“Hey you. What are you up to?” Her voice was slightly muffled, as though she was eating.
“Not much.”
“Cool. Might drop past. I have a free hour and I'm around the corner at Delinkski's.” The mention of the indulgent French bakery explained everything. “Want anything?”
“An éclair.” I decided, giving in to my sudden craving for French delicacies.
Cass stormed through the door, handed me a box and threw herself on the couch.
“I am so buggered!” She declared, sighing loudly. I gently eased open the box and smiled at its contents. A feud was beginning in my head as to whether I should eat it now or save it for later. I should have asked for two. What the hell. I ripped apart the box and tucked into the layers of pastry, cream and chocolate. Heavenly.
“Why are you so buggered?” I covered my mouth to avoid shooting bit of éclair across the room. Cass reached out to pat Carol.
“Big night last night with Mr Bent Penis.” She grinned.
“Excuse me?” I gasped, giggling and choking at the same time. Cass nodded, her blue eyes gleaming.
“Yep. I swear it was like the letter L” she giggled.
“No!” Cass nodded and joined me on the floor. “What did you do?”
“Well we still managed it. He was quite good at hitting the spot actually.” We both collapsed in hysterics.
“That’s good.” I sputtered, trying to catch my breath. “I’m glad you didn’t get all bent out of shape about it.” Another round of giggles erupted out of my mouth.
“Oh that’s good.” Cass panted, slapping her leg. “I felt sorry for him though. Surely that would be enough to send you around the bend.” We were both laughing so hard I was sure the neighbours would call the police.
“Seriously, we need to stop. That poor guy.” Cass sat up too, nodding, trying to swallow her giggles. “I mean, that would be insane to live with. Did it curve up?”
“No you idiot! To the side.” She curved her finger over as if to show me.
“How did you even get it in?”
“Emma! You are so crude sometimes.” Cass scolded.
“I’m crude? Me? What about you?” I fell flat on my back, still giggling. It felt good to finally release. It made me realise how much I needed this. I reached over and squeezed Cass’s arm.
“Thanks for this Cass.” I wiped the tears from my eyes.
Cass hugged me.
“Thank you.” She corrected. “Who else would I talk about this stuff to?”
The light pouring through the gap in the curtains at 6am did nothing to lift my mood. After my shower and breakfast, I decided today was a pyjamas day. I sprawled myself out on the couch, with the television on reruns of Dr Phil. Everything seemed to be reruns these days.
Maybe if I lost myself in other people’s problems mine wouldn’t seem so major. First up we had a mother who had tried to kill her three adult daughters. Then a mother who refused to acknowledge her daughter because she’d wanted a son. Very uplifting
stuff.
I changed over to a soap opera. It had been weeks since I’d watched it, yet they were still on the same issues. My phone vibrated. I scooped it off the floor. I was no longer hoping it to be from Simon, I was expecting it to be him. Which made spam emails even more annoying.
Emma,
I still feel I was out of line calling you and laying everything on you like I did. I hope things are not awkward between us now. I hope you have a good day whatever you're doing. Me, I will be enjoying a lovely day in the park with 30 screaming kids.
For what it's worth, talking to you did help.
Simon