Related by Law

3

Adrian woke up, it was ten to one in the morning. He couldn't sleep. It wasn't any different to the past few months, it was almost like a clockwork when he woke up.

He groaned rolling in bed onto his stomach. The window was open, letting a semi lukewarm breeze into the room grazing against his bare back. It was too hot to sleep. Or maybe his mind was too occupied to get some sleep.

Adrian rose out of bed, walking towards his open window. His apartment was quite high up, which means he had a breathtaking view of the city. His eyes roamed from left to right, looking at the other high rise buildings that were scattered to the right. To the left was the Docklands pier, lit up by the lights on the bridges.

What are you doing right now? His mind wandered. Are you sleeping?

* * *

Rose placed the last glass on the counter. It was clean, her feet hurt and her head was throbbing from the loud music.

Normally she didn't have to do front service, it meant she didn't have to work in these two inch heels. Today was different, her feet were surely going to have blisters and she was going to embrace calf cramps or feet cramps for the three hours sleep she was going to get, before she started her shift in the morning again.

"See you John."

"Hey Rose, do you want a ride home?"

Rose was tempted, she could save money going home. Tonight she was beyond tired to walk but the past few days she already had a few encounters she didn't want.

"I've already ordered a cab sorry. Thank you, definitley next time we work back this late." which hopefully was never. She was meant to finish an hour ago, but at least she gets paid for it. Ringing the familiar number she let the cab company know the address. She had enough time to get her personal belongings from the locker, and as she stepped outside the cab was already there.

Settling into the warm interior, she tried not to settle against the window and fall asleep. Instead, she tried calling Ivory again. Where the hell was she? Was she ok?

Ivory was Rose's long time friend, and you could say only friend and best friend. They had met in the most unlikely of ways, and almost immediately Rose disliked her. Ivory had everything, her parents were in a happy marriage, she came from wealth and could buy whatever she wanted and she would turn heads in the room with her gracefully pretty features. You could say Rose had was jealous, coming from a fractured relationship with her parents, often had scratches on her face and body from high school brawls they were just from opposite worlds.

But as they got closer Rose realised they weren't that far apart from each other. Ivory wasn't in that perfect world and Rose wasn't the outlier and the only one with a fractured relationship with her parents. Sometimes Rose wished they could go back to their teenage days, when their only worry was their homework, boys and exams.

Now Rose had more problems, trying to make her monthly rent payments, keep her jobs without getting fired again and finding what made her happy in life. For some reason these simple things made her life feel like an endless chore.

A part of her wanted to share these with Ivory like they always did, but she knew Ivory would want to assist, she was charitable and Rose didn't want that. But then she had no one else to share these but herself and it was driving herself mad.

"We're here."

Rose gathered her belongings and gave the drive a crumpled note, "Keep the change" even though she wanted to stay back and wait for a measly fifty cents she hurried out to get into her secured apartment building.