by Sam Mariano
"You've done a good job so far," he said, nodding briefly and walking away.
Julie felt herself smile a little at the first nice thing Aaron had said to her since they met.
The rest of her shift passed rather uneventfully, and Aaron gave her $13 of his tip money before he gave her the key and sent her on her way.
She spent the rest of that evening mostly doing homework.
Aaron came home at 6, but all he did was drop off some groceries and make a phone call, then he left again, saying he would be back later.
It was a little after 9:30 before he made it back. She didn't know where he had gone, but since it was really none of her business, she didn't bother asking.
He had brought home an air mattress at that time, which Julie stared at as he tried to inflate it in the corner of the living room.
"Do you want some help?" she asked, putting her textbook down on the couch and starting to stand up.
"I'm fine, don't worry about it," he said.
Pausing, she watched him skeptically as he blew up what was supposed to be her bed. "Not to be a complainer or anything, but are those things comfortable? I haven't slept on an airbed since I was like 10, and I really can't remember."
"Yes," he said gruffly.
It didn't look comfortable to her, but she didn't argue. Instead, she watched him for a second longer, then started when the phone began to ring.
"Can you get that? I'm a little busy at the moment," Aaron stated.
Nodding, Julie went over to grab the phone. Not sure of how she was supposed to answer, she went with a simple, "Hello?"
There was silence on the other end, then she heard, "Julie?"
Her heart thudded in her chest, and she swallowed. "Hi," she said lamely.
"Hello," Matt returned.
After a split second, Julie blurted, "You probably want to talk to Aaron, huh? Here he is."
Dodging the dirty look Aaron was tossing in her direction, she handed the phone off to him and went back to the couch, becoming instantly absorbed in studying.
Or tried to, anyway.
But really she just found herself listening to the only side of the conversation that she could hear.
"Working," Aaron said shortly. "At this very moment I'm working on getting her a place to sleep…. In my bed…"
Julie's ears perked up at this, and she frowned, glad that her back was to him.
"Where else was she supposed to sleep? I didn’t know she was gonna be here…." He snorted then. "In my apartment that I pay for? No, I don't think so…. Yep… Don't worry, I'm not you… Yes, I believe it was… Not really… Nope," he said more decisively. "She's pretty adamant about that one… Uh huh… No, that I will not do… Because it isn't my business, Matt… Nope, that would still make it yours… Well then have her come chat with her, but warn her first that I keep garlic hanging above the entrance of my door, so she might want to take it outside… Mm, I try," he murmured dryly.
Thoroughly frustrated, Julie tried to piece together possible things Matt could be saying to get the responses.
"I don't know, Matt. I've been working all day… What did you expect? I told you I don't have time… No, that's not what I'm saying… I already told you I would keep her…"
Yep, it was definitely about her, she decided.
"Look, I may have agreed to be your damn babysitting service," Aaron said, abandoning the project of inflating the bed and standing, walking past the couch Julie was sitting on and down the hall. The last words she heard before the door shut were, "But I have my limits."
Julie tried to listen through the walls, but all she could hear was muffled mumbling from the other room.
She could tell it was at least partially about her. Maybe entirely. Would Aaron tell her what Matt said? He didn't really seem like the type to come in and gossip with her, but she wanted to know what was going on.
She had been tempted three times to just give in and call Jack. He hadn't texted her again since she ignored the one he sent back, but the idea kept floating back into her mind along with some weaker thoughts she didn't want to acknowledge.
Jack had seemed pretty sincere the night she told him she was leaving. She still didn't love him, but maybe… maybe in his own way he really did love her.
Thoughts like that were immediately discarded, and instead she would focus on what she could do in her own life to take control instead of letting Matt run it for her.
She had taken down the number for that babysitting job while she was at school, and she had been on top of things all day—she even called already and spoke with the woman who needed a Thursday sitter. Apparently some other girls had already called about the job, but the woman was very particular about who would watch her two children, so she was going to give everyone phone interviews and then narrow it down.
She was hoping to get that one. The woman was offering $10 an hour and it was 9 to 6 under the table, so she would make $90 on a Thursday alone, and there was a possibility that she would have time to do homework there the following semester once school was back in, and that could just be a day she wasn't available at the café. She wasn't sure how she was going to juggle working as much as she would have to and school, but she knew with a baby on the way, she was definitely going to have to figure it out.
Once the baby was actually born, she really had no idea what she was going to do. Juggling school and work was going to be enough of a hassle, but school, work and being a single mother? She would probably end up dropping a class each semester, and she would end up falling a whole semester behind before it was over and done with.
Sighing, she leaned back on the couch and wondered how she had managed to make such a damn mess out of her once-promising life.
As if prompted by that thought, she heard the door open and Aaron came back into the living room, looking as gruff as ever.
Julie waited, looking at Aaron questioningly so as to prompt him to share some information, but he just silently went back to assembling the bed.
Finally, when she realized he wasn't going to say anything, she prompted him, "So, that was Matt, huh?"
He glanced up at her briefly. "Yep." Then back to the bed.
