A knock on the door broke her train of thoughts. She felt sick inside as her head would explode any moment. Her stomach hurt badly. She still wanted to throw up, but she had nothing left in her stomach to do so. She mentally promised herself that she would never drink alcohol again. Not that she drank it, but occasionally she had a glass of white or red wine with dinner, sometimes a glass of excellent cognac. In fact, she also couldn't think of her favourite pancakes, macarons, or any food in general. She loved good food so much. This was not her at all... It was supposed to be a reset from her perfectionism, but it turned out to be a dud.
"Jo, are you ok? You've been in there half an hour now." She heard Matthews' upset voice call out to her from outside.
"Yeah… I'm fine…"
"It doesn't sound like that. Can I come in?" He asked, but came in without waiting for an answer. He was afraid that something bad might have happened to her again.
She was sitting on the floor leaning against the toilet bowl, looking pathetic. Her face was pale. It was extremely rare to see her like this. In this state, she was the exact opposite of the ‘Miss Perfect’ whom everyone knew. He leaned down and touched her forehead.
"Babe, you have a fever!" He said lifting her off the floor.
"Hm… Leave me alone, please. I will puke…" She muttered.
"No problem!" He took her to the living room and put her on the armchair. "Just hold on for a minute…"
Matthew was soon back with a couple things in his hands. He laid out a flat white sheet on the sofa and, then placed a few pillows on it. He lifted her up again and set her down on the sofa, covering her with a grey blanket as he passed on a pink bucket to her.
"Here, you go... puke as much as you want!"
Jo didn't know how to react upon seeing the pink bucket on her lap. She was tired, very tired and she didn't feel like talking to him. She leaned her back against the pile of pillows and closed her eyes clutching it tightly in her hands. A moment later she heard his footsteps fading away...
She thought about the trip home in a few hours. How was she going to survive the three hour long flight? She had to go to work the next morning. There were a few deadlines coming up for her and she still had a few piles of documents to finish.
Should she take the bucket with her on the plane or just a few empty plastic bags? How was she going to get to the airport? How to return the rented car? She had a training scheduled for the afternoon and then a meeting followed it in the evening for which she didn’t have everything ready yet. She still had to prepare a multimedia presentation too... Many such thoughts swirled in her head.
A familiar voice woke her up. He was talking to someone... He was talking to… eh… Was she back again at the party? She was thinking of some kind of escape. She couldn’t take it anymore. Finally, she opened her heavy eyelids.
"Hi, Mike!" She muttered... "What are you doing here?"
"You look pitiful, Miss Perfect!" Mike laughed as he slowly covered the bruises on her legs with some icy-cold cream.
"Yeah... It's really funny. I feel even worse…" She groaned. Another Mr. Perfect. Do I really need to see that face again? She thought. She saw him yesterday and it was too much to see him again. She would have to listen to his lecture.
"What have you done? You look like a victim of… domestic violence. Who should I beat up?” He was laughing looking at her bruises. "Did you forget your self-defence lessons you received from us?"
"Very funny Mike!"
"What happened? Did you lose a battle against the wall?”
"That's not my fault!" She gritted through clenched teeth. "It's not my fault that Matt has more damn cosmetic products than any woman."
"What are you talking about?" Matthew came in with two cups in his hand.
Matthew looked at Mike, then at Jo. He was busy in the kitchen and didn't hear their conversation. He didn't know what they were debating so fiercely about but judging by the expressions on their faces, they must have raised some very serious topics because they both looked very serious.
"I had a collision with a shelf and tried to save Matt's stuff, at least a few cans of shaving foam, tons of aftershave balms and over a dozen bottles of perfumes."
"Collision with the shelves? An interesting accident." Mike couldn't stop laughing imagining her completely drunk, grabbing the bottles of cosmetics. However, she wasn’t one to care about any material things so it sounded fishy.
"If you came here to laugh at me, you can leave. I'm not in the mood to talk to you."
