Danielle sighed in content as she turned her purple Stratus into her apartment complex's parking lot. Though she was tired from a full day of classes then working part-time at a dead end job, she still felt happy. She expected her fiancé to arrive in town this weekend and the thought of seeing him after a few months apart gave her heart a small flutter. All day at school and at work, she broke out in a big smile and announced to everyone, whether they knew or not already, that he was due back in town this coming weekend.
She sprinted up the stairs and unlocked her door, her smile faded as she saw the state of her apartment. Clothes were everywhere, hanging over dining room chairs, piled in the corner of her couch and, of course, scattered everywhere on the floor. Tonight she would devote herself to cleaning this place up so that her fiancé would see that she could indeed take care of herself and she did not need to move into his house with his housekeeper.
She sighed in resignation as she started clearing the clothes out of the dining room. Maybe she should put them all in the dirty clothesbasket so that she could run them all through the wash again. Danielle lost track of which ones were dirty and which were clean anyway.
Before she got too far along in her work, she called and ordered a pizza, with extra cheese. She had been craving one since early in the afternoon and decided that she should give in and satisfy her craving. Halfway through her cleaning process the phone rang.
"Hello?" She questioned the caller.
"Hi beautiful." The male caller responded.
"Kevin! I didn't know you were going to call tonight."
"Well I like to surprise you. If only I could see that pretty face of yours light up with a smile as you are surprised."
"I love hearing from you." She said hearing muffled noises on the other end but thinking nothing of them. "Are you still expecting to be in tomorrow?"
"Well that's what I called you about." His voice dropped and she prepared herself for another disappointment.
"You won't be in tomorrow." She stated before he could.
"Well when do you expect you will be able to come back?" She asked, dropping the clothes in her hands back on the floor. No reason to clean the place now she thought.
"I really don't have any idea. This business keeps getting dirtier. I mean this whole lawsuit thing. It's crazy, I mean we are suing our own band mate and he is in on our side of the lawsuit as well." Kevin laughed. "People really think we are crazy now."
"Well it is a bit strange Kevin." Danielle agreed. "And it does seem like you guys are breaking up as well with all of this going on." She sighed; somehow, she knew she would not miss him being a part of a smash pop group.
The doorbell rang and Danielle jumped slightly at the sudden sound. "My pizza is here." She informed Kevin of the reason for the doorbell.
Danielle leaned the phone between her ear and her shoulder and reached for her purse. Fumbling through it, she finally found her wad of cash. Separating the bills, she unlocked the door and opened it wide. Her head was still faced downwards messing with the bills.
"I am sure you could have put the phone down, the person on the other end might not have minded." She heard suddenly in surround sound. Confused she glanced up and let out a squeal that could be heard across her complex.
"Kevin!" She squealed again. "You are such a jerk sometimes." Smacking him lightly on the chest with her cell phone, she stepped aside to welcome him.
He smiled back at her and walked inside, setting the pizza down on the dining room table. He glanced around, noting the clothes still on the floor that Danielle recently dropped in disappointment. "I love what you've done with the place."
Danielle felt the heat rise in her cheeks in slight embarrassment. "I was cleaning when you called. You were supposed to be here tomorrow, remember?" She bent over and grabbed the clothes she dropped earlier and threw them in her room, closing the door behind her.
"I really wish you would just move into my place. We are practically married; I don't see why you refuse to live with me."
Danielle pulled up a chair and opened the pizza box, pulling out a slice of the warm cheesy goo. Kevin rolled his eyes at this and went in the small kitchen, pulling two plates out of the cupboard and grabbing plenty of napkins. "Here," He said placing a plate in front of Danielle though half her slice had already disappeared.
She smiled at Kevin and put her slice down. "Aren't you sweet?" She tossed her crust on the plate and grabbed for another slice.
"You didn't answer me." He stated, sitting in a chair next to her.
"What was your question?" She asked, pausing between bites.
"I don't understand why you don't move in with me. I would feel better about leaving you all the time if you were there and I knew that someone was there to make sure you were looked after and well fed."
She sighed. "Kevin, we've been through this. I want my independence before we are married. I like having my own place right now. Besides without you in that house, well, the house is kind of creepy." She shuddered remembering the one time she stayed a week in his house at his request while he was out of town.
"It will be your house one day too." He said leaning closer to her, brushing a loose strand of her sandy-brown hair out of her eyes.
Danielle scrunched her nose up at the thought. "I know, I keep hoping I can convince you to move to a smaller house, but it seems that will be impossible." Quickly she finished off her second slice and moved to the refrigerator grabbing a Pepsi.
She drank from the can, watching Kevin take a bite out of a slice of the pizza himself. I really should just go and live with him, she thought to herself. I need to learn to deal with the place one day.
A sudden noise jolted her awake from her dreaming. Her phone was ringing again. Quickly she lunged for the phone and answered it before Kevin could even attempt to answer. "Hello?"
"Hey Danielle." A female voice answered.
"Kristy, goodness girl, how are you? I wasn't expecting you to call." She looked at Kevin apologetically, Danielle and Kristy were close friends and she knew that she could not bring herself to blow Kristy off just because Kevin was there.
Kevin continued to eat the pizza; finding a newspaper and scanning through the news while half listening to Danielle on the phone.
Kristy's melodic voice answered Danielle's question. "I am doing great. You would not believe what happened to me today." She paused waiting for Danielle to try to take a guess about the events of the day. When she did not answer soon enough, Kristy answered for her. "I got the job!"
Danielle could tell her friend was brimming with happiness. "That is wonderful." Kristy had been trying for a Public Relations position at all the hip clubs in town and, as she told Danielle, she finally landed a position at a club called Nostalgic.
The girls continued to talk for another hour before Danielle noticed Kevin starting to fall asleep where he was sitting. "Kristy hun, I hate to do this to you, but Kevin came in early and…"
"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" Kristy interrupted. "I could have told you my news and you could have seen to your man's needs." She laughed.
"Kristy! You are so wicked." Danielle laughed. "I am sure he's not up for that." She giggled as Kevin seemed to perk up to the word 'wicked' and that he was not 'up for it'. He turned to her and smirked.
Danielle saw his smirk and said her good-byes to her friend. "Well Kevin, are you up for it?" she asked as he approached her, putting his arms around her waist and holding her tightly.
"What do you think?" He questioned kissing her intently on the lips.
"I think you are always up for it." She laughed and pulled him towards her bedroom. Closing the door behind him, he groaned loudly as he realized they would have to clean all the clothes off the bed and floor before anything were to happen.
Author's Chapter Notes:
A new story I thought I'd post here :-D