by Sam Mariano
With that, Matt called a goodbye to his brother, although it was only acknowledged with a grunt, and Julie waited to hear the door click shut behind him.
It took her a moment to gather up the courage to speak to Aaron, but she finally managed to say, "I know what it must have looked like when you walked in, but—”
"It doesn't matter," he stated, not even letting her finish. "You don't have to explain yourself to me; I already knew what you were when I agreed to take you into my house."
Julie tensed, feeling the sting of his insults again, and then even worse—she began to feel a familiar sting behind her eyes. Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry if she couldn’t reign in her emotions, she frowned at Aaron’s back and groped for the first excuse she could come up with to leave the room.
"I'm…going to go use my laptop, if that's okay. I need to start looking to see which classes I'm taking next semester, so…"
"Please, by all means, take your time," he returned.
Julie scowled at him, and she turned to walk toward the hall, not even realizing the way she held the black velvet box in her hands as if to hide it.
"Oh, and Julie?" Aaron called to her.
Pausing a bit hopefully, she turned back to him and answered, "Yes?"
"Nice earrings," he said acerbically, not even looking away from the bed.
She felt like her stomach plummeted down through her legs, and she didn't even know why. There was nothing she could say, she just fumbled with the box awkwardly, feeling the need to explain again. "They…were a—a kind of peace offering," she stammered awkwardly.
"I'm sure they were," he said as if to pacify her. Then, he paused and looked over his shoulder, not at her, but at the diamonds hanging from her ears. "Not bad. I'd guess…what, a carat?"
Since Julie wasn't really sure what a carat would look like, she could only shrug. "I guess."
Aaron simply smiled, finally meeting her gaze with his sparkling brown eyes and said, "I'm sure Emma got at least two carats."
Before he could see how his words hurt her, Julie turned away from him and walked down the hall, wondering why he was such an angry, bitter, mean person.
Then she told herself spitefully she didn't care, and she went to hide in the bedroom with her laptop until she could leave for her interview.
The sooner she could get away from that mean, rude, incredibly grumpy man, the better off she would be.
Chapter Eleven-
Julie wasn't sure what she had expected of the "kid's parties" job description, but somehow when she returned to the apartment to tell Aaron she needed to inform the person who made the schedules that she couldn't work weekends anymore, she hadn't expected her reason to be, "Because I'm Julie the face-painting pirate on weekends now."
But when she got back to the apartment after her interview, Aaron wasn't there.
Her boat-bed was there, perfectly inflated with sheets and a pillow and a big white down blanket.
It looked anything but welcoming.
Since Aaron wasn't being nice to her anyway and she had another job interview and work the following day (a five hour shift!) she went to bed instead of waiting up for him when he didn't get home by 9:30. She did hear the door open at some point after she was asleep, but she didn't really know what time it was, and he went straight to bed, so she didn't bother waking up to greet him.
Of course, even though she woke up early the next morning, Aaron was already gone. She wasn't too worried about it, since she would see him at three when her shift started anyway.
At noon she had her interview, so she put all of her energy into that—and eating the gigantic bowl of cereal that was calling her name… and maybe a banana with it.
When she finished her breakfast and still found herself wondering if there were granola bars left, she refused.
"You are trying to make me prematurely fat, poppy seed," she told her stomach accusingly. "I am not supposed to be this hungry yet. You are not big enough…"
Then she realized she was talking to herself in the kitchen of an empty apartment, so she abruptly stopped.
While she was selecting her outfit for the interview, she was torn between whether or not to wear the earrings. On one hand, they were pretty, and there were hers, so there shouldn't be any harm…
On the other hand, she had the distinct feeling that if Aaron saw her in them before she could take them out and pretend she had nothing to do with them, he might breathe fire.
In the end, she decided to hell with it, and she wore the earrings, thinking it made her appear more classy and less like a potential-home-wrecker.
That wasn’t a mistake she would make again.
Unfortunately, after the half hour interview, the woman politely thanked her for her time but told her, "In the interest of saving you from waiting for a call, we've already found somebody."
Julie thanked her and left, but privately she thought that the woman could have told her that before she spent a half hour trying to sell her services.
After that Julie went home, actually pausing outside the door to take the earrings out and slip them into her pocket since she never really knew when Aaron was going to be home. It seemed that he worked split shifts, because he was always usually working in the morning, home for however long in the afternoon, and then he would leave again. Granted, she didn't know what he did with his free time, so perhaps he was actually off more than she knew, he just avoided his apartment because she might be there.
That made her feel a little guilty.
It was his apartment; he shouldn't have to avoid going home because someone he seemed to hate might be there.
However, much to her relief he wasn't there, so she was able to put the earrings back in their little box and shove them away without him being any the wiser.
Why did she care?
She wasn't sure. Even though it was strange to say Aaron was being nice to her, as grumpy as he was, it was still kind of him to continue to let someone he hated so much stay at his apartment.
Honestly, she was half-expecting an eviction notice every time he looked at her.
