by Sam Mariano
While she would never admit it, Julie would be lying if she tried to deny that she thought Matt's ass looked good in blue plaid pajama pants.
"Nana!" Anna said when she saw Julie, throwing the puppet aside and reaching out her arms.
Julie grinned, walking over to the baby. "Well, don't you look like a princess over here."
Anna smiled at Julie and held her arms out until Julie scooped her up, then Anna buried her face in Julie's neck and rubbed her eye with her tiny fist.
Julie pressed a kiss to Anna's forehead. "What's wrong, baby girl?"
Frowning in a very perturbed manner, Anna squealed and babbled a little bit, as if telling Julie what had happened.
"You lost your puppy?" Julie asked.
"Na na na," Anna said, shaking her pretty little head.
Julie couldn't help smiling and hugging the little girl. "Well, I'm going to find your puppy, okay? Why don't I take you to your bed and you can relax a little while I find your puppy? When I find him, I'll bring him in to you."
The baby looked skeptical, but in the end she did let Julie haul her up to her crib, and she didn't cry, so Julie assumed it was safe to go search for the lost toy.
"I'm really sorry for bothering you so late," Matt said to her. "I just didn't know what else to do. I have turned this apartment upside down looking for that damn dog, and I don't know where it could be. I've looked under every piece of furniture, in the kitchen cupboards, in the bathtub. She kept pointing toward the kitchen and it sounded like she was trying to say bath, so I looked in every nook and cranny. Then I remembered you said you guys played salon and ‘bathed’ the animals and did their hair, so I thought she tried to give him a bath, but—"
"She did like the baths," Julie cut him off with a smile.
"Yeah, but it wasn't in the tub, I already checked."
“She said bath?” Julie grinned widely and motioned for him to follow her. "Come with me."
Matt seemed confused, but he followed her anyway.
She led him into the laundry room where she paused and took a survey of the area. There were two laundry baskets, one full of baby clothes, the other full of adult clothes. Julie crouched down and dug through the baby clothes first, but when she got to the bottom she just moved on to the next basket. Matt didn't say anything until she finally said, "Aha!" and pulled out the blue puppy with a dirty sock on his nose.
"You found it," he said as if she had cured cancer.
Julie nodded. "We didn’t do stuffed animal baths in the tub. The other day she got applesauce on his ear and I told her I would give him a bath. She saw me put him in the washer and got upset that he disappeared, which is why I made a game out of giving the other animals ‘baths’ in the laundry basket. I can only assume she was trying to give puppy a bath and then she got pulled away from the task and the puppy was left behind."
He took the puppy, a look of relief all over his face. "Thank you."
Julie chuckled. "You're welcome. I'm going to run this to her so she can go to sleep," Julie said.
"Okay," Matt said, sitting down on the couch, heaving a sigh of relief.
Julie took Anna's puppy to her room, and Anna was happy to see her favorite toy, grabbing it and holding it close. She closed her little eyes and started to fall asleep before Julie even left the room.
Returning to the living room, Julie saw Matt half lying on the couch, one arm outstretched across the back of the sofa, the other one covering his eyes.
"Tired?" Julie asked with a little smile.
"So tired," he said. "I've had a long day, and it isn't going to get any better tomorrow. I have to get up in four hours and I haven't even been asleep yet. I've done it before, but it just… gets on my fucking nerves," he muttered.
Julie sat down on the couch, feeling sympathetic. "Long day at work?"
"No, work is pretty much the highlight," he said. "It's Emma, she doesn't seem to understand that she's a parent, too, and it isn’t a job you can just do whenever you feel like it. It’s constant, it’s all the time, every day, no set hours or vacation time. She doesn't care. I should’ve known better, I mean, Emma’s never been a maternal person, but… I don’t know. She isn't concerned with the fact that I have a job, that I can't be expected to just drop everything on a dime according to her whims."
"Where is she?" Julie asked a bit cautiously.
