Short Stories

Christmas Story 5

"What did you want to show me?" I asked following behind Angelo. Dinner was nice and simple. Everyone had a good time and nothing was too awkward. We were instructed not to get too drunk because tomorrow is the wedding.

"You've seen him before." Angelo smiled. He opens the door to what I'm assuming was his apartment. I heard a big huff before an dog came running out.

"Oh wow, King." I bent down and hugged him. He was a very freadlily dog and gave me a bunch of kisses. "Thank you but I like your owner kisses more." I stood back up. King went in to walking around Angelo wagging his tail.

"My mom took care of him yesterday but she said he was missing me so I had to come visit him." Angelo walked further into his house. I noticed everything was neat and placed into and specific spot. I noticed King started to calm down and went to go lay in his bed.

"Are you an germaphobe?" I asked looking at the shelves with no dust and spots.

"Not exactly, I just like my house to be clean and things to be organized. I was diagnosed with an mild case of OCD because I tend to clean twice a day even if it's clean." He confessed.

"Didn't see that coming from you." I hummed. "This is you and King and your daughter." I asked looking at another picture.

"Yep, when I got out. My mom got me King that week this apartment and I saw my daughter for the first time not behind glass. It was a good week the best of my life." He smiled.

"And of course an picture of an gutted car." I smirked.

"You know it." He smiled.

"So how does being extremely clean and dealing with cars work?" I asked walking over to him. He was sitting in the couch so I took a seat next to him. His apartment was nice, furnished with grey and pale yellows with pictures everywhere. It was warm and felt homey.

"I take a shower theee time a day at work. Once in the morning in the middle of work and at night. Also if you noticed at my station I have what I need to stay pretty clean." He shrugged. "Working with the cars helps me to not be so obsessed because I can't help getting oil and dirt on myself."

"You'd hate being a chef. I'm always dirty after work." I sighed.

"How did you get into cooking anyway?" He asked. I laid back into him and sighed.

"I used to cook with my mom a lot and I really started loving food and how it's made. My dad was always hounding us about college so I went for business and during that time as a starving student I had to find new ways to cook and feed myself and Kacy. When I graduated I decided I wanted to go to culinary school. I did and now I have my own restaurant and catering service." I smiled.

"So you found your passion and ran with it?" I nodded. "That's really impressive going after your dreams like that."

"You're doing the same thing right, with your car garage."

"It's actually not mine. My mom helped me fix it up after my dad passed and it's in her name. I run everything that goes into the day to day. I work there mostly because it's what I'm good at and I do enjoy it but it's not my passion. Not like how you couldn't stay away from cooking." He explained.

"So what is, what's something you can't stay away from?"

"Honestly I really like writing." I looked at him for a few second a before laughing. "What the fuck why are you laughing at my dreams?" He asked with an smile.

"Beacuse you writing is a little funny. I can't imagine you sitting down and writing poems or stories. I'm sorry, that's really interesting please explain."