She nodded, trying not to pry, but intensely curious about what was said. "Just…calling to chat?"
With a sigh, he said, "No, he was calling to see if you had changed your mind about the abortion, and he wanted to know where you were sleeping…just checking up on you."
Despite herself and despite how everything was turning out, hearing that he was calling to check on her caused a strange, not altogether unpleasant sensation in the pit of her stomach.
Must be hormones, she decided.
"Oh, and since I'm not much help," Aaron added as an afterthought, "Matt's going to come over tomorrow when you get off work to talk to you."
And just like that, her stomach dropped out of her body.
"What? I don't want to talk to him!"
Shrugging, Aaron focused on the mattress. "He wants to talk to you. He said you guys need to discuss the situation."
Rolling her eyes, she said, "He wants to discuss changing my mind to suit Emma's wants and desires."
Shrugging, Aaron said, "He just said 'discuss the situation.'"
"But I don't want to discuss the situation. He's just going to make me angry; I don't take well to being bullied."
"Then don't let him bully you," Aaron responded easily.
Eyeing him a bit suspiciously, she said, "You know, for being his brother, you really don't seem to be on his side."
"I'm not taking sides—this isn't my issue, it's his. What he does with his life, what mistakes and decisions he makes—that has nothing to do with me. Matt and I are brothers, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get involved in his business. I've tried to get involved in his business before, and it blew up in my face. From here on out, he's on his own. The only reason I'm helping him out with you is to return a favor—I can't stand being in someone's debt. After this, I
don't care how many nannies he knocks up, it's on him."
With that, Aaron seemed to be done talking, as he dismissed Julie and went back to quietly preparing her bed.
Julie sat there looking at the ground, contemplating seeing Matt again.
She really should call Jack. Instead of letting Matt and Aaron use her to settle a debt, she should call her old familiar devil, the one who had no effect on her womb or her heart, and just use him until she could get herself on her feet.
A mean thought, she decided, but not one she was going to rule out just yet.
"Dammit," Aaron muttered, running his hand through his hair and sighing.
Julie's attention was caught, and she looked over at him, then glanced up at the clock.
"You know," she began, “On top of opening at an ungodly hour tomorrow, I have a final and it's getting kinda late."
"I'm sorry, princess, I’ll try to hurry," he said sarcastically.
Rolling her eyes, she said, "I wasn't done. I was going to suggest that we be adults for one more night and just share your bed, then tomorrow we can worry about blowing up the…boat."
"It's not a boat," he muttered. "I guess we could do that though. I need to get up early, too."
She nodded, getting to her feet and picking up her text book.
Then, with a sarcastic little smile, he added, "Besides, you'll need your energy to discuss the situation with my brother tomorrow."
"I know you don't seem to like me," she said as she watched him turn out the living room light, "but you would think you would at least try not to be so obvious about it."
"I don't dislike you," he said. "I don't know you. What I do know about you I don't really like," he said honestly, "but hey, I've been wrong before. I told Matt not to marry Emma, and look how well that turned out."
Despite herself, she chuckled a little bit. "Yeah, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about."
"That's what I'm saying, don't listen to me."
"Well, since you're currently telling me not to like myself," she said, bending down to put her textbook inside her bag, "I don't know if I really want to."
"It's not you that I don't like, it's the things you're doing. If you stop doing those things, maybe you'll be more likeable."
He turned the light out on that note, leaving her to frown at him in the darkness.
She seriously considered informing him that he was no treat to be around either, so he should probably take some of his own advice.
But since he was climbing in bed and pulling the big white down blanket up to his chin, she found herself reluctantly smiling, happy that his eyes couldn't have adjusted to the dark yet so he would never know. All snuggled up with his blanket, grumpy Aaron looked like a little boy…but, you know, bigger.
He didn't say anything else until she got in bed, then he grumbled something about her stealing his blanket.
"I am not stealing it," she muttered back, elbowing him and pretending it was an accident as she pulled the blanket up to her own neck. "I just need a little bit of it too."
He made a "hrumph" kind of noise and rolled over with his back to her.
Julie gave his back a dirty look, wrinkling her nose up to make the face she wasn't brave enough to make when he was facing her.
It felt strange, just as it had the night before, to lie in bed with a stranger, not touching, not even facing each other. She could hear the rhythm of his breathing become even, and then he began to lightly snore.
She sighed. He had snored the night before, and she had hoped it was because he was sleeping on his back. It had kept her up an extra hour, and caused her to wake up twice when he jerked, his arm brushing hers in his sleep.
But he was sleeping on his side tonight, and still the light snoring was the only sound in the dark room.
Sighing once more (as if he could hear her) she rolled over and turned her own back to him, sort of a spiteful gesture even though she knew it was pointless.
Then her thoughts drifted to what would be going on the next day. She had to work at the crack of dawn She had a final. She had to deal with Aaron. She had to deal with Matt. She might even have to deal with Jack, depending on how things went with Matt.
Grimacing, she closed her eyes and willed the night to last forever so that morning wouldn't come.
