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Two

Life sucks.

I pouted as I parked my car, turned off the engine, and settled back into the driver's seat properly. Tilting my head to the left, my eyes landed on the package that shielded my breakfast from any prying eyes. Lazily, I reached for it and opened it, the aroma of fried eggs and fresh bread wafting up to me. Shrugging as I recalled the state of my life, I kicked off my slip-ons, stretched out my legs, and took out a sandwich from my breakfast.

As I savored the delicious, soft, and slightly oily meal, I began to reflect on my life. I refused to do so while driving because I didn't trust myself. Emotionally unstable, who knows—I might have ended up hitting someone or something if I had given in to my mind's needs.

Crossing my legs, I took another bite of my meal. This stuff is good, I thought. And then, My life is crap!

Samantha was right. My recent method of dealing with pain was causing me so much unnecessary suffering. It was like using pain to solve a pain-related issue.

Just last week, I nearly got demoted from my position as assistant chief editor after I showed up to work very early, half-drunk, and somewhat aroused. According to the staff who had stayed overnight, I was caught dry humping one of the library shelves.

I totally deserved to be fired.

But what now? What do I do with my life? I groaned loudly with food still in my mouth, sounding like a distressed baby whale. With a look of anguish on my face, I bit into the remainder of the bread in my hand, squinting my eyes that were itching—no, aching—to cry.

A knock on the passenger-side window snapped me out of my self-pity. I turned, wiping my hand on my trousers. It was David—yeah, David—standing there, waving excitedly, his hairstyle making his hair fall to one side.

I reached for the window control and lowered it. His head popped into the car, his smile vanishing when he noticed the tears that had managed to escape to the surface of my eyes.

"Rose... why are you back so soon? Why do you look sad?" He brushed the hair from his face, concern etched on his handsome features. I took a moment to appreciate my ability to attract good-looking men when drunk.

Nice work, Rose, I thought with a sarcastic smile.

I looked away from cute David, grabbed another piece of bread, faced the plain white wall before me, and took a bite. I listened as David opened the door, felt the impact of his weight settling into the seat, and barely heard the door close.

"Rose..."

"Grace," I corrected him. His eyebrows rose in question. "My name is Grace. Not Rose. Well, drunk me is apparently Rose, or whatever name she chooses." My tone was that of a middle-aged woman utterly fed up with life.

And I was, kind of, fed up with life.

He nodded as if he understood and continued, "Okay, Grace. Why are you back so early? Did you forget something?"

"I got fired!" I slammed my hands onto the steering wheel, making the car jerk slightly. I took a shaky breath and let it out as slowly as I could. That breath was part of the tears trapped inside me.

I looked at David again, who hadn't yet said a word. His worried expression had been replaced with a blank, unreadable one.

"Well, say something," I urged, beginning to regret blurting out my recent life crisis.

"Did you murder the boss or something?" His question earned him a 'seriously?' look from me as I reached for the last of my meal.

"I meant that question," he said. "I mean, you were late, okay? People are late to work a lot these days. There's like this laziness flu going around town, and let me let you in on a secret..." He swept his hair back again, which had fallen due to his animated talking. "This flu has infected more than half the population."

I gave him the same look as before.

"Go and check the stats."

"Listen, David. I got fired because I was late. And... I've sort of been doing that for some weeks now. Plus, I've been exhibiting some crazy behaviors, thanks to Rose."

"Do you need a hug?" His question melted my insides. I put the bread back into the bag, my face taking on a childlike expression, and then I nodded emphatically. He leaned in and wrapped me in his arms, his cologne enveloping me. He smelled so manly that I wanted to linger in the embrace. Apart from Sam, who hugs me at any opportunity, I hardly have anyone else to hug me.

So my two sources of hugs are Sam and myself.

Which... makes me glad to introduce my newest source, cute David. That is, if I don't push him away from my life along the way.

"Okay, Grace, I think we should go upstairs and watch some comedy. What do you say?" David suggested after releasing me from his warm hug.

I pondered for a moment.

"Actually, I think I want to walk."