Not for the first time, she found herself incredibly curious as to why Aaron owed Matt anything. He didn't seem to like Matt, if the night before was an accurate indication of their closeness. Yes, he had been annoyed that he thought he caught them kissing on the couch, but that couldn't have really been about her—Aaron barely knew her, and he had already told her he didn't like what she was. The tension between Aaron and Matt the night before had seemed more deep-seated than that, so why was he in his brother's debt? She didn't know why, but her impression of Aaron wasn't that he would take help from someone he disliked that much.
So what was the deal?
She didn't know, but she was a little curious and she hoped to one day find out.
In the meantime, she would have to do just what any other accidental single mother had to do—work her way out of the hole she was in.
---
Her shift that night was three to eight, and even though she was pretty much on her own, she still always had someone watching her pretty closely.
Surprisingly Aaron seemed to be off, so that was a relief. Leigh hadn't been working when she first got there, but an hour into her shift Leigh came in, smile on her face as if The Lofthouse Café was her favorite place in the whole world—like every other day. Absently, Julie wondered how long the girl had worked there, and how much longer her enthusiasm would last.
"Hey Julie," Leigh said, smiling as always as she carried a box of liners over and sat them on the counter, opening it up. "How are you today?"
"Fine, and you?" Julie asked.
"Super!" Leigh responded enthusiastically. "I'm gonna run these out and line some of the tables that just got cleaned off, want to bring out some sets of silverware?"
Julie nodded and grabbed a stack of rolled up silverware, following Leigh out onto the floor.
"So," Julie began, "I have a question, and I was going to ask
Aaron, but since you're nicer to me and you seem to know what you're doing here, I was hoping I could just ask you instead."
Leigh chuckled, reaching across the table to put the liner down. "Sure."
"Well, I got this other job—part-time, just a weekend gig, but I'm not going to be able to work on weekends, and… Aaron never really…talks to me, so I don't know who to talk to about the schedule.”
For some reason, Leigh looked a little surprised. "Oh. Wow, Aaron…really doesn't tell you anything, does he?"
That made Julie flush a little, but she shook her head. "Not really."
Leigh's smile turned a little sympathetic as she glanced at Julie long enough to take two sets of silverware, then she said, "Well, Aaron makes the schedule, sweetie. I mean, I could tell him for you if you really wanted me to, but… Aaron's the boss, this is his restaurant, so since you're staying in his living room right now, it might be best if you told him yourself."
Julie stood there stupidly as Leigh put on her Barbie-smile and went to greet the customers who had just walked in.
Aaron owned The Lofthouse Café?
Well, that explained a lot, she thought, feeling a little dumb.
However, she didn't have much time to stand there thinking about it, because three more tables full of people filed in after the first couple, and she and Leigh were the only waitresses there at the time, so she was immediately busy.
Aaron came in for the last half hour of her shift, and of course when he got there he went to the kitchen and wasn't heard from again until she was clocking out, at which point he finally came out, barely sparing her a glance as he took his apron off, hung it up and went over to say something to Leigh. Julie occupied herself with taking her money out of her apron and counting the change out on the counter so she could exchange it for cash.
She heard an unfamiliar sound when she hit 1 dollar and 87 cents that broke her concentration, causing her to look up.
Aaron was laughing. She had suspected it was possible, but she had yet to witness it, and whatever Leigh had said to him made him laugh. Julie stared, transfixed, as Aaron's face relaxed into a devastating smile, and for the first time since she had moved in with him, she remembered that he was handsome.
And unlike Matt, his teeth weren't crooked—they were as perfect as could be.
Honestly, she wished she could find something else to blame the slightly breathless feeling she had as she saw Aaron truly happy for once, but all she could come up with was surprise. Always seeing Aaron grumpy and sullen wasn't the most attractive thing she could think of, but seeing him smile…
Then his gaze landed on Julie's face, and instantly his smile waned, then quickly disappeared altogether. He turned back to Leigh then, and continued whatever conversation they had been having.
For the third time in two days, Julie felt rejection seep into her soul, and she found herself wondering what it must be like to be someone Aaron didn't hate—someone like Leigh. Somebody who could make him smile, make him laugh…
She also felt inexplicably sad that she was apparently such a terrible person that just a mere glimpse of her could completely ruin his happiness.
"Are you clocking in or out?" a voice asked, knocking her out of her thoughts.
"Huh?" she asked stupidly, looking at the woman speaking to her.
Debbie, the kind of crabby middle-aged waitress.
Sighing impatiently, Debbie said, "In or out?"
"Out," Julie responded, her brain processing what she was being asked.
Debbie rolled her eyes and clocked in. "Good. I know he gives Leigh any shift she wants, but it would be ridiculous to have three girls here tonight—none of us would make any money," she muttered as she walked away, fastening her apron around her waist.
Of course no one would make a comment like that before she asked Leigh who made the schedule.
Sighing, Julie recounted her change, then she went up to the register and had Leigh change out her two dollars in change for paper money. She had only made 48 bucks and 38 cents that night. That sure wasn't going to help her buy diapers and pay tuition.
Fortunately, she would get a paycheck for being there hourly, too, so that would be good. Unfortunately, she was a waitress, so it would amount to peanuts.
