Women of Borderline

Hello There

Lu sat up looking at her computer screen, the words had somehow reduced in size and her thick rimmed glasses seemed to be doing no good. The words on the screen had somehow started becoming familiar to her brain, she had been working on the article for about...She looked at the clock on the upper side of her screen and let out a small sigh, she had done it again, overworked. It was two in the morning.

Taking a cup that was by her side, she directed it to her mouth only to find that it was empty. Scowling at her coffee deprived self, she lazily walked in to her small kitchen to fix herself another cup.

"Let's finish this." She smiled at herself loving how the coffee slid down her throat. Stingy.

Lu went back to her tinny desk that had been her working space for the last five years. Working for the best online fashion website wasn't easy, I mean she had to get the articles ready by seven in the morning, at least her portion of the website and she loved doing it. That was what she wanted to do ever since she discovered the world of blogging, give people a taste of what you think and the fact that you get paid for doing it was a win win.

She looked over the three paragraphs in front of her and was satisfied. The font was ok, spacing was brilliant and the pictures were amazing, Jane will definitely like what she will post, the old is definitely coming back. She pressed enter and set the time for the post to go on live.

Walking lazily to her light switch she turned off the living space area and walked to her bedroom her night time ritual already in mind.

She placed her glasses by her night stand and slid under the black covers once she was done. She glanced over her digital clock and the numbers and fell to sleep with 3:40 being the last thing she saw.

***
A blaring alarm threated to destroy her ear drums with every second that passed. Her arms were somewhat uncoordinated as she tried and successfully disabled the alarm. She always thanked herself for getting  that annoying thing.

8:30 ,Lu read the time and pushed herself off her bed. Stabling onto her feet she made it to the bathroom where she released herself before walking to the computer. That had always been how she wakes up.

She switched on her computer and the first thing that popped up was an email from Jane and with the three words that read  what's now next she knew that she loved it.

Smiling at herself she walked to the next thing, her coffee machine. She always thanked Cylia for gifting her such an important thing in her life. Gazing outside at the empty  parking lot apart from her green Beatle that she called Betty, Lu let out a small sigh and let herself enjoy the view of Betty.  For some reason she found it hard to let go of her. They have been through a lot.

Betty drove her away from Cole, her first boyfriend who she caught exchanging lips and him enjoying every little bit of his manhood being deep inside Jenny back in highschool. She still remembers how the tears fell on her shaky hands that gripped the life out of the poor steering wheel.

Then came Ken, the second man she gave her heart to and he trampled on it a million and ten times and in both cases, Betty was there with her, mainly to drive her away. Then her work. The good things and bad in her life had happened with Betty so no matter how much she makes, Betty is still her number one car.

Once her cup was empty and her body felt awake now, she got to the second part of her day. It was Wednesday and Wednesday is always laundry day. Since she spends most of her days at home she always does her laundry at 9:00 am. Avoiding most of her neighbours.

She walked down the tinny fleet of stairs to the basement with her white laundry basket in hand. She ditched her contacts for her black framed glasses and in her sponge Bob t-shirt and boy shorts she loaded her laundry while humming to Shy Girls.

"Renegade?" She froze in her spot as she let the fact that a husky voice asked a question behind her.

No one is supposed to be here at this time. She looked at her watch confirming that it's 9:15.

Wait! Did he just pick up that my humming was renegade by shy girls? She pursed her lips flat and turned to look at the intriguing man behind her and boy oh boy did she not expect what she saw.

Nicely tonned upper body, the lower was hidden behind the god damn line of washing machine. His muscles bulged a bit over the vest that clung to it. His arm held the head of machine which made him look like he was showing off his vainy hands.

He looked up at her over the machine and his dark brown eyes felt like they held hers like the way they did in movies. His beared looked clean for a ragged look that he went for and his hair was held in a messy lower man bun and the back and sides were shaved close to the scalp.

She swallowed what felt like a lump.

"Hi-" he stretched his other free hand to her. "I am Avan."

"Lu." Her voice came out to her surprise. For a reason she thought she couldn't speak as she took his hand. it felt firm and strong against hers that she was sure was starting to feel clammy.

Not now Lu. She scolded herself.

"So was I right?" He took his hand back on filling up his machine.

"Huh!"

"The song you were humming to. Was I right?" He spoke with certainty other than a question. He wanted a conversation and Lu felt like a teenage girl again. Unsure of what was going on.

"Yes," she breathed out. Was she holding her breath? She crossed her arms over her chest, something she always does when she was nervous. "How do you know about Shy Girls?"

"How do you know about them?" He switched on his machine once he was done.

The act reminded Lu that she hadn't turned hers on. She copied him before turning back to look at him only to find him not there and she felt her heart disappointed.

"I like new undiscovered bands." He spoke from the bench that Lu just saw now as she turned to the voice.

"They have been here for a while." She moved her feet to the bench and sat beside him.

She hates it but she couldn't help but check him out. His blue sweat shorts hid his thighs but showed off his hairy legs that she somehow didn't feel repulsed by.

Maybe it was because they weren't that hairy. She thought to herself.

"Ok, that didn't come out right. I chill out to less mainstream music." He crossed his leg in a manly way resting his back on the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.

Lu got a clear view of his face and liked how his brown skin looked with the dark hairs that covered his face. She liked the beared a lot.

"That makes the two of us." She thanked the machines for being less noisy today.

"You like sponge Bob?"

Creasing her eyebrows in confusion she looked over at him and he picked up.

"Your shirt." He motioned to her t shirt and for a second she felt like he pointed at her boobs.

Shit!

No bra.

"I watch it from time to time." She felt a bit uncomfortable with her nipples weirdly showing.

"I have to check on something up stairs." She uncomfortably got up from her spot and tried to face her nipples away from him. "You are new here?"

"Moved in about a week ago." He kept his gaze on her face and not once did he look at her chest. Lu loved the fact that he was a gentle man but felt a tinge of disappointment.

"We should hang out sometime. I stay over at 23." He closed his eyes as he rested his head on the wall. He looked like the guys Lu only saw in magazines.

"I stay at 30." She said before walking away fast. She didn't like what he was doing to him. Her insides felt like they were tight and her brain seemed to be getting mushy. She walked up the stairs so fast and it felt shorter than normal.

Lu stopped and held her heart as if it would stop it's hammering state when she closed her door. She leaned over the door and her legs gave out.

What was that?

Fuck, my laundry.