Aisleland Paradise

Chapter 12

She woke up the next morning and stretched comfortably in her bed. Last night had reset everything. Her giant scheme had paid off, she had saved Todd's company and he thanked her by giving her the best banging of her entire life. But what was the cost? She was still unsure who was using who or what was even real anymore. Maybe she'd do him one more time just to be sure.

In the meantime though, it was Monday and she had decided to take the day off work. But that was a funny idea, she was kind of working three different jobs right now (four, if you count balancing the romantic demands of two millionaires, which was a full time gig in itself), and none of them were her actual job. Todd thought she was working with Craig today, Craig thought she was... actually he probably had no clue where she was, Titanic corporate thought she was at the store as scheduled, and the store thought she was at corporate. Schaeffer's corporate literally didn't know who she was, so she probably wouldn't be missed there, and all of the Schaeffer's branches were actively praying that she never, ever returned, so she was pretty freed up. For just one day she fell through the cracks in the universe, she could take a little vacation from reality.

Todd had left her a note on the counter wishing her a nice day; she optimistically fired off a sweet little reply, hoping for a quick response but knowing that he wouldn't reply for days. Her cell was in her hand so she figured she may as well text Craig, she had thirteen unread texts from him but she typed without reading any of them. She asked if he wanted to go to a park and he replied seconds later saying that she should come over and play video games with him. She left him on read. She hadn't talked to James in a hot minute so she texted him just seeing what was up. James was kind of furious with her. Turns out she was still getting scheduled for her regular shifts at her store, despite the fact that she hadn't been there in a month, and he had gotten stuck covering almost all of them. She'd have to find a way to take care of him for that.

It was a beautiful December day, unseasonably warm with a bold blue sky and not a cloud to be seen. She sat in her bay window and pondered her situation. Were she and Todd back together? For that matter, were they ever officially together in the first place? And what about Craig? She was still living with him and he clearly thought they were something official, though in her mind they just lived together and sometimes banged, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Could she even choose between the two if she had to? Craig lavished praise and adoration on her at all hours of the day, whether she wanted it or not, and admittedly she did like that, but he was an idiot mad-child, and that was a thing. On the other hand, the time she spent with Todd was everything she ever wanted in a relationship, but those interactions were intermittent and unpredictable, leaving her alone and starved for affection more often than not. And while she was juggling her lovers she was also basically running two massive and successful (and directly competing) companies, so that was a bit of a complication too. And to think, just a couple weeks ago she had nothing, barely getting by in a crappy apartment with a couple hundred bucks in the bank. And now she was here, a successful businesswoman with more millionaire boyfriends than she knew what to do with.

Having failed to make contact with any of her legion of dudes, she was left with no other option but to take herself out for a date. She changed into her old clothes, got into her own car, and drove off to get lunch at a greasy diner that used to be her favorite place to eat. She had a hamburger that was almost as big as she was and gracelessly devoured it. After sacrificing a couple minutes of her life expectancy to some seasoned french fries, she drove to a park and just walked around for a bit. She even left her phone in the car, something she hadn't done in, who knows, maybe ever. It was the first truly chill day she'd had in as long as she could remember and her soul felt full.

Her contentment lasted until the sun went down and she knew that she had to go home. Reality started poking its nose in her business when she realized that word, home, didn't mean what it used to. Home could be Todd's mansion, Craig's basement, James' couch, her mom's house, or her car. She had to pick.