Goodbye Normal

by Lily N Anderson

  “Josh Mickels” she announced.

  She slued from the laptop “Really?” Carol asked impressed.

  “Unhuh” she agreed proudly.

  “That’s nice.” Carol said, her concentration back to her laptop.

  “Yep and I met with Chris today.” Zoe averred, watching her expression.

  “Christopher Moore, Chris?” with her brow arched high, Carol looked slightly surprised.

  “Exactly.” Zoe confirmed, still searching for an atrocious reaction on Carol’s face.

  “Oh. So is he back in Doomsberg for good?” she asked totally calm.

  “Looks like it” she replied, getting wary with Carol’s reaction.

  “That’s nice.” Carol replied blithely.

  She had just said the same thing about Josh, so Chris gets a ‘that’s nice too?’

  “That it?” Zoe asked, unable to control her curiosity.

  Carol slammed her laptop shut, removed her glasses then stared at her disbelievingly.

  “What?” Carol asked “did you expect me to squawk about him then lock you up in your room or something?”

  “Kinda.” she murmured trying to figure out Carol cryptic act.

  “What do you want from me Zoe.” she quetched “One minute you ask me not to judge a book by its cover the next you are actually begging me to judge it?”

  “No, but…well ok” she was disconcerted.

  Carol was so damn right. She was being a moron.

  “I didn’t think you actually considered what I said.”

  “Do I look 16 to you? Carol squawked some more “am an adult Zoe, I understand when I do something wrong and if my bright daughter makes me see her side of view in a mature way I can as well consider it.”

  “M’ sorry mom, and thanks for listening.” Zoe said, looking like she had soaked in rain.

  10. TELLING THE TRUTH

  The discomfiting conversation left Zoe feeling daftly. She dragged her chagrined self to her bedroom, low and slow. She had been so blinded by what she reckoned her mother thought of Chris. Rendering dismissal of what they had talked about and perceiving what had been. She now learned the hard way that her words were actually considered and taken into account.

  Seeking refuge on her bedroom office chair, she opened her laptop then simultaneously closed it with a baffled bang. She surely wasn’t in the mood for surfing any celebrity drama or gossip. Her life was literally drowning in drama. She could consider herself too lucky when drama was concerned. She had enough and a little more extra in store. She may be generous enough to share around.

  She plugged her earphone to her phone, extended them to her ears then comforted her ego with the robust playlist. She lay her neck on the edge of her chair and let herself get lost in her music.

  Her playlist consisted of all kinds of music worth listening to. She wasn’t picky when it came to music. She had Jazz, Rnb, house pop, rock, merengue, oldies, new-ies same all same all. Whatever got her groovy she had on replay. She was keen to skip sad and depressing songs. Her mood couldn’t allow such melody to disorient her mindset.

  But something else did. A text alert.

  Josh…will be there in exactly 5.

  Zoe jerked up from her chair and dashed to the window. It had already begun to pelt. What the hell was he thinking? She was going nowhere in that foul weather, and foul mood.

  She got to the front porch just in time to watch a cute convertible slide on their driveway. It was such a blessing! A convertible on their driveway. Josh jumped out of it then ran through the rain and landed on the porch with some dribbles on his clothes. His tall hefty frame stood perfectly lean on her porch, with a face that blessed billboards all over the country. A celebrity on her front porch equals super cool. He had on t-shirt and jeans. They didn’t look pricey but they had a different flare on him.

  “Did you not see the clouds when you were driving over.” she asked.

  Despite her excitement there were things she just couldn’t ignore.

  “I did, but I’m a man of my words.” He replied sternly. Impressive but kinda pathetic. Was it her mood acting up or was she just too judgmental. Behind scene details, he may have a movie like plan on the background, with helicopters and a fancy silent dinner in another state. You wish, she scorned herself remembering they were in the friend zone.

  “Aren’t you gonna ask me in?” he asked, his brows stretched high.

  “Oh Sorry” she said wiggling out of the stare with a feel of embarrassment, “please come in.”

