"Noel"
Transitioning back to everyday life seemed to go as smoothly as I thought it should considering the circumstances I had put myself through. I had only been back to work for two days which was uneventful since they had me on training wheels. I was mainly doing paperwork, filing records, and being checked on for eight hours or helping with the training of more junior Nurse Anesthetist in the hospital.
"Chloe how's the job search going," I asked walking into my living room which I was overpaying for by several hundred dollars a month. She was typing on her computer furiously, using her multi-chrome covered nails to slam into the keyboard. Her hair was in a loose ponytail, and her eyes were red probably from looking at the screen all night.
"You need to sleep," I said to her which only got her to look up at me for a second before turning back to her computer.
"We have that party later, how about you worry about that and I'll worry about me," she said to me with an annoyed voice. She didn't have to find work so fast since I could afford to get us both along, but she was determined to get back into her career field, and there was very little I could do to convince her to calm down her efforts. The best I could do was make sure she remained healthy.
"Well sorry," I responded enunciating the sorry before sitting on my couch and turning on the television which showed the home screen of the Will & Grace DVD that I had been watching before.
"Gaaaaaaayyyyyy," Chloe said without looking up at me.
"Biiiittttcccccchhh," I whispered back at here.
"What was that," she responded quickly having heard my retort.
"Nothing," I said with a smile knowing she'd cuss me out if I decided to go back and forth with her.
"Did you sleep well, it's already three you've been out for a while," she said in between typing on the computer. There was concern peppered into her tone.
"I slept well, I didn't do much but paperwork," I said to her before turning the television off.
"I slept for a little while, and you should get dressed we have to leave in an hour."
"I'm already dressed," I said in a low voice while looking down at my skinny black jeans plain white shirt and a tan cardigan. I thought I looked cute but understated. I had worn this exact outfit out many times before and nobody had said anything negative about it.
"Well we don't pay you to think now do we," she responded.
"There's nothing wrong with this," I said coming to my own defense.
"Sure," she responded before closing the computer and standing up.
"I'm going to go put some actual effort into getting ready for a celebration of you," Chloe said before leaving to my room and closing the door. I rolled my eyes before sucking my teeth. I knew she would take a while, so I closed my eyes to get some rest. After a while, I felt my sister shaking my shoulder waking me up.
"Come on," she said to me. I looked at her and saw that she was wearing a skin-tight dress that was just a shade lighter than her skin tone with matching shoes. Her hair was freshly done, and she smelled like my vanilla scented body mist. I wondered how cold she would be later.
"Do I have to go," I asked her with a pleading look.
"Yes we already confirmed we were coming to the party, that's meant for you, get up you're driving," she said pulling me up to my feet.
I got up mumbling all the way to the fire station until I was inside surrounded by people day drinking. I hated having to greet people, but I powered through it. The firemen and women seemed to have no limit when it came to alcohol. They were tossing vodka shots back like they were nothing. Chloe unlike me was thriving in the environment. It was like she hadn't just been stressing over finding a job. Chloe had always been a social butterfly. In every foster home, she managed to get everyone to like her if not genuinely care about her. It was a skill she cultivated out of necessity. I, on the other hand, preferred to stay under the radar. You can't hate a person who doesn't bother you.
"You look like you're having a great time, I hope you caught the sarcasm," A deep voice rang in my ear. A warm shiver ran along my skin as the person's voice sent vibrations down my body. I immediately knew who it belonged to even though I hadn't heard it in a month. I turned seeing Austin standing over me with a smile on his face.
"Sorry, I'm not a partier or much of a drinker," I apologized.
"Come with me then, I have the night shift, so I have to be sober," He said before turning to walk away. About threes steps away he turned back to me "well come on."
I shrugged before walking behind him. He ended up leading me upstairs and around corners until we got to another smaller set of stairs which were steep for me to navigate since I only stood at five seven. By the time we got up then I was a bit winded.
"This is my favorite part of the station," Austin said while opening the door up. A cool breeze blew past me as we walked through the open doorway.
"It's always calming up here, where's your place. You know the place you go to get away from the chaos of everyday life," he said while walking over to a circle of plastic lawn chairs that were near the edge of the building. I could see the beautiful city around us in plain view which was amazing.
"Well it was the place you rescued me from," I said to him forlorn at the memory of my old retreat.
"That's unfortunate, so you went there a lot," He asked me as he took a seat. I walked to the other side of the circle and taking place on the cold hard plastic.
"Yeah it was my place, every work day I was there. It was the first place I went to when I moved here," I said to him. I turned and glanced over at the skyscrapers that surrounded us.
"You don't go to eat with your coworkers or friends," Austin said drawing attention back to him. He was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt with jeans that weren't super fitting but weren't baggy either.
"I'm not...social," I said in a low tone of voice but just loud enough for me to not have to repeat the sentence.
"Why not," he asked looking at me directly in the eye. He was giving me his full attention as we conversed. It was almost intimidating to have such a good looking man paying such close attention to everything I was doing. I could feel him watching my mannerisms. I felt like I was on display for him and tried to give my best performance as a normal person.
"I don't know," I answered.
"I have a personal question to ask you, and I don't want you to get offended," He said his eyes still locked on mine.
"Uh sure," I said nervously. Mentally I was geared to be defensive about anything he was going to ask me.
"When we found you, you were laying close to the door, and you had a smile on your face like you were at peace. I just want to know did you try to save yourself or were you... Content," Austin asked me with concern, he paused while speaking as if to frame his words in a way not to upset me. I just looked at him taken aback by what he just said.
"I don't know what you mean," I said to him.
"You said you wouldn't get offended."
"You just accused me of trying to die," I shot back at him while crisis g my arms over my chest.
"No, I'm asking if you're okay. You don't seem like you have any friends other than your sister and I think you have a brother. I just wanted to know...what makes you whole," He spoke in a highly concerned voice.
"I'm fine; I was too tired to save myself and laid down. That's what happened. For your information, I don't need anyone but my family to make me feel whole," I spoke aloud.
"You can't lie," he said to me making me look at him with anger.
"You don't know me," I said.
"Which should tell you how bad of a liar you are," He said while leaning back.
"You're right I don't know you, but I'd like to if you'd let me. We could both use some more friends," He continued and flashed me a smile.
"I'm good," I said and started to stand up.
"You like dogs," he said out of nowhere.
"What," I asked him standing up completely knowing my face was red and contorted.
"I'm going to volunteer at this dog shelter next weekend. I want you to join me, we'll be working so we won't be able to talk too much," Austin said getting up too.
"He'll be there," the voice of my sister with a slight slur appeared at the door.
"Chole shut up," I said annoyed wonder g how she even managed to climb up here in her state.
"Austin I'll send you his number, you should see his house he still has the stock pictures in some of the frames. Anyway, I just got an interview for tomorrow so we have to go so I can sleep this off," she said walking over to me and dragging me away from Austin who had a smile on his face as he waved.