ONNAXOFF

Chapter 32

Jessie

One of my main New Year’s resolutions was to finally finish unpacking and decorating my apartment. My planned housewarming is pretty much just a house party at this point.
But two weeks into January, it's nearly done. There are no longer any boxes lying around the place, pretending to be tables. Most of the walls have been decorated. A fluffy rug is laid out in the living room, where I also added some comfortable arm chairs for extra seating options.
A couple days ago, I even took down the plain white window blinds that came with the place, in favour of some cool stripy vertically closing ones.

It finally feels like a home. Or at least Abel certainly seems to think so. He’s kicked off his shoes and has been ‘resting his eyes’ on the couch for the past few hours. All while I've been busy making the last minute arrangements for tonight's party.
I was perfectly happy to let him sleep, but now I need help hanging up the final piece of wall art. I'd do it myself, but the last time I tried, it was a total disaster. My left thumb is still sore from when the hammer slipped.
"Wakey, wakey." I tickle his neck with the dangling end of a tape measure.
"I'm not sleeping." He swats it away with his eyes closed.
"Of course not.” I tease. “And you can go back to not-sleeping in a minute. Can you help me hang up this picture?”
“Oh yeah. Sorry, I’m good now.” He sits up and adjusts his beanie hat.
“I thought you were gonna cool it with the sleepless nights. What happened to working during the day?” I ask as he stands up and comes over to take the hammer and nail from me. He's been in a much better mood lately, so naturally I thought work was going well.
"I have been working during the day. Not on the album, but on something pretty dope. I think you'll really like it actually." He climbs onto the chair I pushed against the wall and effortlessly hammers in the nail. To stop myself from feeling like a failure, I tell myself that, like cooking, DIY is an innate skill. Some people have it, some just don't.
"Ooh. When do I get to hear it?" I ask.
"When it's the right time." He answers mysteriously.
"What? I thought dating the Weeknd would at least come with some privileges." My pout goes ignored as he plucks the frame from me and returns the hammer.
"You get plenty of privileges." He winks suggestively. "But you're right. For being my very supportive girlfriend... I'll play it for you a few minutes before it's released."
"A few minutes? What an honour." I answer sarcastically.
“Anyway, I wasn’t working last night. Hyghly broke up with his girl, so we had a ‘Fuck that bitch’ night at the club." He explains while he finishes positioning the frame. "How's that?"
The news takes me by surprise. Despite the fact that Hyghly's girlfriend can't stand the XO lifestyle, they'd been together for a really long time.
“A little to the left.” I answer his question about the picture. “Did you guys have fun?”
He considers the question while he readjusts the frame, after which he frowns. “No. Not really. Hy wasn’t in a talking mood. We got wasted. Hawk listed all the reasons why she wasn’t shit and he was better off being single with us. I mean, them.” He corrects himself with a smile. "I hope you don’t mind that I invited him tonight. He’s taking this whole break up thing kinda hard and Lam didn't think he should be home alone.”
“No. Of course I don’t mind.” But as soon as the words leave my mouth, I remember Rose. She's doing an extra shift at work today, but she said she might stop by after. It's not as if I'd kick Hyghly out or anything though. I just hope it doesn’t get messy.
"Can I have some coffee?" Abel asks, pointing to the cup I just made.
"I asked you if you wanted any. Twice. And you just shook your head. So no."
"Just a sip." He picks up the mug and takes a massive swig of the hot liquid. While I narrow my eyes at him, he looks around the room approvingly, as if seeing it properly for the first time.
"I like it. It's very... you." He declares finally.
"Unorganized and childish?"
"I was thinking more… classy, in a really nerdy way." He cracks a smile and sits back down. “But what’s this?” He holds up one of the red and blue coasters Gabe bought me months ago.
“It’s called a coaster. Civilised people use them to protect the table surface from—“ I start answering patronisingly.
“I know what a fucking coaster is.” He interrupts. “I’m talking about the design. You hate Superman."
"I never said that." I argue, surprised that he knows.
"Come on, Jessie. You're really going to pretend to like Superman because I had a sip of your coffee?"
"Firstly, you’re still drinking my coffee.” I gesture toward the cup in his hand. “And I don't hate him that much..."
"Back when it came out, whenever we walked or drove past a Man of Steel poster, you'd make this face." He scrunches up his face and his lips in an exaggerated pout.
"Stop. I did not make that face!" I laugh.
"Yeah, you did. I've never seen anyone with such strong dislike of a movie poster."
"It's not the poster. It's the fucking superhero." I admit. "He's so overrated. His comics are the worst. He has all these alien superpowers and yet, he's so easily overcome. Like, I'm sure even I could destroy him. With nothing but a cute kryptonite bracelet and a few well aimed kicks."
He laughs and takes another swig of coffee.
I really should get rid of those coasters. The only reason I haven't done it already, is because I still feel a little bad about how things went with Gabe. It was so thoughtful of him to go out of his way to buy me something he thought I'd like. Misguided, but thoughtful.
I invited him to the party, along with the rest of my entire contact list, but he responded saying that he was away visiting his family in the north.
It’s for the best. Tonight will already be awkward enough. Hiding my relationship with Abel from most of my friends is going to be a struggle, especially since I’m such an incompetent liar.
__________
About an hour after the first eager guests show up, the XO crew arrive. Unlike Abel, Hyghly doesn’t seem to have recovered from his hangover. He ambles in looking like he accidentally fell into a dryer and got tossed around for a few spins.
Without so much as a glance at anyone, he settles into a vacant armchair, already sipping from a silver flask. I feel obliged to say something to him, but I’m all too aware that we’ve never really had a conversation longer than a quick “Hi” or “Can you pass me that bottle?”
Most of the time he’s too busy working or hanging out with his XO-hating girlfriend to party with the crew. But I guess he’s going to be around more often now, so we should get acquainted.