I woke to the sound of papers rustling, and opened my eyes to see a mass of tangly red hair searching for something on my desk. I looked at my phone, 10:30am. I decided I should probably get up.
"Have you seen the keys? I don't remember where I left them."
Alice and I shared a car. There wasn't enough room in the driveway and she didn't have enough money to afford her own. Besides, it was nice being able to split gas and insurance money with someone else, despite having to share car privileges.
Before I could reply, Alice yelled, "AHA! Found them. I'll see you later tonight, okay?"
I didn't see much of Alice on Saturdays. She worked, strangely enough, till 6 on Saturdays, always saying she was most productive when the rest of the office wasn't there to bother her. It was nice having a little time to myself, the whole afternoon to do whatever I wanted.
"I'll bring home a pizza, we'll watch a movie!" I heard her call before the front door slammed.
I swung my legs out of bed, stretching my arms high above my head before I climbed out. What to do, what to do today, I thought to myself. I meandered to my closet and began sifting through my clothes, a quiet yawn escaping my mouth. As I looked through my options for the day, I neared the end of the rack and stopped on a pair of purple yoga capris I forgot I even owned. The price tag was still attached. I had been meaning to start working out and running again, I used to be so good about it before my nursing placements got too intense and I just couldn't make the time anymore. I remembered buying these over a month ago when summer started as a motivational present to myself, and excuse gave way to excuse so there they remained. That's when I remembered Harry and his recommendation of Equinox. It was only a few miles from where I lived, and my other option was pigging out on junk food until Alice got home with more junk food. What better time to start than now?
I pulled the capris on, chose a simple black t-shirt to go over my sports bra, laced on my sneakers and decided I would take a run down to the gym and check it out. I grabbed my phone off the charger and glanced at the screen, 1 new message. I had one guess as to who it was from. My suspicions were correct when I swiped at the screen.
Sure, today is good. Wanna grab dinner?
I had forgotten about texting Mark last night, in my drunk stupor I had agreed to hang out with him today. With a sigh I texted back, remembering what Alice had said earlier.
Maybe we can we get coffee instead? I have plans with Alice tonight. I'm heading out for a little bit now, text me when you get this and we'll meet up.
I knew that was a pretty lame excuse, and I knew he'd know it too. I always had plans with Alice, and he would always come along with us when we were together. Still, it was true, and besides we weren't together anymore. I wanted to have a reason to leave if it got awkward or weird. It wasn't that I didn't love Mark, he was a good person and he always treated me well. We had been together since our junior year in high school, and he was my first for a lot of things. Not my first kiss, I had had boyfriends before him, but he was my first serious boyfriend, my first lover, my high school sweetheart. But high school felt like lightyears ago, and I wasn't sure anymore if he was the one for me. I had such ambition and drive, and he was nice, but that was it. He was just there, just mediocre. I didn't want to settle. He didn't share the same passion for life that I did, he didn't have the same lofty goals, he had even told me he didn't really want kids. That was the turning point for me, it was after that comment that I started to see him differently.
I dug my earphones out of my purse, plugged them into my phone, slipped my wristlet into my back pocket and started down the stairs. I opted to shuffle through the songs in my library, even though I knew once I began to run I would start to get too critical about what was playing. I was halfway out the door and down the sidewalk when a text tone buzzed in my ear.
