Bound

Chapter 13: Sitting Down

Emily

"Hey, your alarm's going off, get up." Sienna shakes me from my slumber. "My mouth is so dry; can I have a bottle of water?" she asks.

I blink and rub sleep from my eyes. "Yeah, of course. You don't have to ask. How're you feeling?"

I hear the creaking of the floor as she makes for the refrigerator. "I feel surprisingly confident and free after last night. And my head hurts," she says and pulls water from the fridge just feet away from where I'm still laying on the couch.

I finally muster up the strength to get up and turn my alarm off. "I'm sure last night was a lot," I say, "I'm glad you feel good about it though. It's about time you stood up to them. You didn't need all of that."

She grabs a bottle of headache medicine from the counter, shakes it, and retrieves one pill before swiftly gulping it down. "Yeah, I'm just concerned about being homeless now. There's no way my parents want me to come home. Unless they plan on  trying to control me still, and in that case, there's no way I'm going home," she says matter-of-factly.

"Well, you're definitely not gonna be homeless. I mean, I could honestly use the help with rent anyway, if you're gonna be looking for a place. Why don't you just move in here?" I offer.

"Uh, are you sure?" Sienna looks around briefly. "It's pretty small," she concludes.

Wow, now I'm feeling judged.

"I mean, not if you don't want to, but I don't even use this couch, really," I say and shrug. Strolling to my closet, I pull out two work uniforms and hand one to Sienna. I continue, "You can make the living room your bedroom. It's set up weirdly anyway and it has a closet and room for a dresser. You can block the kitchen off." I enter the bathroom to change.

"I just don't want to intrude," she says through the door.
"You wouldn't be!" I assure her.

"Are you sure? It would be super fun to have a roommate who isn't my overbearing parents." She ponders.

"Absolutely," I answer as I open the bathroom door. I see that Sienna is also dressed for work now, and seemingly happy to finally be out of that itchy dress. I guess I could have offered her pajamas last night, but I must have been too tired to think straight. I hand her a hair tie and she throws her hair into a messy bun.

"Okay," Sienna agrees. "I'll move my things in sometime this week."

"Awesome! Can I see your phone?" I ask her.

"Yeah, what for?"

"I have to call us a Lyft." She glares at me. "What? My only car key is on the chain with my apartment key. I don't have an extra and you didn't drive here," I defend.

"No, no, no. No more Lyfts. Only drunk Sienna can handle being in a stranger's car. Not sober Sienna and definitely not hung-over Sienna. Call someone else," she demands.

"Like who, bitch? You're the only 'someone else' I've got," I laugh.

Sienna just stares at me.

"Oh, no," I refuse.

She holds her glare.

"No," I repeat. "Absolutely not. I'm not calling him. We've literally been on one date and he already has to go out of his way to bring me my things to work." I practically beg her not to make me call him.

She hands me her phone. "Call him! Come on, he probably won't mind. He already has to bring you your things, why can't he just drop your keys off to you here?"
What she's saying is kind of making sense so, with an exaggerated sigh, I dial his number.