"Oh, she's in New York. She took an early flight. She decided she had to leave Wednesday instead. I don't personally care what the hell she does anymore, but I wish she would just make up her damn mind."
Unsure of what to say, Julie just bit her lip.
Matt looked at Julie. "I'm sorry, I'm ranting," he realized.
"No, it's fine," she assured him with a friendly smile. "Rant away, get it out. I don't mind."
But he just shook his head, his gaze staying on her. "So, tell me, why are you here?"
"To… help you find the puppy."
"I know, but it's three in the morning. Surely your boyfriend wasn't pushing you out the door when you told him you were going to someone's house at three in the morning."
Julie sighed, figuring since he had shared some of his issues, she could, too.
"My boyfriend is an asshole," she stated. "I'm not overly concerned with what he wants. I spent the past four hours watching him and some other girl flirt like crazy and probably have sex in their minds, and I don't even know why. I don't know if he's pouting because I study, throwing a tantrum because I have a job. I don't know what his issue is, but he obviously has one. Or maybe he's just getting bored with me. He thought this would be more fun and he sees that it isn't, so he wants to screw around."
He seemed to think about this for a couple seconds, then he nodded. "Yeah, your boyfriend is an ass. I kind of thought that already."
"I was worried about this when I agreed to transfer here. Jack… is not known for his enormous attention span. He loves the chase and he likes the newness of a relationship, but when there's no more chasing that needs to be done and it's not new anymore… he doesn’t put in any effort, he just strays. He loses interest. He's like a spoiled child; once he gets the toy he begged for he tosses it aside and wants a new one."
"Well, you're no toy, Julie," Matt informed her.
"In Jack's world, we're all just toys," Julie said, half-smiling.
As if he could sense that he was being talked about, Julie's phone started to ring and she knew it could only be Jack
"Hello?" she answered, her tone less than friendly.
"Where are you?"
"I already told you," she stated.
"You're still there?"
"Yes, and I'm being rude. I will talk to you when I get home."
"Are you mad at me or something?" he asked stupidly.
"Are you serious?" she asked in disbelief.
"I didn't do anything," he whined.
"I already told you we can talk about this later. I have to go."
"Come home," he said in a more conciliatory tone.
"I will when I feel like it," she returned stubbornly.
He scoffed. "Whatever, Julie."
"Bye, Jack," she said, flipping her phone shut.
When she looked up she saw Matt with a slight grimace on his face. "Good talk?" he asked rhetorically.
She smiled sardonically. "Without a doubt. I better go. You get yourself some sleep," she advised.
"Yes, ma'am."
Julie smiled. "I'll see you later."
The whole way home Julie dreaded getting back to the apartment, and she took her time, thinking about things she had to do for school, what she might do with Anna next time she watched her. Then her thoughts drifted to that family, to Matt and Emma.
What kind of marriage did they really have? Why would such a young couple be so…unhappy? Why would they stay in such a seemingly dissatisfying relationship?
She promptly ended any such questioning shortly before she got to her apartment door, reasoning that it was really none of her business a
nyway.
Julie had been prepared to enter her apartment and find Jack sulking inside.
However, when she got inside, she was the only person in the apartment.
At first she was angry, livid even, wanting to call him and bitch him out.
It only took a few seconds for her anger to leave, in its place a vague sense of relief that she could just go to sleep without having to worry about their fight or anything else.
So that's exactly what she did.
Chapter Five-
Julie was gone by the time Jack got home the next day, and she left a little early just to make sure that happened.
At about 5:30 she got a phone call from Matt, telling her he was really sorry, but he was running late.
"Oh, don't worry about it," she said, shifting Anna on her hip. "I was just going to stop and pick up a movie I need for class on my way home. I'll just take Anna with me, it's no big deal."
"A movie for class, huh?" he asked. "Sounds like a blast."
