Life Changes » Marcus Armstrong

Thirtyfive.

Jane took a deep breath and cleaned the dirty dishes. It was just one of those days... well, more like one of those weeks. She looked outside; the weather was beautiful. Luckily, she got used to the warm temperatures again. It was a huge transition between the cold temperatures of Iceland: 8ºC, and the warm temperatures of Italy: 30ºC.

"Alright," she breathed and dried some glasses. Jane was living on autopilot these days, the situation was bothering her. It was Saturday now, and she still hadn't made contact with Marcus. "Oh, fuck off," she groaned when a spoon fell on the floor.

The doorbell rang. Jane looked at it, but Luna got first and opened the door.

"Ehi!" Luna excitedly said.

"Ehilà! Che si dice di bello?"

Jane looked behind her and heard two women having a conversation in Italian. She turned back and dried the last items.

"Hey, girlie," Cate smiled and walked over to Jane. "How are you?"

"Hey, sweetheart," Jane replied, forcing herself to sound excited. "What a surprise to see you. I'm good, how about you?"

"I'm good," Cate smiled and walked over to Jane, giving her a short hug. "You look good." She scanned Jane's face, she didn't look good, but sometimes you have to say it to make someone smile. In this case, Jane smiled, a smile that reached her eyes. "You really good?"

Jane shrugged and sighed. "Anyway, would you like to drink something? We have water, soda, tea, coffee..." The fake smile returned.

"Water, please."

"Oh, sparkling water," Luna answered the same question when Jane looked at her.

Cate sat down at the dining table and looked at Luna. "You like sparkling water? I seriously don't know how people can like that. It's... Don't call me for it."

"It just has something, I can't explain it."

"That shit tastes like tv static," Jane blurted and poured sparkling water in a glass.

"Or when your leg falls asleep," Cate added.

Luna smirked and sat down across from Cate. "It is delicious," she stood up for herself. "You have no idea what you miss out on."

"I don't even want to know it," Cate politely smiled. "Thanks," she said to Jane when she handed over a cup of water. "Had a good week?" The question was meant for the two girls.

"Yeah, just celebrating vacation and working a lot. Nothing special, to be honest," Luna answered the question friendly."

Jane cleaned the kitchen counter with a cloth, collecting all the excessive water. "It was fine. And your week? I saw you were in Milan for a couple of days." Cate nodded. "How was it?"

"It was fun, I always love it to be in Milan. It's a beautiful city, I mean, look at it. And the fashion..." Cate widely smiled. "But it was extremely hot. And all those tourists... Can't complain, but I have to stop every second because some tourist is taking a photo. Just the downside of it."

"Yes, oh my god. This place is filled with tourists, like, fuck off. I suddenly cannot speak English anymore," Luna dramatically said.

"Sometimes, when I'm not feeling like helping a tourist, I just start to speak Icelandic. Nobody understands that," Jane said and grabbed a tangerine from the fruit bowl.

Luna and Cate began to laugh. "We are horrible people," Cate said and shook her head.

"Then don't be an annoying tourist. Or even better, just don't come to Italy," Luna added. "It's totally fine if you're here, but try to speak Italian, and then I will help. Don't expect me to help you when you don't even try to speak another language."