The New Beginnings

Fresh start

I pull up back to the house with my car. I park and turn my engine off before unbuckling; hopping out of the drivers seat and closing the door behind. I put the strap of my purse onto my shoulder.

I walk up to the house as my black heels clack onto the ground. "Hey." I say to Philip as he's closing the door behind him. "Hey." He replies. "Early bird catches the worm?" I ask. "Carl." He says blandly.

I lean against the wooden porch, "Oh, God, that bugle alarm again?" I question the obvious. "Yep." Philip sighs, sitting down onto the steps.

I shake my head and run my fingers through my hair. "You just getting home, alley cat?" Lip asks.

"Yeah, starting to turn turn over a new leaf." I say, proudly as I smile and nod. "Yeah, what leaf is that?" Lip says, pulling out a cigarette and begins using his lighter.

I chuckle, "No more sex with anonymous men—" I sit down next to Lip. "chosen for their abdominal fitness." I reply. "Oh, yeah" lip adds. "Yeah." I nod.

"Closes my tinder account." I grab Philips cigarettes and flick it, "I'm happy I'm done with meaningless sexual gratification." I put the cigarette to my mouth. "I have.. connection now. Conversations, shared interests." I shrug.

"That's good for you." Philip says, finishing up tying his shoes. "Where you going?" I ask. "I woke up feeling like a drink, so I decided I'd run to work instead." Lip nods. "Gotta be at least five miles." I say.

"It's actually closer to seven." Philip adds; grabbing his denim jacket. "Hope your hungry, Sergeant York is in there cooking breakfast again." Philip pats my back before heading off. I chuckle.
~~~~~
I make my way into the kitchen after putting on some new clothes. "Discipline commitment." Carl says. "In bed. Lights out at 2100. Up at 0530. In the field at 0630." Carl speaks. I close the door behind me, making my way to the kitchen as Liam's sitting at the counter eating some breakfast.

"State the warrior way." Carl nods.

"Is that grits?" I ask. "And eggs, flapjacks, sausage and biscuits, and breakfast meat." Carl tells me, pilling his plate. "Whoa." I say.

"Gotta stay strong to man the gates." Carl shrugs. I fill up a cup of water. "Preserve America for all those fat-ass coastal elites. Taking our liberties for granted." Carl adds on. "What gates?" Liam questions as he pours syrup on his pancake. "The gates that protect us from tyranny and oppression." Carl states.

I lift my eyebrows at Liam and open up the fridge. "How are you gonna eat all that?" Liam asks, looking over at Carls stacked plate. "I gotta stay combat ready for the fall." Carl spouted.

I grab some cereal, not finding anything good in the fridge. I grab a bowl, "I'm a cadet corporal now." Carl claims. "Corporals deal with hell week." Carl states.

"Oh, I can't wait to torture those little seventh grade fuckers." Carl chuckles. "Expresso?" Carl asks me.
"You buy that with some of your Monica meth money?" I ask, pouring in the cereal into the empty bowl. "Yeah." Carl replies. "Then no." I say.

I put the cereal back on top of the fridge. "You sell my meth yet?" Ian asks, coming from the stairs; pointing at Carl. "Moved Debbie's yesterday. Next, Lips. Then yours." Carl lists off. "Jesus." I speak; grabbing milk.

"Hey, I can't move it all at once— court attract cartel attention." Carl claims. "Mm-hmm." Ian mumbles.
"What happened to ramrod-ready American
Corporal Carl?" I ask; pouring my milk into the cereal bowl as I stare at him. "The most American thing is the pursuit of free enterprise, Fiona." Carl perceives. I grab some coffee and begin scooping some and adding it into the coffee maker. "Where's my meth?" Liam asks.

"You don't get any." I sternly say. "And your brother shouldn't have taken any either." I add; pointing at him as Philip swallows his bipolar pills.

"Okay, well, I guess you won't want to be luxuriating in my AquaRest Bubble Master later today, then." Carl comments, looking at me as I grab my bowl and my spoon. "Your what?" I cross my eyebrows.

"Carl bought a hot tub with his Monica money." Ian speaks. "Sixteen kegs and a waterfall gets delivered this morning." Carl says. "Do I have to go all those birthday parties tomorrow?" Liam asks, "How many'd you got invited to?" I question, guiding the spoon of Frosted Flakes into my mouth. "Four." Liam replies.

"Oh, they gonna have goodie bags like the parties last weekend?" Ian questions, making his expresso. "Those Avengers DVD sets were pretty cool." Ian says. "No, and the GameStop gift cards." Carl mentions. "Oh, yeah." Ian nods.

I look at my watch, "Oh, hey, go get dressed, Liam, okay?" I blurt. "It's almost time for school." I say.

Carls bugle call starts playing once again. "Gotta raise the colors." Carl removes himself from his seat. "We have colors?" Ian looks at me, confused.

I pour my coffee and begin sipping it. "He put up a flagpole." I say. "What?" Ian crosses his eyebrows once again.

~~~~~

"Enjoy." Veronica says to the customers, "Thanks."the table says. She walks over to me, "so, no more Tinder?" Veronica asks. "Nope, V, I'm don't with it. No more pointless sex bent over a dirty sink in a club bathroom." I say, making my way to the cashier. "Or scraping my ass on a rusty alley dumpster." I chuckle to myself, putting money into the register. A customer looks at me, as if he seen a ghost.

"Eat your quinoa." I say to the man. "A couple months ago before I got back with B again, I had this joker, he starts bursts out crying." I stated, grabbing dishes from Veronica and putting them into the dirty dishes bin. "Turns out his wife had just dumped him." I add on. I grab more dishes from V. "I was stuck there for, like, an hour consoling him, when all I really wanted was to go home to my own bed." I murmured.

I grab a receipt and money a customer left onto the counter. Veronica shrugged, "You could have just left."

"What kind of person would I be if I just left him there like that?" I  say.

"The kind of person who used tinder to intentionally avoid most things on an almost daily basis." Veronica makes a point. The man looks over at Veronica and I. I close the register, "It wasn't daily." I shake my head to the man.

"I just— I-I can't be that person who wakes up in the wet spot of some guy whose name I can't even remember's bed again." I say, grabbing a list of customers orders. I grab a plate from the spot of made plates ready to get served. I hand over a plate to V. "I would kill for a wet spot." V whines. "With Kev and me on nights, we barely even see each other. Much less make a mess in the sheets.."

"Hi! Welcome to Patsy's." Veronica smiles to the customers and begin serving the tables.

~~~~~
I park up to the sidewalk. I remove my keys and make my way out of the car. I close the door behind me and grab my keys for the apartment building.

I unlock the building door and open the door. I close the door behind me and observe the building I own.
I smile to myself and sigh.

__________
Hello guysss!! Missed writing this story.
I've been busy at school and don't have much time to write but I'll try!!
Xxx, Z