Roommates | Kate & Ana

Chapter 5- Josè

By some miracle, I make it to work on time and I've made it to lunch without having any difficult customers. I consider that a successful morning. I stare at the wall while I eat my lunch, trying my best to avoid Paul. I don't know how many more awkward and unneeded conversations I can have with that man before I snap. Just as I'm finishing up with lunch, my phone rings. I nearly drop my granola bar trying to snatch up my phone to stop it from ringing. I flip it open and shove it against my ear. "Hi, mom!" I swallow the rest of my granola and shove the wrapper in my pocket. "Hi, Honey. How are you?" I frown, she sounds off. She's using her extra sweet mom-voice. She only uses that when something's wrong. "I'm fine. Mom, What's wrong?"  She pauses for a second. "What? Nothing? Why would anything be wrong?" She laughs nervously, completely giving herself away. "Mom. I know that voice. What's going on?" She sighs heavily on the other end. "Oh, Ana, honey. You could always tell when something's wrong. I'm so sorry, sweetie, but I won't be able to make it to your graduation." As soon as she says it, tears spring into my eyes. I knew this would happen. I just had hoped for the best. "Why?" I blink the tears out of my eyes, internally rolling my eyes at myself for being so emotional over something so stupid. "Bob hurt his foot playing golf and I need to be here to take care of him." I nod. Bob's always injuring himself one way or another. He's almost as clumsy as me. "That's terrible. Is he gonna be okay?" I ask. "Yeah, he'll be fine. He's just gonna need some assistance getting around for the next couple weeks." I nod, even though she can't see me. "Alright, we'll I'm glad you're there to help him." Even though the more selfish parts of me wish she'd be here to support me. "Are you gonna be okay without me there? I don't want to ruin graduation for you. That's a really big achievement and I'm immensely proud of you, darling." I smile. "Thanks, mom. I'll be fine. Ray's coming and I've got Kate." I feel a pang of guilt in my chest thinking about Kate. What would my mother think of our...relationship....if that's even what this is? Or Ray? I couldn't bear to disappoint them. "Oh, Ray's coming? That's wonderful I know how much you absolutely adore each other. And of course you've got Kate. Maybe the three of you can get together after to celebrate. That would be fun." She suggests. "Yeah, maybe. I'll have to talk to Ray and maybe Kate's family also. I've got to get back to work now, Mama. I'll talk to you later." I've only got a few minutes left of my lunch break. "Okay, sweetie. I'll talk to you later. Say hi to Kate for me." I inhale deeply, preparing to get back to work. "Okay, mama. I will. I love you, bye." The mention of Kate has got me all worked up thinking about what to tell Ray at graduation, if anything. I have no idea if Kate's already told her family or anyone else or if she even wants to. Before I can begin to overthink too much, I bury myself back in my work.

As soon as my shift ends Kate meets me at the door, surprising me. "Hey, how was work?" She asks, pulling me in for a hug. "It was good. What are you doing here? I mean shouldn't you be back at home by now?" She smiles, walking me over to her car that's parked on the edge of the street. "Josè invited us to hang out tonight and I thought I'd give you a ride." She opens the passenger door for me before I can even respond. "But what about my car? I can't just leave it here." I stutter, sliding into the passenger seat anyway. "It's no big deal. We'll just swing by and get it after." She gives me a reassuring smile, then starts up the car. We sing along to the radio on the drive to Josè's, both of us completely embarrassing ourselves with our terrible singing. Josè gives us both big hugs at the door and offers us a beer. I accept the beer from him and take a seat on his old brown leather couch with Kate by my side. "How are things going getting ready for your show Thursday? Do you need any help with anything?" Kate asks, referring to Josè's upcoming art exhibit. "It's going great. I've finally made up my mind on which pictures I'm gonna use for the exhibit and I'm pretty happy with my choices." He looks at me in a secretive way and I blush under his stare. What was that about?  "Ooh! Can we see?" Kate asks, animatedly. Josè nods and turns on his camera to show us. "These are some of what I'm using, but I've also got a few others for the big frames but I'm keeping those a surprise." He points out a few landscape pictures to us and we compliment them. "These are really cool, Josè. You're very talented." I compliment. "Thanks, Ana. Hey, I'm gonna go grab another beer real quick I'll be right back." He leaves the room and Kate quickly snatches up his camera, going through his pictures. "Kate! Put that back!" I scold her, but she ignores me. "What? Why?" She giggles. "Most of them are of us anyway. They're actually really great." I roll my eyes at her, refusing to join in on her snooping. I look around the room instead, my nose scrunching up slightly at the strange smell that always seems to linger throughout Josè's apartment. Kate puts the camera back in its original spot before Josè can catch her in the act, but she can't keep her mouth shut for long. She immediately begins to joke about all the shots of her in his camera, calling herself an undercover model, which in turn makes all of us laugh. After a few more hours of us joking around over takeout and a movie, Kate and I get ready to leave. When Josè leaves the room for a second Kate pulls me to the side and smirks at me. "What?" I whisper, in case Josè walks in on our conversation. "I think our friend Josè has a little crush on you." She nudges my shoulder, her smirk deepening. "What? No. Josè and I are just friends." She shakes her head, laughing at my obliviousness. "Ana, I've seen how he acts around you. You can't really be so blind. Plus I was looking through his camera earlier and there are tons of pictures of you. Like close ups and everything." I blush, uncomfortable at the idea of being photographed. "He's a photographer, Kate. That's what he does." I try to brush off her comment, but I know deep down she might be right. Josè has been a little extra friendly towards me lately. I'll have to remember to tone down the compliments so I don't give him the wrong idea. "Well, the feeling isn't returned." I whisper and I think Kate looks pleased.