There's Gnome One Like You ~ A Gnome Alone Fanfiction

5) What's Chloe Feeling?

Chloe arrived home, pulling her car up into the garage and getting out. She made her way for the door leading into the house in her garage, which led to the kitchen. As usual, no one was home, and her mom was out working late. Chloe threw her bag on the couch as she entered the living room, and headed towards the stairs. After making her way upstairs, she made a right turn down the hall and went into her room which was on the right side of the hall. She closed the door and threw herself on her bed. She had forgotten that her laptop was there, so the landing hurt a bit.

"Ow..." she whimpered as she pulled herself up. She sat for a moment, thinking about her day, before opening up her laptop and logging into Skype. She searched for Sandy, who was online.

Chloe began to type a message. 

"Hey, can you do a video call right now?" the message said.

Chloe waited for a few minutes but Sandy hadn't seen her message yet. In the meantime, Chloe went downstairs to get some water. After getting her water, she quickly grabbed her laptop to see if Sandy replied. Still nothing. Chloe let out a loud groan and decided to get ahead on grading some of her student's papers from school.

Finally, after about ten minutes, Chloe's laptop sounded an alert. It was Sandy on Skype, apologizing for not seeing her message earlier and saying she could call with Chloe now. Chloe immediately threw her papers aside and pressed the camera icon next to Sandy's picture on the screen. Sandy answered immediately.

"Hey, I'm so sorry, I was eating dinner," Sandy said, waving to her friend.

"It's okay, I needed to catch up on work anyways." Chloe replied.

"How was your day?" asked Sandy.

"Well," Chloe began, looking into the distance and remembering everything that had happened. "I don't know where to begin, to be honest." 

"That bad, huh?" Sandy said with a frown.

"Well, it wasn't bad, just...uncomfortable." 

"Why?"

"My boss gave me a talk today, and she thinks I don't take my job seriously."

"That must have hurt. It's still been only the first couple of weeks, I think she could have been less hard on you." Sandy told her. 

"It's not like she yelled at me or I messed up royally, but it made me feel like a child." Chloe explained. 

"Did she at least offer you a solution?" Sandy mentioned.

"Yeah. She said I need to give more of myself to the job. Which I get but...I feel like I am."

"I think she just doesn't understand that this is your first teaching job and you're still learning. You went to school and got the qualifications but that doesn't mean you've mastered it. This is your first experience in the real world, Chloe. I would definitely take what she says as truth, but I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. You need time to improve. I hope your boss sees that eventually."

"Thanks, Sandy," Chloe sighed. "There was something else too..."

"What?" Sandy replied.

"This is going to sound weird, but after work today, I had a talk with my best friend from high school, you know, the one I mentioned the other day."

"What happened?" Sandy asked with intrigue. 

"We were having a pretty good talk, and we were just chatting about Wizard Battle and-"

"Oh, he plays too? Maybe this will help you guys reconnect!" Sandy exclaimed.

Chloe chuckled slightly. "Maybe. Anyways, we talked about that, and a bit about what it means to be an adult. Nothing really has changed between us since all that time has passed, which I guess is a good thing, but then..."

Sandy leaned into her computer.

"This car pulled up, and Liam said it was his ride. I asked if it was his mom, and he said it was his girlfriend."

Sandy, a bit puzzled, stared at Chloe for a few seconds before speaking. Chloe looked down with a frown and waited for her friend to respond.

"Does it bother you? You look bothered by it. But why?" Sandy observed.

"Yeah, it does, actually." Chloe admitted.

"Why? Do you have hidden feelings for him?" Sandy asked.

"Oh god no," Chloe responded immediately. "It's just that...how does he have someone and I don't? I mean...I don't mean to brag, but I'd say I'm more worthy to have a boyfriend. He's so...goofy and weird sometimes."

Sandy shook her head and gave out a hearty laugh. 

"You can be weird and goofy and be worthy of having someone. Chloe, it's like your stuck in high school sometimes!" Sandy laughed loudly. "Honestly, I think having someone who is weird and goofy is more fun."

Chloe sighed and gave her friend a tiny smile. "I guess you're right. But still...it made me feel weird. The girlfriend thing."

"Are you sure you don't have feelings for him? Maybe it's subconscious." Sandy suggested.

"I doubt it. But sometimes I wish I had someone. Someone who I can rely on, and someone who can rely on me. You know?" Chloe explained.

"I think about that a lot too," Sandy replied. "I'm sure you'll meet someone wonderful someday, Chloe."

Chloe smiled. "Thanks. You really are a good friend."

"Don't worry about it, best friends are supposed to say stuff like this."

"Can I ask you something though?" Chloe said.

"Of course." Sandy replied.

"Do you think Liam and I can be best friends again? Would you be mad about that?" 

Sandy shook her head. "Oh, not at all. We'll all be best friends! Maybe we can all play Wizard Battle together like I mentioned." Sandy laughed a bit before speaking again. "It sounds to me like you and Liam already have a special bond."

Chloe looked down at her keyboard and smiled. "Yeah, I guess so. He does make me...happy. Or at least, he used to."

"It seems like he still does," Sandy said. 

"I do enjoy our conversations at work...I still want to bring up the promise with him though."

"You still didn't bring it up???" Sandy shouted, dumbfounded. "Chloe, I'm ashamed of you. You're stronger than that!"

Chloe and Sandy stared at each other before bursting into laughter. 

"I was interrupted, okay???" Chloe yelled.

Suddenly the front door opened at Chloe's house.

"I have pizza!" her mom shouted at the bottom of the stairs.

"I gotta go," Chloe said.

"I'll see you later!" Sandy said with a wave. 

Chloe waved back and closed her laptop, leaving her room and heading for the kitchen downstairs. Her mom stood there, sweating a bit, opening the pizza box and setting their small wooden kitchen table.

"How was work?" her mom asked.

"It was alright. I've had better days," Chloe replied.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll have plenty of great ones. The students and other teachers treating you alright?" her mom continued.

Chloe started to get annoyed by her questioning. 

"Yes, mom," she sighed, sitting at the table and grabbing a slice of pizza and putting it on her plate. 

"I did tell you, uh, that my old friend Liam is working there too, right?" Chloe mentioned.

"No, you didn't! What a coincidence! I bet that boy is so handsome now. I always thought he would turn into a real ladies man." 

"Ew, that's so gross, mom!" Chloe yelled, putting down her pizza slice. 

Chloe's mom laughed. "Am I right?"

Chloe ignored her mom and continued eating her pizza. As they finished dinner, Chloe pondered what she was going to tell Liam the next time she saw him, and whether or not bringing up that promise from all those years ago was still a good idea.