Chloe
But I think that it's best if we both stay
I wake up the next morning to an empty bed and the sound of voices coming from the living room. I glance over at the clock and nearly fall off the side of the bed in shock. Twenty past one in the afternoon! I'm supposed to be at the gallery at two to help set up and do last minute details.
It's about a twenty minute taxi ride away and I won't be able to come back before the doors open for my exhibit tonight at seven, so I'm only going to have twenty minutes to get ready for the day.
I grab my phone and call the taxi service, ordering a cab to be outside my building at twenty till so I won't have to go through the hassle of flagging one down.
I take one of the fastest showers of my life and dry off at record speed. I rummage through my closet, looking for the dress I was planning to wear and finding it buried in the very back. I slip a pair of black tights on over my legs and shimmy into the dress that isn't the smartest one to wear in the dead of December.
It's tank top style at the top with black and white stripes going vertically with a high waisted blue skirt that ends halfway down my thighs. I'll freeze on the way to the cab and into the gallery, but I'll be fine after that.
I don't bother messing with my hair so I smooth it back into what turns out to be a sophisticated looking ponytail and apply minimal makeup. Only a coat of mascara, eyeliner, and red lipstick is painted onto my face.
I struggle into a pair of black sneaker heels and toss my phone and house key into a black clutch bag, along with a bag of M&M's in case I get hungry.
When I exit my room, I hear Josh say something to me but I don't catch what. I'm not purposefully trying to ignore him, I just have one minute to get down to the cab before he takes another client.
I remove my coat from the rack near the door and slip my arms into it before running out the front door. I hear a voice calling from behind me, but I'm too focused on getting to the elevator to notice. I get inside safely and press the button for the bottom floor before realizing that Josh is there beside me.
"Are you mad at me?" he asks. The look on his face reminds me of the one that a puppy gives his owner after peeing on the floor.
I wrap my arms around him and squeeze. "I can never be mad at you, especially not after you give me puppy dog eyes. I'm just in a rush because I overslept."
Josh breathes out a huge breath of air and I'm convinced that he'd been holding it in the entire elevator ride down. We step out of the small area and out into the cold fresh air.
I look around and see the cab waiting there and I give Josh another hug. He slips his fingers in between mine and walks me over to the cab. Josh opens the door to the backseat and shuts it behind me.
I roll the window down and he says,
"Can I come with you?"
I smile widely, letting the very back teeth in my mouth show. "Stay. They need you."
"I'm going to miss you," he informs me before giving me a big kiss.
"You're going to see me in like nine hours," I remind him. You'd think I'm moving away with the way we're acting right now. I'm only going a few miles away. "You have lipstick on your face now."
"And you have it smudged around your lips," he replies. "But nine hours is way too long."
