What Little Worlds

Five

Present Day

"He wouldn't leave my bed. I had to be at work in thirty minutes and this ridiculous man would not get out of my bed!"

Amelie chuckled and crossed her legs on the park bench. She nodded and then realized her friend could not see her response through the phone. Regardless of whether Amelie responded, Maggie continued her rant.

"So then I coughed. Nothing. I coughed again and this time Jake rolled a bit onto his back. So it clearly was not working. I walked over to my dresser, opened the top drawer and banged it shut as hard as I could. The boy still did not move."

"Did you make it to work on time?" Amelie asked.

Maggie snorted, "Oh I did. Just wait, I'm getting there."

"So obviously I couldn't leave the house with him here. Even though we've been seeing each other for two months I didn't particularly want him snooping around my apartment. And I didn't want to give him any ideas that he had more privileges with me than he thought.

"If he wouldn't respond to aggression, fine. So I decided to try something else." Maggie paused.

Finally realizing that her friend was waiting for a response Amelie said, "Ooooo cryptic."

"Oh shut up," Maggie said. "So I sat down on the bed just near his face and started stroking his cheek. His face leaned into my palm. Finally. I stroked his face a bit and then leaned down right next to him and whispered 'Baaaaabe,'"

"Oh this poor boy didn't stand a chance!" Amelie said.

"I know. He got all mushy and said, "mmmmh," and fluttered his lashes like a pretty boy. Then, I knew he was awake so I said 'Great. I have to get to work. There's coffee in the pot if you want some on your way out,' as fast as I could and bolted out of bed!" Maggie shouted proudly.

"Wow," breathed Amelie, "Maybe your bedside manners needed work, but at least you're effective."

"Damn straight. And I bet by the end of lunch I''ll have another text from Jake asking if I'm free tonight."

"Sounds about right. Speaking of lunch, I'm at the restaurant and Charlotte will be here soon so I'm going to drop you. I'll talk to you soon!" Amelie said.

"Sounds good. See ya!"

Amelie smiled to herself and leaned against the brick wall outside the restaurant. Across the street she could just make out the glittering surface of the Boston harbor as the midday sun bounced across it. Her mind wandered, thinking of crystalline marbles of water droplets dancing through the air like nutcracker ballerinas.

Water always reminded her of Adrien. No matter if it was the beautiful sparkling harbor on a clear autumn day, or the crashing grey waves during a storm. Adrien was there.

She was still lost daydreaming when Charlotte walked up and scattered her thoughts. "Sorry! I ran into my coworker at the door and couldn't escape the conversation!"

"Say no more I completely understand!" She did. Charlotte had been through so much in the past few years, Amelie wanted to cut her slack whenever she could. Even when she cut into Amelie's already too-short lunch break.

"Thanks girl," Charlotte replied and linked arms with her friend as they walked into the restaurant.

"Ok, let me have it," Charlotte said, taking a sip of her soda.

"Are you sure? I feel like I do this every day, you must get tired of it at some point!" Amelie replied.

"Nope. Never. Let me hear it."