Julie smiled. "Well, it's for my humanities class. Girl with a Pearl Earring, it's based on the painting by Jan Vermeer. We watched a video in class about Vermeer, but my professor said we should check out the movie if we got the chance, he said it was really good, so…"
"I remember hearing of it, but I never watched it. Isn't that Scarlett Johansson?"
Julie rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Of course you know that it's Scarlett Johansson. What a typical guy."
"And Colin Firth," Matt added. "He's really sexy."
She let out a giggle at the unexpected comment. "Well, yes. I guess it's kind of a story about the painting, probably not historically accurate, but it still makes it more fun whether it's true or not."
"So it's not just a guy painting a picture?"
"I sure hope not. I don't exactly know what the plot is, but… my humanities professor told me I should watch it and so far Vermeer is boring me to tears with his domestic pictures and reclusiveness. Just last week I got to study Da Vinci with his peculiar interest in dissecting corpses and taking school-aged children as lovers, and this week I have to watch a dumb video about this Vermeer guy living in this little town in Holland and never leaving, just painting pictures of servants and family members."
"Aw, poor baby," he joked.
"He’s so boring," she complained. “You don’t understand.”
Now it was Matt's turn to chuckle. "I'm just teasing you. So, when are you going to watch this movie?"
"I don't know, that will depend," she said, not really wanting to talk about Jack.
He seemed to understand. "Well, as interesting as you've made this sound, I do have a big screen TV and nothing to do once Anna goes to bed. If you want to stick around…"
"Really?" she asked, brightening at the prospect of actually having someone to watch the movie with.
"Yeah. I mean, unless of course you don't want to. I'm a big boy, I'm sure I can find something to entertain myself with, I just thought—"
"No," she interrupted. "Yeah, that sounds great. I'd rather do that anyway. Fair warning, it might be boring. But hey, I guess this way if it is really boring I have you to talk to."
"Aw, I'm second only to a Dutch recluse. That's sweet, Julie, I had no idea you felt that way about me."
She found herself laughing again, but Anna was starting to yank at the cell phone. "Well, your angelic little daughter is starting to object to this cell phone on my ear, so…"
"I will let you go and see you when I get home. Want me to bring some pizza?"
"Amazing idea," she stated.
"I'm full of them tonight. Talk to you later," he said.
"Okay, bye," she said, smiling even though he couldn't see her.
That night came quickly and Julie didn't hear from Jack. She wasn't very worried about it though, because Matt brought pizza and they popped in the movie as soon as Anna was in bed. Jack wasn’t on her mind at all.
When the movie first started Julie thought it was going to be boring, because it started without a very interesting plot. As the movie progressed, however, she got a little more plot than she bargained for.
Scarlett Johansson's character, Griet, became a maid in Johannes (Jan) Vermeer's household. The wife was a bit shrewish, didn't seem to care for Griet, and as the story moved along Griet and Jan developed a sort of relationship.
It may have been a little more comfortable to watch a movie about a young girl who went to work for a wealthier family than hers and falling in love with the husband/father along the way…if Julie herself wasn’t a nanny sitting on the couch watching a movie with her own male head of the house while his beautiful but shrewish wife was off in New York.
She thought maybe it was only in her mind that the situation seemed a bit parallel, but then close to the end of the movie Matt looked over at her, eyebrows raised, and said curiously, "I thought you said this was about a painting."
Julie felt her face flush, and she was glad the lights were out so he might not see. "I… I swear, I did not know—I didn't even read the back, I just kind of took my professor's word for it, and… does the back even say…?" She trailed off, picking up the case and quickly scanning the back of the movie case. "Oh… Yes, it does."
In the scene that had just ended Jan and Griet shared quite an intimate moment together while he was putting her earring in for the painting. Griet was currently in a new scene, running desperately through the village to find her distraction-guy.
A few seconds later Julie was shifting uncomfortably yet again as desperate Griet and distraction-guy had a steamy love scene.
"So, let me just say I do not support that," Julie stated to break the silence.
