yet. I went to the receptionist and asked to see him. I sat on the couches in the waiting room. He worked at an advertising agency so they were busy a lot.

He came out of his office a few minutes later adjusting his tie. "Hey Alex, what are you doing here?" He asked as I stood up and he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

I smiled. "I thought I would come surprise you and take you out to lunch, you know, get away from the office a bit."

He gave me a grin. "Sure, let me just go get my things. I'll be right back."

I drove us to a small restaurant nearby. "So any particular reason you decided to surprise me?" he asked after we ordered our food.

I sighed. "Well there's something I want to tell you. Yesterday I-well, they fired me," I said bluntly.

Ryan almost choked on his drink. "What?!" He coughed. "What do you mean you got fired?"

"Look, I know it's hard but don't worry I already applied to other places," I tried to reason with him.

He ran his hands through his hair. "Alex, this is a big deal. If you can't find a job soon we won't be able to afford the apartment. I can't pay for everything myself."

"We have savings we can use if we really need to. And worse comes to worse, we just move to a smaller place until I get back on my feet," I explained.

He sighed. "Why don't you see how big of a deal this is? You lost your job. Why did you get fired?"

"They said they found someone better, it's not like I did something wrong." I rolled my eyes. "I'm doing just fine, by the way," I said with a snarky attitude. I can't believe all he cares about is the money.

"Excuse me for being realistic," he all but yelled.

"Lower your voice, were in public," I reminded him.

Ryan ran his fingers through his hair. "You know what? No, I'm not going to lower my voice. I don't know how you can be so calm about this." He stood up and grabbed his coat. "I've gotta get back to the office."

With that, he left the restaurant. I sat in the booth by myself trying not to get too upset. The waiter came back with our food. Good timing.

"Actually, can I have these wrapped up?" I asked and he walked away again.

I got the food and paid before leaving. I guess Ryan took a cab or the bus back to his work. I got in my car and made the 30 minute drive home with the radio playing softly.

---

I made myself dinner later that night. Ryan wasn't home yet so I assumed he went out for a little bit. I really wished he would come home soon so we could talk about what happened earlier today.

As I was washing my dishes I heard him walk through the front door. I didn't say anything, waiting for him to apologize for the way he treated me today. I heard him come closer to me and soon felt his hands on my shoulders.

"Hi," he kissed my cheek. "What did you have for dinner?"

I shrugged and continued washing dishes. "Just some leftovers," I said. Time to turn on the passive aggressiveness.

He got some food out for himself and began eating. He didn't acknowledge what happened earlier today. I was still waiting for an apology.

After a couple seconds I realized he wasn't going to say anything so I sat on the couch and watched a little bit of Chicago Fire. I started to get tired so I went upstairs and got ready for bed.

I left the lamp on by my bedside and read my book. Ryan came in shortly after. He changed and got in bed.

"Oh, you're sleeping on the couch," I said casually, not looking up from my book.

"What?" He asked in disbelief.

I turned another page. "I'm not repeating myself." He's not going to get away with embarrassing me and yelling at me in public that easy.

"Why am I sleeping on the couch?" He stood up and came around to my side of the bed.

"I think you know why." If he thinks it's okay to treat me like that then he's so wrong. Ryan scoffed and grabbed his pillow and a blanket once he realized I wasn't going to budge on this.

He left and I put my book down and rubbed my temples. I grabbed my phone and called Jonathan, but he didn't answer. I was going to need another job soon, but I didn't want to apply to other places in case the trainer job with the Blackhawks was open. That would be my dream job, working alongside my best friends every day. I decided to go to bed and deal with this mess in the morning.

---

hey everyone!

the past 2 weeks have been so busy for me oh my god. i took the ACT last weekend and it killed my brain lol

also is anyone else blackhawks deprived rn? ik this break is only a week but i miss watching them play already. thank god i recorded their game against the oilers bc i watched it again last night haha!!