Page 35 of Fun Together
“I’m too old for new hobbies.”
“It’ll be good for you. Keep the mind sharp.”
He just sits there and doesn’t move to paint at all.
“Fine, we can have the show on in the background.”
By the end of the episode, I’ve almost finished my painting, although the city skyline ends up looking more like a city oil spill because I barely pay attention to the where the numbers are telling me the paint should go. I’m distracted, thinking about my mom. Thinking about Andrew.
Thinking about Eli.
My phone lights up with a text.
Eli: How you feeling today?
I guess he has the same phone number he had in school. This makes me happy for some reason, knowing I could text him if I wanted to.
I snap a photo of the murky brown paint water and send it to him.
Faye: Like this. Safe to say my liver and I would like to forget Friday night ever happened.
Eli: That hurts. My heart and I thought our pretend flirting meant more to you than that.
I snort and it startles my grandpa awake. He fell asleep somewhere between zombie attacks.
“Did they kill him?” he asks.
“Yeah, they got him with the barbed wire baseball bat thingy.” I have no idea what he’s talking about, but he seems to take this as a good thing.
Faye: Tell your heart I’m so sorry. I’ll be better next time.
I catch myself smiling at my phone and put a stop to any giddy feelings this might be stirring up. I turn my phone over to keep myself from watching it for his response.
We watch another episode together before I do my usual weekly cleaning routine for him. This week it’s a quick vacuum and hitting the high spots in the bathroom and kitchen before I decide I need to head home and nap away the afternoon.
I give my grandpa a hug. “I’ll talk to you later this week. Don’t forget your chili.”
“Have a good week,” he tells me before switching over to watch something else. I hear theX-Filestheme song start to play as I leave his house.
When I get inside my car, I finally allow myself to look at my phone to see if Eli texted me back.
Eli: My heart says thanks and it’s looking forward to it.
12
Faye
While I makemy way into the office on Monday morning, I have the naive hope that it will be a quiet day with no weird requests or strange deliveries. That I can leisurely sip my coffee while checking emails. Laura from sales will come by my desk to tell me about her kid’s ballet recital over the weekend. A normal, boring Monday.
Then I walk into the lobby to find that the worst possible event that could be occurring is happening today.
The annual blood drive.
I’m not opposed to giving blood, in fact I love that the company sponsors this event every year. But considering that I’m somehow still so hungover that I can barely blink my eyes without feeling like my very existence is wobbling, I think giving blood is the last thing I should do today.
Before I even make it to my desk, I’m intercepted by Alexis at the elevator.
“I told Richard you’d help with the blood drive this morning. Tina was going to do it, but she’s out sick. Several people are out today with some kind of flu that’s been going around. We need someone to guide employees where they need to go.”