  She walked him into the living room. Josh was looking around as they strolled.

  “I like your house it feels really warm and home-ish” he admired, perching on a loveseat sofa and Zoe sat beside him.

  “Really? thank you!” she looked skeptic.

  “NO am serious, it’s really cool, it just feels like a home.” he explained briefly as he peered around.

  “Wow, I didn’t know there was a difference.” she admitted.

  “There is a difference, a big one actually. There some houses that make you feel like you are in a hotels and not a home.”

  “Oh. So what does your house feel like?” she wondered curiously.

  “Definitely not as welcoming.” he smirked.

  Zoe pursed her lips, not sure if she should pry some more or not. “Can I get you something, there’s juice, water, wine.” she said.

  “Maybe later.” he said.

  “Zoe, can you imagine I don’t know what to cook today.” Carol yelled throughout the corridor, thinking that Zoe was in her room.

  The minute Carol got to the sitting room, and saw them staring at her, her eyes flickered. “Oh my. I didn’t realize we have a visitor?” she said blushing.

  “My visitor mom, and he has just arrived.” Zoe beamed, setting out boundaries.

  “Good evening Mrs. Brown” Josh greeted with such impressive nobility.

  Carol smiled nervously “Good evening Josh, you are warmly welcomed.”

  “Thank you so much, it’s a lovely home” Josh praised.

  “Oh.” Carol was still blushing.

  Zoe ushered Josh to seat then followed her mother to the kitchen.

  “What was that you were saying about having no idea?” Zoe asked.

  “Yes, I was considering calling a pizza guy.” Carol explained.

  “With this rain mom, they’d have an excuse, plus we have a visitor…so please not today of all days” she pleaded.

  “I thought you said he was your visitor!” Carol recalled wittily.

  “Mom c’mon, I need your kitchen magic here, if I could do your wonders I sure would but—” she begged.

  “I can help.” Josh interrupted, they turned to him startled. “Am sorry for interrupting but, I heard Mrs. Brown and I love cooking so if you don’t mind …”

  “No way. You are a guest in our house; we can’t let you do that!” Carol denied, still looking startled.

  “It’s not a burden it’s my pleasure, I love cooking.” Josh insisted.

  “You sure about this?” Zoe barged in looking unsure of whole idea.

  “Positive. Not unless you’re uncomfortable with me invading your space.”

  “Not at all dear, you do your thing” Carol assured, smiling so brilliantly.

  Zoe stared at her mother, that was such a lie…she never let people that easy in her alien world. Oh but Josh was no normal people, he was a super star.

  “Ok, let’s do this” Josh cheered glancing at Zoe.

  “Just call me if you need anything. I will be watching TV” Carol dismissed her self, looking very pleased.

  Very weird. “Okay mom.”

  As Carol was leaving the kitchen, she turned to Zoe then mouthed Wow. Zoe held back a giggle by pressing her lips.

  “Wait, you guys eat Shepherd’s pie?”

  “Course we do.” Carol replied.

  “Do we have the ingredients?”

  “Yeah we do, minced meat in her freezer, potatoes in the pantry and the rest
Zoe will show you.”

  With Carol gone, Zoe averted to Josh who was going for the fridge.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be a super model or something?”

  “Last time I checked yeah.” he answered peering inside the fridge.

  “I read that you guys have strict diets. So why are you cooking shepherd’s pie?”

  Josh averted “I don’t have any kinda eating restrictions. I love food” he said grinning sexily at her then bent to the freezer “because I workout just as much”

  Zoe shrugged “So what can I can I get you?”

  “Please get me potatoes, veggie oil and flour. Already seen the salt, butter, cheese, beef, onions, peas, carrots and Worcestershire…the rest of the petty stuff we’ll get in the process.” he ordered looking like a cook who has done it a million times before.

  “Right away chef” Zoe said, walking to the pantry while forcing her mind to will out extra anxiety control.

