Twenty-Two>>>A Woman's Sense of Tranquility
I open an eye and lazily pull the covers back over my head. Then I remember she’s laying there next to me. I take a moment to confirm in my mind that absolutely nothing happened the night before, and try to fall back asleep. Kind of pathetic huh? She spends the night in my head and still- all I’ve done is kiss her. Harper always says what is actually pathetic is comparing myself to societal norms though. I remember it was too late last night when we finished our game of scrabble to take her home so we just crashed on the couch together, moving to my bed sometime in the middle of the night.
I peek out from under the covers, gazing at her sprawled across my bed. She lays on her stomach with her legs twisted up in my sheet. Her arms are thrown out above her head and I wouldn’t be surprised if she suffocated from the way she’s breathing into her pillow. I kiss the back of her head gently, careful not to wake her up.
Too awake now to go back to sleep, I roam into the kitchen clad in my boxers and wife-beater. I start a pot of coffee and run my fingers through my hair, trying to figure out what my plans for the day are. I know I’m forgetting something but I can’t figure out what it is. It’s a Saturday. Did I have a hair appointment this morning that I’m forgetting? No, that’s not it. Perhaps I’m just disoriented because of Harper being at my house this early in the morning. Well, if you consider 11 early. I, a person who values slumber, certainly think it is.
I wander over to my bathroom and take a moment to pee. I squint at myself in the mirror after flushing. I try to fix my hair by running my fingers through it. That doesn’t work. I smooth it down with my palms and sigh in frustration. Well, her hair can’t look that good either I suppose.
I walk back out into the kitchen, expecting she’ll wake up any minute. That’s how it always works in movies. After 20 minutes of reading the TV guide and another 20 of doodling on the front of it, she appears in the kitchen.
“Hey handsome,” She says when she sees me, and I cannot quite tell if she’s making fun of me or not. Her hair looks surprisingly good and I curse myself for not jumping in the shower earlier. Maybe I’m secretly hoping Harper will decide to join me in the shower.
I acknowledge her by making contact and smiling faintly, looking back at my drawing on the front of the TV guide. I get up and get her a mug of coffee, sliding the cream over to her.
“Thanks,” she says. “How long have you been awake?”
“Not long.”
“Not long meaning?”
“Just over a half an hour.”
“You could have woken me up you know.” She mixes some cream into her coffee and inhales it deeply before sipping.
“I know.” I sit back down and flip through the TV guide.
We sit in a content silence- me with my doodling and her with her coffee drinking. After a couple minutes, the telephone rings. I grab it after the first ring.
“Hello?”
“Hey, man. What’s cracking?”
“Not much.” I roll my eyes at Zac’s lame attempt to be cool. “What’s up?”
“I’m calling because I’m pulling into the parking lot outside your house and I’m coming up to see you so I wanted to let you know…you know. In case your naked or something.”
You know, how I love to walk around the house naked and everything…I cannot help but roll my eyes again. I glance at Harper and bite my lip. “Uhhh, okay. I guess.”
“Why, you guess?”
“I just wasn’t expecting you.”
“Hey what number is your apartment?”
“Number 345…you’re coming up the stairs?”
“Yeah, is it a problem I’m visiting? Are you naked?”
“No! It’s just that Harper is over.”
She looks up at the mention of her name.
I can hear him smiling on the other end. “Ahhhh….”
“Zac…just…don’t be annoying when you get up here.”
“Sure thing,” he says, a bit too fast for comfort. And then the line is dead.
I put the phone on the receiver and look at Harper. “That was Zac. I guess he wants to make a surprise appearance. He hasn’t seen my place yet so he’s probably curious.”
“He hasn’t been here yet?” She asks me.
“He’s been busy with school,” I inform her, cleaning up the kitchen a bit. And by school I mean girls, parties, and beer.
I hear Zac pounding on the door. Why cannot he just knock normally? I ponder. I open the door for him and share a very brief, manly embrace with him.
“Seems nice so far,” he admires, looking around the living room.
“Thanks. Harper helped me buy some furniture last week…before that it was completely bare.”
He and I wander into the kitchen and he waves to her, “You did a nice job.” He says to her.
“Huh?” She says, clearly not have been paying attention to my furniture comment.
“You did a nice job helping Tay decorate the place,” he repeats.
“Thank you,” She laughs, “I try.”
“Very professional looking.” He adds.
“I was going for the bachelor pad with a woman’s sense of tranquility look with this room,” Harper teases.
“Want to see the rest of the house?” I ask him. “This is the kitchen obviously.”
“Real nice. Nice stainless steal appliances. That’s a surprise to find in an apartment.”
“Condo,” Harper grins, “Apartment offends him.”
“Well it is a condo! I pay a hell of a lot more money each week just to be able to say it’s a condo so damnit I’m going to.”
Zac and Harper grin as I lead Zac into my bedroom. “And this is the master bedroom!” I announce, “Tada.”
“Otherwise known as the only bedroom in the condo,” he says, emphasizing the word condo.
He looks around the room and his eyes meet Harper’s pile of discarded clothing on the floor. He raises an eyebrow to me and grins devilishly. I only shrug. Let him believe whatever he wants to believe.
On our way back into the kitchen Zac also notices one of my pottery creations. As his eyes set on it, I pray he will not mention it in regards to my ceramics class. I already have told Harper numerous times my sister made them for me. God obviously does not think very favorably towards me.
“I see you’ve got one of the pieces you made in ceramics class displayed,” he nods at the deep, brown, glazed vase on the kitchen counter. “Not bad, Taylor. You said you weren’t very talented at it either!”
Pink rushes into my cheeks and all the way out to my ears. When I blush it is not just mild. I nervously glance at Harper, who has an amused and smug look on her face.
“Yeah, not bad Taylor,” she grins.