crème glacée [the fate of coincidences 1]

11: Glen

When Glen woke up with paper stuck to his face, it was a quarter past 9 and the morning sunlight was streaming through the uncurtained windows. He freaked out for a second, thinking he slept through the alarm and was late to work. His phone showed him that it was a Saturday and the day's work was already done the night before. He felt relief, but then after a few minutes, dread. What was he going to do for the whole weekend?

He groaned into the couch pillow and banged his forehead on it a few times, feeling the anxiety creeping in. He didn't like staying in his empty apartment for too long.

The loud ringing of the phone by the pillow interrupted his thoughts for a moment.

"Hello?" he spoke into the receiver after balancing the phone on his cheek.

"Glennie, honey, how are you?" The voice was way too loud for Glen's liking at the moment but he instantly perked up.

"Gran! Why are you calling so early?"

"Early? Oh right, I always forget about those pesky time differences. Did I wake you up? What time is it over there?"

"It's like nine." He sat up, running a hand through his bird nest of hair. "I haven't heard from you since last month. How are you doing?"

He could hear her crackled laugh on the other end. "I'm doing well as always. Just wanted to check up on my favorite grandson. How are you doing?"

"I'm your only grandson." Glen cracked a smile. "Work is going well, we finally managed to secure that model I was talking about."

There was a sigh. "You know I don't care about work, I know you're doing well with that. I'm asking about your personal life, obviously. How's Vendi?"

He leaned back on the couch, deflating. "She broke off the engagement."

"What?! How dare she break my baby's heart like that? Where's my pitchfork? I'm taking the next flight to Seattle, just you wait."

"Gran!" He tried to sound stern but laughter seeped through. "It's not that serious." He cleared his throat. "I mean, it really sucks, but I know I'll get over it. We all knew it wasn't going to work out anyway."

There was a pause before his grandma spoke again. She sounded annoyed. "This is your problem, Glen. This is why girls always break up with you even though you're rich and handsome. You never get angry! A girl tramples all over you and you just let her. She leaves and you don't even try to hold on to her and then wallow in pity on your couch, drafting up new business plans."

Glen took in a deep breath, taking offence. "You want me to go hang on to Vendi, who never loved me and left me for another man?"

"Well, not anymore, since if you didn't mess up in the very beginning and actually told her you had romantic feelings for her, you wouldn't be in this situation."

"You never take my side in these things." He frowned at the papers strewn over the coffee table like a petulant child.

"Actually, I'm taking your side by telling you to get your act together. If I just left you be, and not care if you ended up alone your whole life, then I wouldn't be taking your side at all."

Glen didn't say anything. He knew she was right but he was still petty about the scolding.

She sighed at the other end. "You're going to have to come up here and let your parents know in person to minimize your mother's pleasant surprise." That was definitely sarcasm. His mom would freak. "I'll fly over there, too, to help with the collateral damage and feed you expensive New York food," she continued, much kinder. "You're still my favorite grandson, even though you're a complete loser at romance. When your grandpa was your age, girls threw themselves at him, trying to get him to sign a marriage certificate. I sent them all to the hospital with my own bare hands and he fell for me at first sight, but that's not the point. The point is that grandpa had game, and you're severely lacking."

"Well, that's because grandpa was a player and always made up wild stories about his adventures in Australia," Glen huffed. "And I don't want girls to throw themselves at me with marriage certificates. That would be terrifying."

"You do have a point." There was some kind of noise in the background. "Alright, grandma's gotta go. Martha thinks she can cheat at poker again."

Glen's eyes widened. "Gran, you're gambling?"

"Don't worry, we're not playing with money."

"What else could you possibly play with?"

"Oh, you know, golden dentals, some dusty old art, a little bit of property here and there. Cheap useless things."

He jumped off the couch. "A bit of property here and there?! Is that why the Cannes summer house suddenly belonged to some Alice Brendell and not our family?"

"Oh, come on, it's not like anyone from our family used it anyway." She sounded defensive but there was not even an ounce of guilt in her tone.

"This summer I went there for a business trip and I had to stay at a hotel."

"You sound like a privileged rich brat," she retorted. "What's wrong with staying at a hotel?"

He sighed. "We went there every summer when I was in elementary and middle school. It has a lot of memories, how can you just... Just gamble it off to some wrinkly old lady like it's no big deal?"

"I'm sorry, Glennie, I'll go win it back right now. Alice just got lucky that time, I'm sure I can take her."

"Gran!"

The line went dead and Glen collapsed back onto the couch. He'd forgot all about the Cannes summer house, but now that it was brought up again, he was getting increasingly upset. How could she just lose a family house to one of her poker buddies?

His gran was strangely enough his closest friend, even closer than Ella or Zack. He could never keep secrets from her and trusted her without question. So the fact that she sold off a place that was so important to him hurt, but also wasn't too surprising considering her personality.

He flailed around on the couch in frustration for a bit and then resorted to hitting his head against the decorative pillows. Sharp pain shot up his neck, making him sit up and clutch at it. It was because he slept in a weird position, of course, neck cramps were the last thing he needed right now.

His phone pinged with a reminder. He checked it with his neck bent at an angle that was the least painful. It was about the meeting at 12:30 with Jade Emerson who crashed his car. The location was at the same Peet's where Vendi broke up with him.

Throwing his phone back into the pillows, Glen pulled himself up to go take a shower even though he just wanted to sleep forever at this point.