  An hour later, the pie was ready to serve, warm and looking how it should. Consecutively outside the windows, the rain was at a descent speed. It was pouring just enough to hear someone clearly without having to shout. The cooking process had been a blast and to Zoe’s astonishment, she had fun cooking with him.

  The food turned out to be a total shocker, it was scrumptious. Carol couldn’t stop praising Josh after every spoonful. While dutifully ignoring any contribution whatsoever made by Zoe. Stealing Carol’s words during the dinner she had described it as food network quality dish. Such kinda praises came out rarely from Carol’s mouth. Zoe thought that Josh should consider himself fit for shows like top chef.

  Zack joined them for dinner. He was quiet during the entire process until later when he made sure Josh wasn’t leaving without a snap of the two of them.

  After the table was cleared, Zoe and Josh sat licking ice cream for dessert by the front porch. They made small talk while watching soft raindrops cradle their night.

  “So I’ve told you all about my small boring life, my single best friend Liz and you’ve met my family. I think it’s enough information to consider shifting regard to you” she said pointing a spoon at him.

  “I have a simple question for you…How does a girl not like Chocolate ice-cream?” he asked pointing at the big can of vanilla ice-cream they were sharing.

  Zoe swallowed “How does a fashion model cook like a restaurant chef?”

  “Simple, Interest!” he answered sharply.

  “I think that answers your question too” Zoe narrowed her eyes at him.

  He smiled briefly then sighed “I have a lot of working out to do tomorrow.”

  “Same hear, I’ve stuffed myself with lots today, had fries and a burger for lunch so you can imagine.”

  A brief moment of silence passed between them. They quietly listened to the drizzles on the roof and watched them sparkling down to the ground. It was a humbling kinda silence. Zoe stared at the starless sky then veered her curious eyes back to Josh.

  “Can I ask you something?” Zoe said pointing a spoon at him.

  “Shoot” he replied, diving a spoon into his mouth.

  “Am…when we…uh, ok how do I phrase this…how did you remember me?”

  “I didn’t.” he answered sharply.

  She was taken aback and felt a sudden clench in the gut.

  “The thing is, first I apologize for you meeting me that way. Second, two years ago my house was invaded by robbers. I was home alone, and it looked like they pushed me down the stairs, because that’s where the paramedics found me. I hit my head pretty bad and it caused some memory lose. Right now I don’t have most of my childhood memories and all of my high school memories are gone.”

  “Oh no, that’s horrible” Zoe cried with a small voice.

  Josh nodded “You have no idea. I ran into so many people who claim to know me but my head is always blank… It’s terrible. But I have to live with it.” He said shrugging.

  “Did the police catch the robbers?”

  “No. I couldn’t identify them. No memory”

  “Is it temporary? They memory loss?” she said hopefully.

  “No, unfortunately it’s permanent, have to make new memories.” He said sadly.

  “Jeez, I fill so bad.” Zoe said doleful.

  “No. don’t please, I’m fine now. I believe that’s what triggered my modeling career. Right after recovering, I invested my time and energy on learning martial arts. But what got me into modeling was trying to forget my past and starting a fresh with new memories.” he said thoughtfully.

  “That’s one hell of a comeback; I bet if it was me…I’d lock myself in my room and get fat.”

  Zoe’s curious face was back on.

  “You have another question?” he observed grinning boyishly.

  “So, you date a lot huh?”

  He chuckled “no, I don’t date”

  Zoe blinked, so was she dealing with a snotty player.

  “You see in my line of work, It’s like I’m always traveling so it kinda gets hard to date. For me it’s a two way thing, a lot of faithfulness is involved for me to date. Just not found one worth it.”

  Zoe bounced her head digesting his hypothesis.

  “So you’ve no plans to whatsoever?” she asked.

  “To settle?” he asked, Zoe nodded. “I will when I get her. It’s not about the timing, it’s about girl.

  Not remembering her…check, eventually knowing about her…pending!

  “So am curious, how did you know about me?” her forehead creased.

  “You ask a lot of questions Zoe, think you should pursue something like being a detective”

  “That’s not fair. How else do you learn about a person if it’s not by asking questions?” she was abashed.

