The Law of Polarity

14. Self-Care Saturday

Work at the cafe flies by that afternoon.

Wren and I offered to pick up a few extra hours to cover Kal's shift so he could stay home again and rest one more day. He tried to insist he was fine, and he did seem ok, but both of us already had to work so we assured him it was no biggie.

Wren had the morning shift, so she was already there when I arrived since I'm scheduled for a mid-shift today. The cafe is busy, bustling with rotating traffic and humming with the static crowd, but there's three of us working and we get into a good rhythm.

I'm not in training anymore and I've gotten a handle on using my weaving for hot bar, so it comes a lot easier now and our other coworkers have caught onto this being my specialty. We still swap positions sometimes to give each other some reprieve and switch it up a little.

I usually have a cup of coffee (it's free for us) to re-energize myself, but as my shift gets closer to ending it occurs to me that I never needed it today. I slept so well last night—despite being rudely woken—and felt quite invigorated after yoga this morning.

After being stretched and given purpose, both my body and mind are awake and alert... but calm, not jittery like I can get with caffeine.

I'm not sure if it's the yoga, the sleep, a combination, or something else, but it feels incredible. I'm usually sluggish and anxious, and now I'm... not.

Wren was more than happy to point out my "life-high" and tease me about it before she left to go home.

The rest of my shift comes and goes easily, but I'm still excited for it to end so I can head back home as well.

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I open our front door to find my friends making a ruckus in our living room.

Four of them are crowded around the coffee table so I only see the tops of their heads. Jasper is sitting on the couch, but his back is to me so all see is his mop of red hair too. They're all arguing together about something or another...not loudly or angrily... just bickering.

I hear Ronan above the others, "You're hogging them all, Wren! You can't take all of them!"

"Well I want a few at least! There's still plenty of others!" Wren counters.

Jasper stands from the couch to peer over their shoulders in observation. He's the only one I don't hear talking—not that it's a huge surprise.

I even hear Aster speak up, "I think I like this one, it's nice."

They're so entranced that they don't even notice me come in or walk closer, until I finally say something when I'm standing right behind Kal. "What are you guys doing?"

All their frantic motion stops, Kal jerks in surprise (payback for those times he tries to sneak up with his cold hands), and they all whip their heads to me—

With face masks on?

I squint my eyes at them, trying to make sense of everything: Ronan's got his usual headband on and it looks like Jasper was made to wear one too, while Kal and Aster's hair are both pulled in a bun. Ro is wearing a fluffy bathrobe and the others all have pj's or sweats on... and the center of attention, on the coffee table, is a ton of nail polish bottles...?

"We're painting our nails," Wren cheerfully answers.

"Uhh, yeah I see that now. Cool... Why?"