Ryan
I wasn’t in the mood or the mindset to deal with Evelyn that morning, but I didn’t have a choice. Hangover or not, she was standing downstairs with Mira waiting on me to get my shit together. The night before had been fun until Mira got mad at me for putting the moves on her. I didn’t get it, though. It was obvious that she wanted me, and that we had some serious chemistry, but she kept pushing me off. I still couldn’t believe she actually slept in a different bedroom, and I’d heard her lock the door like I was some creeper. It annoyed me, and I had just given into my drunk stubbornness and passed out on the bed, fully clothed. Needless to say, when the alarm went off the next morning, I was not pleased.
I looked at my face in the mirror, running my hand over the stubble on my chin. Clearly, I needed to shave, but there was no time, they had already sent someone up three times to check on me. Shaking my head, I walked out of the room, hearing Evelyn’s distinctive voice as soon as I started down the stairs. For some reason it was like nails on a chalkboard and made me want to walk out the front door and just keep going. But I didn’t, I couldn’t, there was something about Mira that made me want to stick it out.
“Ah, good,” Evelyn said, as I entered the room.
I nodded and sat down at the table where Harrison was putting together his camera stuff for the day. He nodded at me as I sat and yawned big, not at all ready for this lecture. She walked to the center of the room, palms pressed together, a gleam in her eyes.
“Last night was — absolutely perfect,” she beamed. “There was cuteness, there was drama, even tension. It is exactly what I am looking for, and exactly what your viewers are looking for as well. The ratings are going to be great which is good for you and for this show. You two did fantastic, please keep up the good work.”
Good work? All we had done was go out, get drunk and act like ourselves. There was no pushing the issue, we were at an impasse and it kind of irritated me that our struggle made for good TV. As I watched Evelyn loudly blather on about the viewers, I couldn’t help but think that she was completely batshit crazy. The job had tipped her over the edge, and she had finally lost her damn mind. She was like Miss Frizzle on The Magic School Bus, only even crazier and with nothing interesting to say.
“I’m starting to think she injects adrenaline in the morning,” Harrison grumbled. “Straight into her fucking brain.”
“Right?!” I whispered shaking my head.
I could tell Harrison was a lot like me, older, but definitely a man of few words. He was serious enough about his job, but at the same time, I could tell he thought the whole thing was just as ridiculous as I did. He understood I was being myself, and that asking me to liven up and get crazy would be the opposite of ‘just being myself.’ It was a good thing I had him around, I really didn’t want to be the odd man out the entire time I was there. At least there was a bit of solidarity in the whole thing.
“So, until tomorrow, when you do your grocery shopping task, I want you to relax, be yourselves, have fun and smile a little bit, damn it.” Evelyn continued, with an overly enthusiastic attempt at sarcasm. “Otherwise, I might as well just put on the Yule Log show.”
I mustered up a fake smile and nodded my head, not at all excited about trying to figure out what to do that day that would ‘entertain the masses.’ I just wanted to chill, watch some TV and check up on the business I had left behind. Maybe I could even catch up on some sleep. That wasn’t in the cards though, so I just had to come to terms with the fact that this show was a twenty-four seven job.
“I’ll see you two soon,” she said, gathering her things and scurrying out of the room.
I rolled my eyes, feeling the exhaustion the woman brought over me. She was too much to handle, even for me. While Mira was super chatty all the time, Evelyn was a freaking control freak who wanted emotion and drama. I wasn’t really sure which one was worse. I looked over at Harrison who sighed and nodded at me as he picked up his gear and headed over to the camera. It was nice to have someone who might just get it, even if they were behind the camera.
Standing up, I walked into the living room, noticing Mira disappear down the hall. I pulled my phone out and called Miles, needing some backup on the shit that was going on in my head.
“Hey,” Miles said, “how is married life?”
“Funny,” I scoffed. “I’m not really sure. We don’t act like we’re married at all.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” he laughed. “Do you mean like holding hands or do you mean like, you haven’t stuck it in?”
“Dude,” I groaned, leaning my head back and rolling my eyes. “She isn’t having it, not in the least. I’ve tried the sweet guy, I’ve tried the funny guy, and then the drunk guy and still nothing. She slept in a different room last night.”
“Bro, that’s fucking stupid,” Miles said. “I know you, and you are like the king of sealing the deal.”
