The next day at work, I arrived super early. I made sure to get up before Jay did and make it out the house before he could even notice that I had been home. When I had arrived home the day before, Jay wasn't there and there was a note saying he was out with his mother. I was in bed when he finally did return.
I wanted to explain the crack in the mirror to Carmen while still being a good employee. I made sure to stop by the nearest Starbucks and pick up her favorite coffee drink. I had it waiting for her when she arrived...thirty minutes late.
I stood in front of her with my hands on my hips silently demanding an explanation. She only sighed dreamily and moved passed me barely noticing the world around her.
"Carmen!" I called out to her and it shook her slightly out of her trance. She turned to face me still with a blissful smile on her face.
"If I didn't know he was your son, I would say that you were falling in love."
"Oh Evie," she cooed as if I was a naïve little child. "I am in love! I'm in love with my beautiful baby boy only he's not a baby anymore."
I groaned aloud and she began to twirl around with her coffee and hum on her way to the dressing room. I followed her and stood with my arms crossed as she got into her work clothes.
"You didn't spend the night here." It wasn't a question. I noticed it right away that the extra bed had not been touched since the night before. I also noticed when Carmen was nowhere to be found this morning.
"No," Carmen agreed. "I have even more good news! My renovations are moving along faster than expected! The master bedroom is done but the guest room isn't quite there yet."
I ground my teeth together in irritation. "Your life is just so peachy right now huh?"
"You have no idea," Carmen stated. I sighed running both of my hands through my hair. I needed to push all my personal feelings aside about Carmen and her life.
"Carmen, I need to talk to you for a moment." I tried to turn this into a serious note. I had to tell Carmen about the mirror since she hadn't noticed it on the way in. I didn't know why she hadn't fallen to the ground in horror at the sight of the large crack. This studio was Carmen's baby or at least it was until she found her actual baby.
"Anything Eves," Carmen said as she pulled on her shoes. Her back was toward me and she seemed not to have a care in the world.
"It's a serious matter." Carmen still didn't turn toward me. She didn't seem to have the slightest interest in what I had to say. "I broke on of the middle mirrors on the right wall."
"That's nice," she mumbled to herself.
My jaw dropped as I gaped at the back of her head. I would have bet my life that Carmen would've chewed my head off for even thinking about breaking one of her mirrors. This studio was her life and after two days with her son she was ready to forget about all of that? What the heck was that boy doing to her?
"That's nice?" I asked walking over to make eye contact with her. "I break a mirror and that's nice? What is wrong with you?"
Carmen set her foot down and gave me a frustrated sigh as if she was blaming me for not understanding her reasoning. "We've needed new mirrors for quite a while now. I can't think of a better reason to get some now."
"New mirrors?" I wondered aloud. This was the first I had ever heard of that. "Just last week you made me stay after work to polish all the mirrors because, and I quote, 'there is nothing wrong with the old structure of things'."
"Well now there is something wrong with the structure of the mirror, isn't there?"
I bit my lip. I had never had a serious argument with Carmen before. I felt like I was seeing a new side of her.
"Those mirrors have been here since you bought the place. They give the studio character!"
Carmen shrugged unaffected by my statements. "Perhaps we need a new character for this place. We could get all new mirrors, and floors, and Bares!"
"Perhaps?" I asked scoffing a bit. "You won't even buy a new CD player but you're okay with redoing the whole place? Something has seriously gotten into you."
Carmen full on glared at me. "Nothing has changed Evelyn."
I narrowed my eyes challenging her to prove me wrong. She only mimicked my expression and stood firm. Finally I grunted and ripped off my ballet skirt. I threw it down onto the floor and grabbed my gym bag.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Home," I replied harshly.
Carmen gasped slightly as if she had only just realized the situation. "You never leave work!"
I stopped before the door out to the studio. I paused with one hand on the door ready to push it open and leave this place before work was over for the first time. I glanced over my shoulder at Carmen who seemed completely lost.
"Yeah well...neither had you."
I turned back around and took a deep breath before emerging back out to the studio. The various little girls in pink outfits shouted my name. I smiled back at them waving to them as I made my exit.
"Are you leaving?"
I turned around sharply and looked down to see two big green eyes. Katrina stared up at me with a curious expression. I kneeled down to her level and gave her a huge reassuring grin.
"Just for today. Can you tell your mommy that I will see her next time?"
Katrina nodded seriously taking in every word. "Okay."
