Pure Belleza | ✔️

(54)

Spending an entire week out of town on a whim meant that I hadn't been prepared or organised.

The kitchen had a mild odour to it. The fruit in the fruit bowl was going a bit gross. Fruit flies were gathering.

The bread in the cupboard was growing mould and the milk in the fridge needed to be thrown out.

Marnie sat on the sofa with her laptop open while she tapped out her story. It was going well. So she told me.

She was now over come with inspiration thanks to her new relationship. The details were far more than I needed and I was positive I wasn't going to be reading her book when she was finished with it.

"What time are you leaving?" I asked Marnie while I rinsed a cloth in hot water so I could wipe the countertop down. "Could you drop my trash bags in the chute on the way down?"

She narrowed her gaze over the laptop screen. "What am I? A damn live in maid?"

"Never mind," I waved her off. "I'll do it. Amalia will be here soon."

"There's no need to be subtle, Max. It's me. You can tell me to leave."

I wiped the bench down and looked at my cell screen for the time. It was almost three. She said she'd grab dinner on the way here.

"It's just— ya know— I haven't seen her in a while and—"

"People in love are pathetic," she mumbled, staring at her screen.

"Pardon?"

Her head shot up. "Huh? What?"

I rolled my eyes and tied off the trash bags. "How's Jordan?"

"His dick is great. Thanks for asking."

I carried the trash towards the door, calling over my shoulder, "I know you like him. A lot."

Her response wasn't heard when the door closed behind me. When I got back from the chute, Marnie was putting her laptop back into its bag.

"Your lady's dad isn't so bad," she spoke, flat and disinterested as usual. "Kiara brought him around for dinner during the week. He's . . . passionate."

"That he is," I agreed, dropping into the sofa. The apartment was clean and didn't smell weird now. "Do things seem serious between them?"

Marnie nodded with mild disgust. "I found wedding catalogues in her bedroom. She'd circled gowns and themes and table pieces and a bunch of other weird shit."

"Damn," I ran a hand through my hair. "I hope Amalia knows if they plan on getting married. She wasn't too pleased about being kept in the dark about their relationship to begin with."

"Yeah I don't think Elias knows either," Marnie wrapped her long black coat around herself and fastened the buttons. "This is just Kiara being obsessive and weird. She blabbers on all the time about how she's thirty two and her biological clock is ticking."

I smiled. "Elias is the kind of man I can imagine wanting to get married again. She might not have to wait long."

"Bleh," she scoffed, pulling her hat on.

I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees as she started to collect her things up. "What would you say if Jordan proposed?"

"I would tell him to spend ten grand so we can travel instead of ten grand on one boring day where I'd have to wear some hideous white gown and pretend that I want to talk to my pretentious cousin that I haven't seen since I was eighteen."

"You can wear whatever you want on your wedding day," I said. "It doesn't have to be white."

"Traditionally, it couldn't be. It'd have to be cream. Like all of the ejaculation I've seen since I was sixteen."