Last Night

Part 3

My arms ached as the circulation was slowly being cut off from my overstuffed bags of groceries. Really, it was probably just because I'd put the half gallon of milk in there too. The real concern was the precious baby mostly supported by my other arm, a new 45 inch Toshiba HDTV with two HDMI hookups and two full AV sets. I kicked the door to my car shut and clicked the lock button on the key fob. With a deep breath, I readjusted my arms for a better hold and began my trek upstairs.

The windows into the building were open, allowing for the cool night breeze to blow in. I contemplated waiting for the elevator for about five seconds before I decided I could make it on my own. It'd be my cardio for the day.

I counted my steps up so I wouldn't miss any. After two flights my arms felt numb and even my legs were beginning to tire out.

"Am I really that out of shape?" I asked the wall I was leaning on for support as I climbed the last few steps to my landing.

My foot slipped as I realized there wasn't another step and everything in my arms fell forward. I hugged it all tight to my body only to have the weight of it push me backwards. Figured I would overcompensate...

The only thought that ran through my mind while my body started falling back down the stairs was 'please let the TV survive this.' I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to see the tragedy unfold.

When I hit, it wasn't as hard as I was expecting considering it was tile. I opened my eyes and saw only about four steps in front of me and my door a few yards away.

"You okay there?"

It was Ian. He'd caught my back and supported me so I didn't fall all the way down. His arms were wrapped around me, holding onto my precious TV.

I sighed and a huge smile graced my cheeks. "I'm marvelous. You just saved my life. I don't know what I would've done if I'd dropped this."

He steadied me and then took the massive TV box out of my grasp. "You're happy I saved your television?"

"Of course," I said, stepping up the last few stairs to the landing. "You don't know how many taco and pizza nights I've passed on and cuts I've had to make to afford that. I haven't had a Fix in six months."

Why was he staring at me? I crinkled my brow at him as he paused next to me on the stairs and gawked.

"What? I obviously don't have time to indecisively wander from shop to shop by myself only to then decide that I need another opinion. I hate clothes shopping, especially doing it on my own. Betty, my stylist,  just gets me too well so I end up keeping everything they send me each time. It gets expensive even when they only send a box every other month. But next month, it's on!" I giggled, twirling around with the grocery bags now hanging from my hands. The milk threw me off balance so I eventually stopped.

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head again?"

Since the world stopped twirling, I sashayed over to my door and set down one of my bags to unlock my apartment. "Hah, very funny. Except you were the one to clear me, Doc, so that'd be on you. Plus, that was what? About a month ago? I've been crazy like this for years."

"That's right and you still don't seem to make smart decisions when it comes to your health." He said as he carried the TV into the apartment. "At the very least if you did, you'd have taken two trips to carry all this up."

"Well, I made it in one, didn't I?" I grabbed my other bag and brought them into the kitchen. "You can set it down by the couch. Thanks again."

"It was definitely one trip, that nearly busted your head open, again. Are you always this clumsy or are you doing this on purpose?"