for, liar

Chapter 84

The snow has been relentless for the past month. Charlotte has become a winter wonderland in a matter of weeks and there's no question of if we're getting a white Christmas this year. Scream Beans flourishes when the weather is like this. Cold weather and holiday vibes flips a switch in people's brains that makes them yearn for hot coffee.

I picked up extra hours so I would be able to afford all the Christmas presents I've been splurging on. Maddy has been doing the same. Tonight will be the first night in a month we're having dinner together and she said she has some exciting news to tell me.

"Alright, Jeff. I'm heading out. I got dinner plans."

I pull my jacket off the coat rack in the back and put it on. Every day I've had to wear multiple layers to keep warm. I probably look twice the size as usual but it's worth not getting frostbite just by stepping outside.

"Date night?" he assumes. 

He's reorganizing the mess of what we call a back room, trying to impress Cat when she drops by for Christmas. We haven't seen her in so long I was convinced she retired and moved to Bora Bora, leaving her business to Jeff who has been resiliently picking up the slack of what was left behind. I'm still not the biggest fan of Jeff, but he has improved this store and I'm thankful for that.

"Sure, you can call it that."

He laughs and pulls down a cardboard box from one of the top shelves. He sets it on the back desk and begins plunging through it to look for anything of importance.

"What is all that stuff?" I ask.

I walk over and peek my head over his shoulder. There's a few aprons and other merchandise thrown around as well as a few frames and doodles. This must be from when Cat first opened the store. All of it looks dusty and has just been waiting on someone to find it. I wonder what Jeff is going to do with all this.

"Don't throw it away. Cat might want all of that."

I can see it in his eyes that he's contemplating tossing it out the back door. He better not do that without knowing if that junk means something to her.

"I'm running out of room here. We can't keep everything." He huffs, pushing the box aside.

"Yes but that shit is sentimental. Don't throw it away. Maybe she's coming back for it."

He shrugs and waves me off. I give up on arguing with the man so I leave to avoid running late.

Maddy wanted to cook a brand new recipe tonight. Of course, it's probably going to be a pasta dish because that girl loves Italian food. We both do. We can't help the superiority pasta has over all food.

She's setting the dinner table when I walk inside. I told her to leave the table for me to do since she's cooking the meal but I guess she just couldn't help herself. I was also running a bit late.

"How was work, honey?" She says, impersonating a high pitched, thirty-year old housewife.

I laugh and hang my jacket up next to the front door. "Well I got fired, sold the house, gave up the kids for adoption, and have I mentioned I'm cheating on you with your sister?" I respond in an even worse impersonation of a deadbeat husband.

She cackles, setting an unopened bottle of red wine in the center of the table, right between the two glasses. Red wine means big news.

"You're a dumb ass. Sit down." She barks.

I don't get how me and Maddy don't have our own reality show yet. We're both comical.

"So which pasta dish did you decide on?" I ask and plant down in my chair.

She grabs the large glass dish from the stove and carries it over to the table, making sure to have dry washcloths for it to sit on so it doesn't damage the wood. .

"How do you know that it's pasta?"

I look at the dish and to my surprise, it isn't. She really did want to try something new.

"Oh, this must be some serious news if you were inspired to make something newer than new."

She's beaming. Did she win the lottery? It's got to be something close because this is the most excited I've seen her since we got the apartment.

"If you're about to tell me you've won millions of dollars and we can both quit our day jobs to move to Fiji, I will leave this table right now and start packing."

She keeps smiling and shakes her head. "Unfortunately, no."

Damn. All my hopes and dreams are shot into the ground in a matter of seconds.

"I'm going back to college." She says.

My eyebrows furrow. What does she mean she's going back?

"Going back? For what?"

She claps her hands together and laughs like a maniac. "My masters! I got accepted and I'm going to do teaching. I want to be an art teacher."

This was the news. She's going back to UNC to continue her education and become an art teacher. She decided on what she wanted to do for her career and I'm sitting here feeling as lost as ever. I can't let my jealousy take away from her excitement. I'm proud of her. She deserves this.

"That is...fucking amazing. That's awesome, Maddy! Holy hell I am so proud of you."

I rise from my chair to hug her and she starts jumping up and down like a kid. She really wanted this. A small part of me feels guilty that I didn't know how badly she wanted this.

"When do your classes start? Is it online or are you taking them at the university?"

"It's all online. They want to try this virtual thing out since technology has basically taken over education so I'll get to stay home while I'm studying. You thought you were gonna get rid of me that easily?"

That's what I was worried about. I didn't want to lose her after I felt like we just moved into this apartment.

"No, of course not! Thank God you're staying because there's no way I'm living alone. When do classes start?"

"January 16th. Which means I'm partying my ass off for the holidays because after that it's going to be all work, no play."

"As if you ever let school get in the way of your fun." I tease.

She shakes her head and motions for me to sit back down. "Things are going to be different. I want to take this very seriously. This is my future. This is what I didn't even really know that I've wanted all along but I know now!"

I bite down on my lip and watch her charismatically scoop food out onto our plates.

I always thought she wanted to be a chef. Usually people realize their hobbies are their ideal career choice. Do I even have a hobby? All I do is make coffee and that is definitely not my ideal career. Once again I'm faced with the reality of not knowing what the hell I'm going to do with my life.

Revised;