"Well, walking does clear the mind. Let's go."

"Whoa, whoa. Wait." He did that eyebrow thing again, and I must admit, he looks even cuter doing it. "Why are you still here? I thought you'd have left by now. I mean, you didn't even get the one-night stand you came for."

"Apparently, I'm still here, even after not getting the sex," he replied, and I nodded in agreement. "I was actually on my way out, but then I saw your car and had to check."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad you didn't leave."

"I'm glad I didn't have sex with you."

"Uh?" I was confused.

"If we had, I wouldn't be here, and you might have just sat in your car all day, crying until you couldn't anymore."

"Are you some kind of wizard? That's exactly what I would've done," I said, feeling slightly happier to have company. "Let's go for that walk."

We got out of the car, and I locked it after making sure I hadn't left my phone behind.

"So, how come you're not at work right now?" I asked a few seconds after we hit the sidewalk.

"Uh... I'm a freelance graphic designer. For about six months now, I've been working exclusively with publishing companies."

"Really? I work... well, I used to work for a publishing company," I said, my voice trailing off from excitement to a more subdued tone. Sensing the sadness creeping back in, he quickly changed the subject.

"Have you ever tried cloud reading?" he asked, piquing my interest. "It's this silly yet fun thing I do when I'm bored. I look at the sky on cloudy days and interpret the shapes. One day, I saw a dinosaur with a camel-like hump and a mermaid tail."

"No way!" I exclaimed, finding it hard to believe yet intrigued.

"I swear I saw it. And that wasn't even the weirdest one. On another day, I saw a very happy donkey posed beside..." He nudged me. "...guess what?"

"Uh... a burrito?" I guessed, hoping to be correct.

He shook his head. "Hamburger?"

"Nope. It was a male part."

"A male part? Is it the sexual…?"

"Yes," he said, not even letting me finish my statement. When the realization hit me, my eyes immediately widened in disbelief. I glanced his way, let out a short laugh, and then looked away.

"I don't believe you."

"I wish I were lying. And I wasn't even high."

"Oh my God." I burst into laughter, stopping in my tracks to let it out. As the image formed in my mind, I laughed even more, drawing looks from passersby. David just stood there, watching me with a huge smile on his face. "That must have been wild."

"You should try it." Having finally stopped laughing, I warmed to his idea.

I looked up and, thankfully, the sky was filled with clouds. As I squinted to read the clouds, a paper flew into my face.

"I see nothing but white." I pulled the paper off my face and was about to toss it into a nearby bin when I saw the word VACANCY written boldly at the top. That grabbed my attention.

"What's that?" David moved closer to see the flyer. "Do people still make flyers?"

"They need a babysitter." I looked up at David. "And I need a job. This is good. I can go for the interview, or whatever they call it."

"You want to work as a babysitter?" I shrugged and nodded simultaneously. "You used to work at a publishing company, and now you want to be a babysitter?"

"It's not terrible."

"I know it's not. But my point is, you could just walk into any other publishing house, and I'm sure they would... wait, what position did you hold?"

"Assistant Chief Editor."

"Seriously? And you want to babysit? Publishing houses would die to have you. You worked at Elite Publishing, Grace. Elite."

Realizing I had never told him where I worked, I frowned at him. "How do you know that?"

"I saw a mug in your kitchen. It had the name written boldly on it." I nodded; I did have such a mug. Two. They were gifts from three Christmases ago.

"So what if I worked at Elite? I've been through a lot, David, and I feel like I need a more respectable distraction. Getting drunk and hooking up with men isn't exactly respectable."

"Well, if you say so. When is the interview, or whatever?" I know, right? I don't even know if you get interviewed for such jobs.

I looked at the flyer. "Tomorrow."

"Do you even know how to take care of a kid?"

"I once helped a kid onto a swing at the park." I looked up at him again, unsure if that qualified.

"Well, if that happened, I guess babysitting shouldn't be too difficult for you." I smiled broadly.

"This should go well. How hard could it be?" He shrugged and returned the smile, taking my hand and suggesting we grab something to eat.

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