Page 22 of Up All Night

A brief smile graced my lips. It was probably dumb that I found so much enjoyment in annoying my grumpy neighbor, but sometimes it was the little things that helped you get through the long days.

The more the chimes tinkled in the light wind, the more joy they brought me, as I knew that downstairs they were driving West up the wall. Maybe it was messed up to find happiness in someone else’s misery, but that was where I was in life.

Kate had been right. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep up this pace. What was that saying about burning the candle at both ends? That’s exactly how I was feeling.

I only had two more weeks of helping Ben out, then hopefully getting a couple more hours of sleep every night would help me feel less worn out.

Although I had already been tired before I’d agreed to take Ben’s clients.

Ugh.

But I wasn’t going to think about that now. I would let myself think things would get easier in two weeks. Anything to help me keep going.

I finished eating a parfait and was about to start working on choreographing the dances when there was a knock at the door.

I had no clue who it could be but went to answer it anyway.

I opened the door, and a young man greeted me.

“Hello, miss,” he said politely. “My name is Max, and I’m with Herby Vacuums. I was talking to your neighbor, who said you were looking to get a new vacuum. He mentioned you were telling him that you wished a good vacuum was easy to find.” He pointed to the vacuum next to him. “Well, here it is. Your wish has come true.”

What? I didn’t need a vacuum. What was he talking about?

“Your neighbor said you’d love a demonstration, and I couldn’t believe my luck that I had knocked on his door and that he directed me toyou, who just happen to be in need of a vacuum. Not very many people let me in to show them everything this amazing vacuum can do.” He looked at me like he was waiting for me to let him in.

“Uh…” I stammered, and the next thing I knew I was moving out of his way so he could come in and give me a vacuum demonstration.

What just happened?

But then my brain finally caught up.

A neighbor had told him I was looking for a vacuum, huh? There was only one neighbor who would send a hungry salesman to my door.

Even though I already knew the answer, I asked, “Does this neighbor who told you I want a vacuum happen to live in the apartment downstairs, just below this one?”

“Yeah, he was a really nice guy.”

I nodded with a sardonic smile. “The nicest.”

Max wiped his hands on his slacks, looking at the vacuum and his other supplies. “Okay, so it’s been a little while since I’ve gotten to do one of these, so, uh, let me see.”

Oh, yay.

Max fiddled around with some things, muttering to himself. I sat down on the couch, knowing this was going to take a while since I didn’t have the heart to tell him I wasn’t interested in his sales pitch. So much for being able to work on those dance routines.

I wasn’t annoyed at this Max guy for trying to make a living, but I wasfumingat myniceneighbor. Now I was going to have to listen to this poor guy’s spiel and then let him down as easily as I could because there was no way I could afford this vacuum, even if I was in the market for one.

I figured Max would vacuum my living room and then try to sell me the vacuum, but that wasn’t even close. He did vacuum my living room but would only vacuum a couple feet before taking out this white circle filter thing from the vacuum to show what he had picked up in my carpet from the two feet he had vacuumed. It took him twenty minutes to finish vacuuming my small living room.

But it didn’t stop there. Oh no, then he wanted to vacuum my couch, my walls, and then, wait for it…MY MATTRESS. I mean, what?

So now here I was in my bedroom with Max, the fitted bed sheet pulled up, showing me how it could also vacuum my mattress.

I was going to kill West.

He probably had stomach cramps from laughing so hard as he kept hearing the vacuum cleaner turn on and off, for over an hour now. I’d learned way more than I ever wanted to learn about vacuums.

I tuned out Max, nodding when it was appropriate, and thought about what I could do to get back at West. All the ideas I was coming up with seemed to take things too far, but I was so mad that it was taking everything in me to not storm downstairs and give him a piece of my mind. But the last thing I wanted to see was his smug face. It would be better if I acted like this interruption of my day was not a big deal.

---