"You should have a husband and a bunch of children by now. Don't talk nonsense." Mike was still laughing.
"Why don't you have it yourself?" She tried to defend herself.
Mike hesitated for a moment. ‘Why did all his relationships fail?’ He often asked himself this question and he had multiple theories for it. He wanted to shout in her face that it was all because of her, but at the last second, he got a hold of his emotions.
"I am a busy man and I chose to save the world!" He said with a poker face.
She knew that Mike just came back from a field hospital located in a refugee camp in the middle of ‘nowhere’. He worked there for a few months so she didn't want to continue the topic.
"Because we are a bunch of losers, babe!" Matthew added honestly. "You are the only one! One of a kind! We cannot have you, we cannot clone you… Is there a point to look for a poor fake replacement?"
Mike was truly speechless because Matthew put it very aptly; the confession was right to the point. There was a long silence in the living room. Everyone had their own theory, but nobody wanted to argue anymore. Digging up old scarred wounds could be too painful for each of them.
Jo was shocked. She didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. Mike was her ex and her first love, but it didn't work out long ago when they tried for the first time around. On the other hand, Matthew was her best friend since she remembered.
"Don't tell me that I am the cause of your personal failures. Mike, you are a fucking freak!"
He was a freak and he knew that, so he did not even try to defend himself. "After you, nobody is good enough!" With a poker face, he stated emphatically. "Don't move that fucking hand, or you'll pop out another vein!"
He held her hand tightly until she felt pain. At that moment, Jo realised that she had a drip attached to her right hand. Slowly she took a look at it and she was shocked. There was a huge, dark-blue bruise on her left one.
"Mike, stop it. Take it out! I have to go. I have a flight to catch!" She said, trying to get up.
"Shut up! Don't move!" He had already started to lose his patience with her. When she slept for over an hour, he held onto her hand and the drip so that she would not damage her delicate vein. "I have no patience with such patients."
She really wanted to show him the middle finger, if only she could move.
"Where?" Matthew and Mike enquired together. They looked at her as if she was about to give them a shock any second."Where do you want to go?" Mike asked her again, this time in a friendlier tone.She saw that characteristic twinkle in their eyes.‘What is wrong with you guys?’ She thought. ‘I am only a woman, weak and vulnerable at the moment. Not that I can't break your necks. You have taken care of it and I was a very diligent student in this matter, but not in that state. It's hard to concentrate, let alone any physical exertion…’Matthew pressed her shoulders against the sofa and he wasn’t gentle compared to when Mike was holding her hand with the drip. Both of them knew that she could be unpredictable. If they pissed her off, they could easily have black eyes. They couldn't afford it. Both of them had to go to work."Baby, think of your magnificent body. I'm sure you don't want to have more bruises.
The white kitchen table was perfectly set for three people. Every detail looked polished to excellence. Jo loved the contrast between the table: grey placemats under white plates and bright grey napkins accompanying them. In the middle, it was like a full-fledged feast had been arranged with all kinds of stuff like salmon, potatoes, green asparagus and spinach."Wild Atlantic salmon and organic vegetables. All steamed. No fat. No oil. No salt." Matthew informed. "Jo, try something. The food is light. I also have some steamed whole grain rice, if you prefer some.""Where is my favourite white wine?" She asked looking around the table."Nooo… She looks like a ghost from a dark horror movie and still asks about Chardonnay!" Mike was really frustrated."Why Chardonnay? It doesn't go nicely with this meal! I was thinking more like Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling, something more suitable for fish. And who said that I will drink it?" As Jo was speaking, she s
The rays of the summer sun streamed into the bedroom through the open window blinds. Jo woke up just before 6.00 am as she felt some warm light on her face. It was an amazing feeling to wake up without the after-effects of a great night with alcohol: a pounding headache, but most importantly, no burning sensation or stomach discomfort and nausea. She felt refreshed. "No more parties! No more alcohol! No more madness!" She decided.She could already hear some noise in the apartment which, she was certain, was coming from the kitchen. She heard the clinking of cutlery and dishes; she could feel the delicate aroma of freshly brewed coffee tingling her nose.Matthew didn't drink it in the morning so probably Mike was already here. She didn't want to see him. That wasn't a secret. So why was he here so early in the morning?Jo didn't feel sorry for him regarding what had happened years ago. She didn't blame him or herself. Why would she? They were not perfect h
As Jo entered the kitchen, she felt consternation. In the background, she heard the Zimmers' music score from The Dark Knight. That moment she knew for sure they were playing with her. That was the sophisticated game they've been playing for years: a game of words, music, lyrics and gestures. They expected her to be the foreground character so she would play along as they wished.She didn't mind their way of playing. She was good at it too. The only thing that surprised her was that they didn't take into account that she really felt bad. Today she should have been fasting because of the tests and visit to the hospital, but judging by the smell throughout the apartment, the two had prepared her favourite breakfast. Were these two friends of the seven sorrows so ruthless?"Good morning my handsome, heartless heroes!" She smiled.
