Downgrading Miss CEO

Chapter 34

A week passed by. A week of working hard. A week without any sign of life from Julian. His absence left a hollow feeling inside. A void I tried to fill by putting in some extra hours of work. At this point, I would've taken every opportunity to keep myself from getting lost in my thoughts. Work was a welcome distraction. But I made sure not to fall back into old habits. I tried my best to create new habits to create and maintain a healthier work-life balance.

And that was what I was doing now. I was waiting for Ava in Greenwich Village for our very first cooking class. Of course, she knew I could use all the help I could get now that I vowed not to eat in the office or order take-out every night. My new aim was to prepare a home-cooked meal at least three nights a week. Cooking was supposed to be relaxing and a great attribute to that balanced life, at least, that was what the internet told me.

A taxi stopped in front of me and Ava stepped out. She greeted me with a tight hug. "Who are you and what have you done to my sister? I expected you to come rushing in the minute the class would start. But you're here. With some time to spare may I add."

"It's good to see you too, sis. If I'm serious about making some changes in my life, I need to commit to them. So here I am. I'm committing to this cooking class. And besides that, I'm excited to spend some quality time with you."

The smile on Ava's face brightened. "I'm happy too." The look in Ava's eyes slowly turned more serious as she carefully observed me. "You're dead serious about this, aren't you? Is this about him?"

This was a tricky question. It was tricky because I didn't know the exact answer to it. Was this because of him? I was positive I wasn't doing this for him exactly. I wanted and needed to do this for myself, to break old habits. But it was him who made me open my eyes and look at my life choices more critically. I couldn't go on living my life the way I did. This, I've known for a while, and yet, I had nothing to show for it. Of course, I was serious about making the changes in my life because let's face it, I wasn't living a particularly healthy life. I just had to remind myself that no big change in habits changed overnight, and neither would this.

"To be honest, I don't know. I want to say I'm doing this for just me, but I love him, Ava. The truth is that it hurts me not to talk to him, not being able to hug him, to kiss him to listen to him, or just to have him around. It hurts and it sucks." Tears escaped from my eyes and I wiped them away quickly. I did not want to show my vulnerability. I did not want to seem weak.

"At this point I want nothing more than to rush over to him, to promise him that all would be different this time, but I need to prove to myself first that I can make changes. Changes that will improve my life. And let's start doing that by cooking one dish at a time."

I needed to take a breather from this topic. Ava wouldn't be Ava if she hadn't picked up on my subtle effort to divert the attention from Julian. She looked at her watch. "I believe it's about time we go inside and learn to cook our hearts out. I hope it's something tasty, cause I'm quite hungry. We better not screw this up."

I looked at her, my face blank. "Way to build up the pressure, Sis. You just watch out, there are probably knives in there."

Ava just laughed and wrapped her arm around my shoulder, pulling me inside the building. "You know you love me. And you know I can stitch myself up if it's needed. So all you'll manage is to deliver me a scar. Is that something you'd be proud of?"

The following our, Ava and I indeed cooked our hearts out. In the quite literal sense of the word. Our entire workstation was covered in flower, eggshells were on the ground and tomato sauce was all around. We looked around and watched the workstations of others and a wave of shame washed over us. The judging look of the instructor added to that shame. Ava and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. Our pizza was in the oven and we started cleaning our cooking station with a big smile on our faces.