Deciding not to worry about it, Julie said goodbye to everyone and got a response only from Leigh, then she headed back to Aaron's unwelcoming apartment.
---
That evening as she sat at the apartment all by herself all night, consuming the remainder of her box of granola bars and reading her way through 90 pages of George Orwell, she began to wonder exactly what Aaron did with his free time.
It was really inconvenient timing, too, because she should have been engrossed in the story at that point, but there were three little words on the page ("I love you") that for some reason made Aaron pop on in her mind.
She was curious, she realized. Who did Aaron love? Did he date? When he wasn't at work, what was he doing with his time? For all that she was the hated mistress, she was sitting at home alone on a Thursday night reading—what was he doing?
As if she had somehow summoned him, she heard a fumbling with the doorknob and Aaron came walking in with a folder tucked under his arm.
"Hi," she called to him as soon as he was in sight.
He glanced up, clearly not excited to see her. "Hi," he responded out of habitual courtesy.
Discreetly lighting up her cell phone, she saw that it was nearly eleven. "Late night, huh?" she said conversationally.
"Yep," he responded noncommittally.
Nodding, she glanced at the folder, then back up at him.
An awkward silence ensued for about ten seconds, then she remembered that she had something to say. "Oh! I almost forgot. Um, I kind of needed to talk to you about my schedule. I—”
"Leigh already told me," he interrupted.
Feelings strangely deflated, she shrunk a little in her seat. "Oh."
Nodding, he said, "That's fine."
"Well, I was going to ask you myself, but I didn't actually know you were the one I needed to ask until I asked Leigh."
"I know," he stated, and she got the distinct feeling that he didn't want to talk to her.
Giving up, she merely nodded, then she returned to the safe haven of George Orwell.
"Are you still working your 11 to 3 tomorrow?" he suddenly asked.
"Yeah, it's only a Saturday and Sunday job," she told him, glancing up at him.
He nodded and walked to the bedroom without another word.
As she forced herself to concentrate on reading, she heard him go out of the bedroom and into the bathroom to take a shower, but four pages later when she heard the bathroom door open and she paused to see if he was coming back out, she was met with the dull thud of the bedroom door closing behind him.
"Good night," she murmured sarcastically, sighing and turning her attention back to her book.
---
The following day Julie had another of her dumb four-hour shifts at the café, and when she was done she called Jim to see when he would need her for the weekend. He told her he would need her about 11:30 to 5:30, but told her she needed to show up a little early so she could get into costume.
He didn't know she was pregnant, and she wondered how long the costume would fit—and what it was going to look like. He hadn't gone over the specifics when he hired her, but she had settled because she needed money and couldn't afford to be picky.
To her surprise, Matt called her at 5:30.
Even more surprising, she felt almost happy to hear from him.
For a couple minutes it was just small-talk, then he asked her if she would like to go to dinner.
When she hesitated, he added, "I wanted to take Anna to Potbelly's, and I know she's been missing her favorite nanny…"
Julie brightened at the thought of seeing Anna, so she agreed, and he said he would pick her up in a half hour.
Julie spent the next half hour nervously h
oping that Aaron wouldn't come home and catch her as she was leaving—the man seemed to have truly impeccable timing.
But he didn't.
Matt showed up, Julie –donning the earrings—reunited with Anna, and for a short time, she was able to steal a little bit of happiness.
At Potbelly's they ordered their food and found a booth, and Julie visited with Anna while Matt opened Anna's bag of pretzels and tried to get her to drink the milk out of the sippy cup he had brought for her.
She was having none of that; she wanted Julie's milkshake.
"You spoil her," Matt said, smiling indulgently as Julie opened up her milkshake and dripped just a little bit from the straw into Anna's waiting mouth.
Anna's nose wrinkled up as she made a face, responding to the cold and slowly moving her mouth, then after a pause she opened her mouth for more.
Julie laughed and got her more. "Careful now, you'll get brain freeze," she warned.
"So, you're all finished with school, huh?" Matt asked conversationally.
Julie nodded, quickly grabbing a napkin and wiping Anna's mouth. "Yeah, for a little bit."
"Did you get your grades back yet?"
Smiling, she told Anna no more milkshake right then and nudged the sippy cup at her, then she turned back to Matt. "No, not yet, but unless I completely failed my finals I should have gotten all As."
"Has Aaron let up any?" he asked.
"No, actually he's gotten worse. Before your visit he would speak to me once in a great while, and he even came home before he had to go to sleep. Now, I'm pretty sure he is actually avoiding his own apartment," she stated.
Seeming unsurprised by this news, Matt nodded. "He's so competitive with me. It's really not your fault."
Seeing as that made no sense, Julie frowned, but Matt moved along.
"But he hasn't said anything far-fetched to you to try to make you hate me or anything, right? I mean, you may have noticed, we don't have the best relationship."
Aaron hardly seemed like the type of guy to make stuff up about somebody—even someone he didn't like.
"No, but if you have such a crappy relationship, why is he helping you out?" she asked.