More than a reset, Jo needed a proper rest. Right after graduating from university, she moved away, far from everyone she knew. She lived in a completely unknown environment and started everything from scratch. All she had achieved so far was due to her determination and hard work. She was very proud of herself but she had been working so hard over the past few years. She couldn't remember the last time she had allowed herself to a moment of weakness. When she had a cold or even pharyngitis or bronchitis, she continued to go to work unless she had a high fever and couldn't get out of bed, in which case she stayed home. Immediately after graduation, she had joined the corporate "rat race” in which she lost herself for several years, but that was the reality of the labour market when she finished university. There was no other choice. If you wanted a job, you h
She still couldn't believe that she was sitting on the plane and in less than three hours, she would be in her beloved Paris. Despite the fact that it was not so far away, due to her life plan being jam-packed to the limit, she could not pay the visit there earlier.She had to fall ill to have free time. In addition, friends had to use a trick to make her forget about work. It was really pathetic when she thought about what had happened to her life. There hadn’t been even a hint of spontaneity in the recent years.What happened to her? She became the person she swore not to be. Has she grown up? Is this what the life of mature people is like?Everything in her life had to be carefully planned. At work, she had a plan for any unanticipated situation. Seemingly impossible, but it was so. Working in public
They walked all the way from Rue du Bac and the D'Orsay Museum to the Notre Dame Cathedral, on the southern side of the Seine. The weather was absolutely stunning. A gentle breeze was blowing so they did not feel the heat.There were a lot of souvenir stalls, painters selling their paintings, various types of artists, musicians, dancers and mimes performing along the shore. Jo took a lot of photos, as usual.Matthew was very exhausted, but he didn't want to tell her. She looked radiant, and it seemed like her smile did not want to leave her face even for a moment. That was an extremely rare sight for him to admire.At that moment, he felt as if she was so happy, then he could be too. He just had to find a way to sit, even for a few minutes. He hadn’t had a proper rest and sleep since the reunion of their team on Saturday. His body was desperately demanding a little downtime to get back up."Jo, it's almost lunch time. We should look for a nice
The loud sound of the phone ringing woke her from deep sleep. The ringtone was really annoying. It just kept ringing and ringing. When she woke up, it was so dark in the room that she didn't know where she was. She forgot that last evening she had tightly closed the shutters to make the bedroom completely dark and more quiet. It took her a long moment to realize where she was. Finally, she found the source of the sound that disturbed her nap.When she picked up the phone, she heard a well-known voice. It sounded lively and fresh, even quite irritating."Hi guys! How are you? What did you do yesterday? Nobody called me. What did you do last night?" All in one breath, Mike recited."Damn, Mike! It is half past six in the morning. What do you expect?" Jo had already found her mobile phone and checked the time and to say that she was furious would be an understatement."Is Matthew around? Could I talk to him?""No. You can't!"She really w