"Sex?" he questioned.
"Distraction sex," she corrected. "She'll totally end up regretting that, too, maybe as much as she would have regretted…the other."
He snorted. "The other? You mean sex with the married guy she actually wants to have sex with?"
"Yes. At least she really wants that. Butcher boy is just her trying to distract herself from the married one—a noble intention, yes, but a bad life decision, especially for her first time."
"True enough, but Johannes is already married and she's a maid, so at least in that day there was no possible way she could have been more than a roll in the hay. It makes more sense to put out for the one who can actually be with you afterward."
"Not if you want someone else more," she stated. "I mean, sensibly, yes, probably, but… ultimately I think she shouldn't have slept with butcher boy, especially not for her first time."
"Eh, she was too timid and terrified of everyone," he said. "She probably wouldn't have received anymore offers. What does Scarlett have, 5 lines in the whole movie?"
Julie nodded. "And one of the lines is just, 'Sir?'"
"Yeah, and—"
"Wait," she said, unintentionally giving him a little whack in the chest. "I think I hear the wife screaming and— oh, yep, here she comes. She's angry."
They both sat quietly and watched the scene where it all finally came to a head, where the wife stormed the studio and pitched a fit, demanding that Jan kick the girl out of their home.
When the confrontation scene ended and it moved into a wordless scene Julie spoke again.
"Wow."
Matt nodded mutely.
"She… was angry,” Julie said pointlessly.
"Women do tend to get angry in such situations."
"I'm kind of miffed that he just stood there," she admitted. "I mean, what the hell?"
"Hey, she slept with butcher boy, she's a maid, he has a family… it's the 1600's, the guy is kind of stuck. And at least give him a tiny bit of credit, he wouldn't kick her out himself."
"I guess," she allowed, sighing a little. "I just don't like to see wasted, unfulfilled love."
"Do you call what they had love?" he asked skeptically.
"What do you call it?" she asked, glancing at him.
"Lust," he stated. "Longing. Attraction."
She thought about it for a second, then she said, "Well, that's probably better than love anyway."
Matt's eyebrows shot up. "How so?"
"Love hurts," she explained simply. "I've only been in love once, and at this point I can't remember why I let him hurt me so badly, why I cried so many tears, or why I experienced all that pain, but I know that I did. I told myself then that I would never fall so foolishly in love again. So maybe it's not love that I hate to see wasted, just passion, because I would have preferred that she hook up with Vermeer than the guy she felt nothing for."
"He was married."
"Well, I know, and that's wrong, but he doesn't really seem overly concerned with his wife, does he? She's all desperate for his love and attention and he's all like, 'You don't understand.' She's bawling hysterically and screaming, 'Get her out of here!' and he just pushes her away and walks off, looking all distressed."
"Well, he did like Griet; they did have a bond."
"Apparently not a very strong one though. Even when she goes over to the door he just sits there, looking like, 'What have I done?' He doesn't say goodbye or anything."
"It's a very complicated movie," Matt said.
"I think I might like it," Julie stated.
"You think?" he questioned.
"Yes, I can't be sure, but I think I do. I would have to watch it a second time to figure out if I like it or not."
"Really?" he asked.
She nodded. "I'm like that with deeper movies. A light romantic comedy I can figure out pretty quickly, but anything darker that isn't fluffy, that's thought-provoking and not exactly happily ever after… I have to watch it a second time. Like Closer. I watched that movie and didn't like it, but the next day it popped back up in my head, I watched it that evening and I loved it. The Last Kiss was another one. I wasn't sure how I felt about it when I first watched it, so I watched it again."
His eyes narrowed a bit. "Those are all movies about cheating," he stated.
She blinked at him, a little surprised. "Yes, I guess they are."
"So you can't decide if you like cheating or not?" he asked, half smiling.
"Of course I don't like cheating," she said. "Nobody likes cheating. It's a huge no-no."