AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hi,” he mouths, pulling his mouth from the phone and kisses my head.
I smile back, pulling away to go to the coffee. I need the coffee! After pouring a cup, I snuggle on the couch and watch Cole handle his conversation. No matter what the conversation entails, he doesn’t take his eyes off me. I can feel his eyes watch me grab the remote and turn the television to the Food Network. I can feel him watch me fluff the pillows on the couch for a more comfortable spot and I know he is watching when I lick my lips after taking a sip of coffee. Knowing he is watching is making it very hard to concentrate, to say the least.
“Handle it. I have full faith that you will find the solution and not let this situation turn into a full disaster. What we all need right now is stability and a dose of morale. Our employees need to maintain faith that we will always work in their best interest and that interest is always aligned with company values.”
My curiosity gets the best of me and I gesture to him to say “what’s up?” I’m really hoping that this doesn’t have anything to do with his arrest, because I secretly harbor some guilt over that, even though I know that I had nothing to do with it. I can’t help but feel bad about his life being so negatively affected by my dumb baggage and the fact that he is so amazing about it makes me feel even worse. I wish he would just be mad at me for a minute. His sainthood will be my demise! Perfect asshole. I laugh to myself at the crazy that exists within my mind.
“Nothing to worry about,” he reassures, pulling the phone from his ear. “Within any company, sometimes the employees want one thing and corporate wants another. I try to find middle ground. Nobody gets their cake and to eat it too.”
“Aww, softie, you are a good boss”. I blow him a kiss.
Smiling, he tosses his phone on the chair and walks over to me, planting a kiss on my lips.
“Mmmm, you taste kind of like cake. I guess I could have my cake and eat it too?” Biting his lip he draws back to look at me.
“You are disgusting!” I laugh, swatting at his shoulder. Cole just wags his eyebrows in response.
“How’d you sleep?” he asks, grabbing my coffee and taking a sip.
“Amazing, thanks to your magic penis…”
“Magic penis? So, I’m like David Cockerfield?”
I spit my coffee out that I just sipped and double over with laughter. Cole joins in and we both have to catch our breath from the laughter.
“I could do this all day, you realize this!”
“Yes! Yes, I realize, but before you hold me hostage with all your insane jokes, maybe I could carve out time to see my best friend?” I respond as my laughter slowly dies down.
“I’ll try to hold the jokes off for a while. Go get dressed and we can get going.”
Giving him a kiss, I jump off the couch and head back toward the bedroom. Cole follows saying, “I talked to Foster this morning after I put you to sleep and he said Alex is doing well. Still a sleeping beauty, but the swelling in her head has gone down and her body is functioning just fine. The doctors are really optimistic that she’s healing.”
I listen from the bathroom, holding onto the counter for stability. I cannot even think of the alternative. She has to wake up and get back to business as usual. There just isn’t any other reality I see for her. That girl means everything to me and if she doesn’t wake up, a piece of me will forever be missing.
Being at the hospital is never fun, but I am acutely aware of everything around me today. It’s like my body is hypersensitive to the sounds of the machines and the silence. I especially hate how quiet it is. Turning on the television, I try and block it out. I don’t know why I am so creeped out, but I am. Even knowing that Foster and Cole are both right outside the door, I spend an hour talking to Alex about anything and everything until my one-sided conversation starts to feel stupid. I sit for a moment, wondering if she can hear me and wishes she could respond, hoping that maybe she will wake up soon.
“Hey, I have that interview the day after tomorrow. Wish me luck. I feel like I’m losing them. I will mention I have a friend in a coma and maybe they will take pity and hire me.” I wait for a second, hoping she will open her eyes and point out my sad sense of humor, but she doesn’t, so I stand to leave.
Cole and Foster decide at that moment to walk back in, exchanging sympathetic glances at me. I’m not trying to hide my sadness, I can’t. It’s just on me and I can’t escape it. Foster walks past me and pats my shoulder as he does, taking his post at Alex’s side. Cole reaches out to me and I happily walk into his arms, letting them wrap around me. We all just stay quiet for a few minutes until Foster interrupts the silence.
“Hey, Mia, the nurse gave me a bag of Alex’s stuff, but I am just staying here, will you take it back to her place or yours. You know how she is with her phone.” He laughs. “She would kill us if it isn’t charged when she wakes up…” His voice drifts off at the end as he looks at her, brushing her hair from her forehead.
Walking around, I grab the plastic bag from him and tuck it under my arm.
“Yeah, I’ll take it back to our hotel and hook it up. Have you made any headway in finding Alex’s mom?”
“No, the woman is a ghost. It’s sad really because I thought Alex was always being dramatic when she said she was abandoned.” Foster shakes his head as if to rid himself of the disappointment.
“No, it was always crazy growing up. Her mom was always with the guy of the month, chasing a lifestyle, and Alex was on her own a lot, we spent most of our time together.”
“People don’t cherish the privilege of becoming a parent,” Cole interjects.
I just nod my head in agreement, because that really was the gist of Alex’s story. She was abandoned. I met her when I began going to public school. I remember begging my mom to let me go to a public high school the year before my freshman year. I was looking to escape the snobby ridiculous fauxcolites that attended my private school. Alex was the first person I met, we both thought P.E. was an extreme waste of our time, so we basically bonded over our laziness. It was perfect, from the day we met we were bonded for life. My mom was always welcoming to Alex hanging out, probably because she was happy I made a friend. Regardless, we took advantage of the allowance and spent many a night giggling in my room and dreaming up our perfect lives. Alex always knew she wanted to work in print. Which was perfect because she adored the fantasy that fashion provided and who doesn’t love the quizzes in those magazines? Plus, she was great at putting a spin on almost everything. That trait came in handy for the both of us in high school.
I laugh under my breath at the memories of our shared mischief and try to regain my focus, bringing me back into the conversation with Cole and Foster.
“Ready to head back, sweetheart? I have to drop by the office for a bit, I can drop you at the hotel. Give me Alex’s bag and I’ll have everything taken to the penthouse to be boxed up.” Kissing my forehead, he takes my things, literally removing the stress I feel.