  Josh chuckled “You see, right there another question!” Josh challenged.

  “No way, it was more of an argument than a question” she felt irritated.

  He noticed “Ok. Well you are a popular girl” he said smiling “you were the only blue eyed mixed girl in school, Mrs. Brown’s daughter and some other crazy title.”

  “Great…you know about that.” she huffed away a chuckle.

  Josh made a scary face and faked a plea “Please, just don’t hex me!”

  Zoe made a face.

  They absorbed the humor with a laugh and Zoe acknowledged his ninja act again.

  “Thank you again for saving my neck yesterday.” she said holding his gray eyes.

  “Not a problem. It was your luck and a good thing I’d learnt karate, my black belt surely paid off. I’m glad I helped though. You should be very careful, there lotsa sick jerks out there.”

  “Yeah” she said under her breath.

  Bye the time they got back to the ice cream it looked like frosting in the making.

  “Shit let me take to the kitchen.”

  “I think I should get going”

  “Okay, thank you so much for coming.”

  “Am glad I did.”

  They hugged, and as always he just felt extra warm. She logically stood by the porch and waved at him as he drove off their compound.

  Stretching her frame on her comfy bed, Zoe couldn’t help but smile. It was another crazy day ending with a neat surprise. Prior to her chat with Josh, Zoe went on and told Carol about his memory loss during dish washing and Carol went bizarre.

  She stopped disposing dirt on a plate and clasped her palms on her mouth. “My Goodness, that poor child. He must have had such a hard time. I hope it didn’t affect any other part of brain! Did it?”

  She hadn’t asked “I hope not”

  “He is still lovely and well mannered, so disciplined, and principled I could have believed him if he’d say he was in the army you know.” She voted on.

  “Mom you got all that from him cooking your dinner?”

  “Goodness No. I just noticed he has demeanor is different”

  Zoe knew not to argue, it was conspicuous that he was different only that she was not certain about
all the other titles Carol was labeling him.

  Regardless, who would’ve thought Josh of all people would survive the kitchen chaos with such integrity and passion. When Zoe thought of Josh she placed him on a box full of surprises. He was just too unpredictable, but impressively forward and genuine at the same time. She made sure to preoccupy her thoughts with boys and subsequently return to the land of the normal just for the night. Her mind was rewarded the time to fantasize and visualize herself with the two knights circling her world.

  She made herself lay at the center of the bed and when she turned to the left she imagined the bold, snotty model and then turning to the right she envisioned the bossy, overprotective witch.

  Each one represented the two diametric lives she had been living. Since she was not in any kinda of a dilemma zone with the guys, she decided to entertain the flirtatious one she was creating and probably play bad girl, cool girl.

  Came Friday morning, Zoe stood outside the hospital parking lot waiting on Liz. The doctor she saw with Gigi’s help had prescribed a few antibiotics and urged her on a number of not dos and to dos. Other than that her jaw was fine. Sunglass, hot pink top and pair of jeans were just perfect for a shopping afternoon. Gigi had made it clear that if all goes well tomorrow, on Sunday there will be an introductory ball for both her and the humeleons. Members of the association always dress up on such occasions. With this afternoon underway, she planned to hit two birds with one stone. Finally tell Liz her bizarre situation and shop for the perfect gown. She was not looking forward for the former but definitely the latter. Liz came shortly after with a cheerful smile on her.

  “Hey girl” Liz said looking delighted.

  Zoe smiled back at her warmly “Hey” she said while gliding into the car.

  “You been there long?” she asked pulling out of the driveway.

  “Not really” Zoe said twitching her nose while putting on her belt.

  “How have you been?” Liz asked casually.

  Zoe sighed “I’ve been great”

  “What were you doing in the hospital” Liz asked supported by a brief glancing.

  “Nothing important, just stupid checkups.” said Zoe.

  Liz swerved her eyes from the road “You’ve been feeling sick lately?” her voice rather soft with care.