Chapter Ten-
Unfortunately, the next day did come, and much earlier than Julie was ready for it.
Julie managed to finish her last comprehensive final much sooner than she expected which gave her something she wasn't really used to—free time.
After a successful phone interview, she had an interview the following day with the Thursday babysitting job lady and her husband, so Julie made a mental note to pick out something frumpy that a husband wouldn't like. Then she went back to Aaron's apartment to unload, and she cleaned the dishes that were in the sink.
Somehow, even though she had eaten a granola bar before class and a sandwich after, she was still absolutely starving, and she couldn't seem to stop burping.
It was completely gross, and she didn't understand it at all. She was not, by nature, a gassy individual.
To take her mind off things, she found herself at Old Navy, browsing through the aisles and waiting for time to pass.
She didn't want to think about Matt in any way, shape or form. The night before, when Aaron had accidentally elbowed her right in the chest while he slept, she had been jarred awake, and instead of going back to sleep, she gently moved his arm so that it was at a less harmful angle and then she couldn't seem to go back to sleep. She spent a good hour contemplating her whole situation, the way Matt had reacted, the way she had hoped he would react… She didn’t expect him to be ecstatic or anything, but she certainly didn’t expect him to turn on her the way he did either.
How could he have just faked the good times they had? All the complaints he had about Emma, the way she treated him, the fact that her own small child would prefer being held by a nanny…
Why didn't any of that matter? Why didn't snuggling on the couch matter? Making love in the guest room? Homemade dinner and searching for Anna's lost puppy—why were these only important –or even relevant—in Julie's mind?
Thinking favorably of Matt was never going to get her anywhere, she had finally decided when she saw the light peeking in through the window, and then she had finally allowed herself to close her eyes and go back to sleep.
She didn't realize she was frowning at the pair of socks in her hand until she felt a pair of eyes on her and she looked down to see a little boy looking up at her, his eyebrows raised like she was quite insane as she glared at the socks as if they had impregnated and abandoned her.
"Not my color," she murmured, forcing herself to let up the death grip on the socks she hadn't even realized she was holding.
"My mom says black goes with anything," the boy stated.
Glancing back at the socks, she noticed they were, indeed, black socks.
"Right," she said, deciding just to walk away before she started trying to take her frustrations out on belts next.
Her cell phone started ringing then, and she picked it up, half dreading that she would see Matt or Emma's number. Frowning, she realized it was a friend from school.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Hey," answered the girl's low voice. "What are you doing?"
"Um, scaring children at Old Navy," Julie answered, glancing over her shoulder at the little boy as she forced a smile and walked out the doors of the building.
"Neat," the girl responded. "Well, listen, remember you said you were looking for a job?"
"Yes," Julie said brightly.
"Did you leave school already?"
"Yeah, exams are over for me."
"Well, I saw this flyer hanging up and it says, 'Are you artistic? Do you enjoy working with kids? Are you a naturally outgoing and friendly person? Want to have fun and get paid for it? Then we've got the job for you!'" she said with false enthusiasm.
/> "Ugh, Susan, just spit it out."
"All right, all right," the girl said, her voice flat again. “I know you were always doodling in your planner, so I grabbed it. It's a weekends only job, but hey, it's something, and I thought you could call, check it out, see what it's about."
"That would be amazing," Julie said. "What's the number?"
"You'll never remember it, let me hang up and I'll text it to you."
"Genius. Awesome. Thank you so much for saving my ass."
"Eh, consider it me paying you back for that time I skipped and not only did you take kick-ass notes for me, but you lied to the professor too."
"You're amazing. I hope we have classes together next semester."
"Me too, if not we'll have to hang out sometime."
"Are you going home for the break?" Julie asked.
"Yep, back to the lovely state of Indiana. Go me!"
Julie laughed at her friend's dry enthusiasm. "All right, well thanks again, you're saving my life here."
"Well, if I ever get knocked up by some married jerkhole, I will be expecting you to assist me," Susan stated.
"Done."
"Bye, Julie. Hope the job works out. Have a nice break."
Flipping her phone shut, Julie released a sigh of relief. Maybe it was only weekends, but she had to try. Even if she could only get a little bit of independence at first, just a foot-in-the-door kind of thing, then she could attempt to dig herself out of the hole she had made for herself.
The big, ugly hole.
Susan promptly texted her the phone number along with the note "Ask for Jim," and since Julie still had some time on her hands, she decided to go ahead and call.
The phone call was brief and disorganized, and within two minutes she somehow had an interview with Jim. Apparently the position was for "birthday party help," and when she asked what that implied he had said, "Oh, we can discuss that when you get here. I'm sorry, I'm in kind of a rush right now. Just some basic set-up, we provide the cakes, the cups, the napkins, you get everything ready and get the kids set up, you know. You basically help me host the party. I need a Saturday and Sunday person, the pay is hourly, the hours depend on how many parties are booked, but your absolute longest day would be either 9:30 am to like 5:45 or 11:30 to 8—that's what I'm looking for right now."