Beautiful Mistakes

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.