“Apparently not this time,” I groaned. “It’s kind of frustrating. I mean, she’s my wife, I thought that would play a hand in all of this, but no, there’s no wife as in blow jobs, or vacuuming in the nude. Nothing.”
“Yeah, bro, I don’t think that shit’s real,” Miles laughed. “I don’t think women actually do that anyway. It’s just a ploy to make us okay with marriage. I’m pretty sure you not getting any, is accurately depicting the plight of the married man.”
“Yeah, well, it’ll be a long six months of marriage if she isn’t going to put out. Just saying. She is hotter than hell though, I gotta give her that, but she needs to loosen up a bit and learn to have a good time.”
I turned around and froze, staring at Mira standing in the doorway, one eyebrow raised, anger sparking in her eyes. I stared at her for a moment, unsure of what even to do. This surely wasn’t a conversation I meant for her to hear. Then I realized, the camera was on me too, which made me feel like an even bigger douchebag.
“Hello?” Miles said.
“Yeah, gotta call you back,” I replied, still staring at Mira as I quickly hung up the phone.
I felt terrible. She was a really sweet person and I didn’t actually feel angry or bitter to her for not sleeping with me. I was just calling Miles to let off some steam, and I let my testosterone get the best of me.
“Mira, I — didn’t know you were listening,” I blurted out, not sure what to say.
She sighed and just shook her head, walking over to the table and grabbing her purse and keys. I shoved my hands in my pockets and closed my eyes, not liking being caught in a situation like that. I had never been the asshole ‘locker room talk’ kind of guy, but I needed to release some tension and unfortunately, she was right there to hear it. I was pretty sure all hopes of getting anything more than snide remarks from her had been taken off the table.
“I’m going to take my mom to dialysis,” she said, with irritation in her voice.
“I thought the company had set it up for her to get there and home while you were away,” I replied.
“They did,” she said. “Three times a week. But I insisted on taking her at least once a week. She is sick, and I am not abandoning her for six months, especially when I’m only like twenty minutes away from her. She needs to be with family, not some stranger.”
“Right,” I said, feeling sheepish. “Well, tell Carolyn I said hello.”
Mira turned and stared at me for a minute, looking like she was going to let me have it right then and there. She took a deep breath and pulled her keys from her purse, shaking her head again. It hit me in the chest like a ton of bricks. It wasn’t a look of irritation or sadness, it was pure disappointment, and I didn’t like how that felt in the least.
“Whatever,” she grumbled. “I’ll be back later, and we can figure out what to do for dinner.”
“Yeah,” I sighed.
I stood there listening to her walk down the hall and slam the door on her way out. I was such an asshole sometimes, and right then I felt terrible. She was a nice girl, and because she was trying to be respectful, I made fun of her and did it on national TV. I knew there was no way that Evelyn was going to leave that part out of the show, it was just too juicy. The only good part of it was the fact that the cameras went with her to pick up her mom and left me alone to feel like a douche all by myself.
I wandered down the hall and up the stairs, figuring since I didn’t have a camera in my face I could grab that nap, and shake off the rest of the hangover that was not helping my day. When I walked into the bedroom, I could smell Mira’s perfume and it made my chest tingle, a feeling I wasn’t used to at all. The fact was, I was an asshole, and I needed to make things right. I enjoyed being around Mira, even if she was constantly talking my ear off. She was interesting and sweet, and I was lucky that she was the girl I was going to spend six months with.
I laid down on the bed and pulled my arms up underneath my head, staring at the ceiling. Making a promise to myself to stop being an ass to her, I was reminded again that she didn’t deserve it. Closing my eyes, I eventually drifted off into a nap. When I opened my eyes again it was dark outside, and I wondered how long I had been asleep. I pulled myself to the edge of the bed and yawned, stretching my arms in the air and standing up.
Heading downstairs, I followed the sound of the TV and found Mira in the living room, eating Chinese food and watching a movie. She reached down and hit pause on the remote, looking back at me. She didn’t look angry anymore, but she didn’t look happy to see me either.
“There’s Chinese food in the fridge,” she said. “Help yourself.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up when you got home?” I asked.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know that was on my list of wifely duties as well,” she smirked, turning back to the TV.
I shook my head and blew out a long breath as I headed to the kitchen where I grabbed a plate of food, then joined her in the living room. She didn’t really say much, and she had gone out of her way to let me sleep. I knew it was to avoid me, rather than let me rest. I deserved it though. I had been an asshole, and really deserved worse than that. All I could hope was that tomorrow would be at least a little better.