Under the Lights | j.b

Za, the passionate and tender

(unedited so forgive me for any mistakes)

***

"Sasha," Alyssa's gaze narrowed as she glared me down. "We're painting it pink whether you like it or not."

"Can't we paint it grey?" I offered, trying to keep my cool by presenting an alternative. "It's neutral and will look good with almost anything."

We were currently standing in the paint aisle of Bunnings, and although neither of us had exploded yet, I could sense we were on the verge of yet another argument.

"No." Alyssa replied stubbornly.

I sighed and the urge to ram my head into the closest wall magnified. "lyss, we are not painting the living room hot pink."

"Why the fuck not?"

"Because," I answered, tone laced with irritation. "pink is a stupid colour." But really what defence could I have used? I just didn't like pink and I didn't want the walls in my apartment that colour. It was simple.

"You're so fucking difficult!" Alyssa turned away angrily taking the 15 sample paint cards in various shades of pink with her.

I huffed in annoyance. The whole redecorating thing had become more of a nuisance than i could handle. Ordinary little tiffs were turning into massive blow outs and we were constantly on edge.

Yesterday we had fought over the fabric of the curtains, I didn't even know what the difference was but Alyssa had wanted the blackout ones that didn't let any light in and I had opted for sheer ones that let in loads of sunlight .

Then the day before we couldn't agree on a couch and nearly got into a brawl at the furniture store.

The past month had flown by so quickly, we didn't get to celebrate New years properly. We had returned from our Europe trip a few days before Christmas and from then on our time was predominantly spent sanding the walls down, reinstalling new carpet and trying to stay on top of ordinary chores like laundry and cooking.

This stupid adult shit was hard.

Feeling my phone buzz i slipped it out of my pocket and without bothering to check who it was, i brought it to my ear and said, "What?"

"You okay there?"

His voice was like fucking magic and instantly made my sour mood lessen. "Hey, sorry."

"I can guess what put you in a bad mood." Justin stated knowingly.

"I'm starting to regret not taking my parents up on their offer to have someone renovate the place for us." I complained in annoyance.

"What was it you told me?" He paused while he pretended to think. "You're an independent, hard working, responsible woman who doesn't need hand outs from anyone.'

"Yeah yeah, tease away." I grumbled, tucking the phone into the crook of my neck so i could use both hands to return the sample paint chips. I had had enough of shopping for today.

He laughed and I savoured the sound. Because I had been busy picking out house decor and he had been busy performing back to back shows and hosting new years eve celebrations our phone conversations had been limited and we were forced to resort to text messaging.

Which wasn't bad but it didn't measure up to actually hearing his voice.

"It's safe to assume that Alyssa's still driving you crazy?"

"I am at the very brink of insanity," I told him dramatically.

"I'm terrified that someday soon I'm going to get a phone call from you asking me to bail you out of jail for murder." Justin informed me, sounding only half joking.