I patted her head and turned her around to gently push her back to her group. She wobbled over to her little toddler friends and continued with her twirls and spins. Carmen emerged from the locker room on the opposite end of the studio. We made eye contact as I stood back up. She looked ashamed as she reached out for me. Before she could call my name, one of the girls approached her drawing her attention away from me.
With Carmen occupied, I turned sharply on my heel and made my way out of there as fast as I could. I signaled for the nearest cab and hurried home very anxious to put all of this drama behind me.
Outside my apartment I struggled with my keys for about five minutes. I became so frustrated with myself that I finally just pounded on the door with both of my fists. I leaned my head against the door and closed my eyes sulking in my own sorrow. I was more than surprised with the door opened and I had to take a step to keep myself from falling forward.
Jay held out his hands as if he was prepared to catch me but he dropped them when he realized that I was alright. I gave him one look then scurried off to my room slamming the door shut before he could follow behind not that he showed the slightest interest in me. I threw down my gym bag and flopped down on my bed before untying my ballet shoes and pulling out my hair from its ponytail.
I sighed as I stared up at my plain white ceiling. Now what? I had never gone home early from work without having a reason to like some appointment of some sort. A soft mew came from my right and I turned my head to glance at Theo. He was curled up on my pillow as that was his usual napping spot. His tail was tapping up and down as if he was annoyed with my presence.
"I don't want to be here either," I told him quietly. "But Carmen's being a bitch."
Theo meowed in protest.
"Sorry, she's being a jerk," I corrected. "I didn't know what to do."
There was a soft knock at my door. Theo looked over at the sound the same time I did. It could only be one person and it was one person I wasn't feeling like dealing with at the moment.
"Can I help you?" I shouted harshly. I was met with a few moments of silence before the knocking started up again. I glared toward the door and just went back to lying on my bed but the knocking didn't let up.
"Just come in already!"
My door handle jiggled slightly before I heard the hinges creak slightly.
"I sense that you are not having a great day," Jay commented slowly.
I gave him a look. "Really? What gave you that idea?"
Jay took a brave step into the room and closed the door behind him. "The glare you gave me and the slamming of your door were a sufficient clues."
I rolled over onto my stomach and rested my chin on my crossed arms so I was facing away from the door and Jay. "I don't want to talk about it with you."
Jay faltered a bit and I heard him shift his weight from one foot to the other. "Talking about it could make you feel better."
I sat up on the bed and faced him. "It's your fault!"
"My fault?" Jay asked as his hand pointed to his chest. "I swear to you that I have done nothing."
"Nothing?" I gave him a hard laugh. "My boss has gone completely off the deep end because of you. She's all turned upside down just because you came into her life. Before you came, she wouldn't have even dreamed of taking a day off of work or anyone harming her studio. Then after two days with you, she's doesn't care anymore. What did you do to her?"
"Evie," Jay began. I held up my hand and shook my head.
"You have no right to be familiar with me. I don't even know you!"
Jay's normally playful expression hardened a bit as it fell. "Okay then, why don't you get to know me?"
"I have no interest what so ever in getting to know you. As far as I'm concerned, you're just here because I'm doing my boss a favor. If she continues to be in this weird mood then she won't be my boss for long and you'll need a new place to stay."
Jay nodded wordlessly opening the door and exiting the room. I plopped back down on my mattress and sighed. Theo meowed once again and I faced him.
"Am I ruining your nap time?" I cooed. He responded by setting his head between his paws and half snorting. "Sorry."
I realized that I must have fallen asleep sometime in the next few minutes. The next thing I knew, I was waking up to a wonderful mouth-watering smell. I found myself rising from my mattress and floating into my kitchen without a second thought.
Jay wasn't anywhere to be seen initially but there was a steaming bowl of some kind of soup sitting on my table. The place was set out with a spoon and a fork resting on a napkin next to the bowl and the chair was pulled out slightly. There was a note sitting in front of the whole arrangement. I picked up and scanned over its surprisingly neat print.
"Hey, I went out with my mother and probably won't be back until later."
I scoffed and considered throwing the note and food out. For all I knew the food could have been poisoned.
"I promise to talk to her about what you said. I made some dinner but you were passed out. I hope you like! - Jay"
I stared at the small print in wonder. What exactly was this guy's angle?
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A/N: Wow a week later. Sorry, I know I'm a failure. I hope this chapter will do until the next update whenever I can manage that. I'm glad you all are a fan of Jay. I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot of him.