The Agency

Ashley

    Sunday afternoon Sophia woke up at about two.  She got out of bed, and did a quick tour of her apartment to inspect the damage.  There were plastic cups littered throughout the rooms, and a small beer stain on her couch.  All in all, it wasn't too bad.

    Her head didn't hurt too badly, which was surprising after a party.  Then she started remembering the details.  She had danced for hours, and as far as she could remember she hadn't drank at all during that time.  Tyler had held her full attention, so she had somehow forgotten to refill her own glass.  Weird.

    She started picking up the trash.  After a few minutes, she got bored and sat down on her couch, away from the stain.  She stared out her window, tilting her head back to rest on the back of the couch.  After a few minutes of silent contemplation, she started feeling fatigued. 

    She closed her eyes, and wondered what had happened to the burst of energy she had felt just minutes ago that had motivated her to jump out of bed.  Wherever it had come from, it was gone now.  She laid down on the couch, and would probably have drifted off to sleep if her doorbell hadn't rung.

    It had to be Ashley.  Ashley lived in the same building, so she had a tendency to drop by unannounced.  Any other friend would probably be stopped by the doorman, who would call up on the intercom before letting some stranger show up at her door.

    Sophia dragged herself off of the couch and answered the door, dreading Ashley's perpetually chipper demeanor.  Ashley had her hand raised, her knuckles poised to knock, just in case the doorbell hadn't worked well enough.  Her face lit up when the door opened for her.

   "Sophie!  Hey!  I was just on my way to get some coffee to help with this hangover.  I drank way too much at your party last night.  Good job with that by the way, it was awesome!  Anyway, you should come along.  I'm sure your head must be absolutely killing you!"

    Ashley always expressed herself very enthusiastically.  She was one of those people whose sentences always finished on a high, exclamatory note.  Her text messages always closed with a smiley face and several exclamation points.  It was just part of her personality.  Sophia had had years to become accustomed to it, and once in a while it had even rubbed off on her.  Today she just found it grating and exhausting.

    "Damn it Ashley, go away.  Please"  Sophia almost tried to close the door on her own best friend.  She wasn't sure why she had opened it in the first place, come to think of it.

    "Yeah right.  Come.  Now!  If you don't come downstairs, you're just going to sit around moping all day.  I bet you hadn't even gotten out of bed before I showed up!  Let's just go get some caffeine, with sugar, and some nice New York fresh air.  And you have to tell me what you thought of Tyler"

    Sophia had been about to defend herself by saying that she had most definitely already gotten out of bed.  However, considering her still disheveled appearance, and the fact that she had obviously not started to clean up or be productive in any other way...  Well, explaining that she had managed to crawl out of bed only to subsequently collapse on the sofa wouldn't help her case.

    "Fine, I'll come down for coffee with you.  But if you're using me for entertainment, then I get to use you for a cleaning crew later.  Just give me five minutes to stop looking like a zombie."  Sophia resigned herself to a day of being bullied into productivity.

    Half an hour later, Sophia looked presentable in a cute sundress and oversized sunglasses.  Her hair was combed.  Her sandals even matched the dress.  She looked in the mirror, and felt an overwhelming desire to collapse.  She glanced out the window.  It was so damn bright.  Ashley was waiting outside the bedroom, with her overbearing excitement.  At that moment, Sophia wanted nothing more than to crawl back under her blankets.

    "Sophia Melanie Jones, if you don't get your butt out here in five seconds, I will call your mother and put her on the phone!"

    Sophia hadn't spoken with her mother this week.  They normally exchanged weekly phone calls, where Sophia's mother gave advice on everything from men to vitamins to car mechanics, depending on whatever problems the woman was having herself.  Sophia always complacently agreed with anything her mother said, and eventually claimed her cell phone battery was running out.  This would always lead to another ten minutes worth of advice on keeping things charged, replacing old technology, or other such suggestions.

    "You win!  Go away!  If you call my mother, so help me God, I'm going to tell Brittany that you slept with her brother!"  That was always a sure-fire way to get Ashley to shut up.  Sophia wasn't even certain whether that particular hookup had ever actually happened, but as long as the threat worked, she didn't care.  She left her bedroom and went to join Ashley, who was already walking out the apartment door.

    By the time they made it to a coffee shop, it was past three thirty in the afternoon. 

    By the time they were done talking about Tyler, it was past midnight.  They never did get around to cleaning up after the party that day.