Lustrous

Chapter 23: The Right Amount of Puff

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at the door. The sounds of the innocent knocking echoed through the small apartment and signalled my doom. It was Sandra and Charlene. I knew this thanks to the beautiful people at reception who - thanks to my quick thinking - have now been instructed to call me when ever any one of these two women were in the building.

I didn't know what I was expecting but I did know I should dread what ever they have planned.

Taking a deep breath I thought it best to get this over with. Opening the door I smiled at the annoyed looks of the waiting women. "Sorry," I apologised. "I was in the shower."

"Then why is your hair dry?" Charlene spat as she pushed her way into the apartment and began her inspection, looking around.

You didn't think that through did you Sky?

Not really.

I don't know what she expected to find. The only evidence that remained of my moving in where the three coloured candles and one small candle I was actually allowed to keep after Anthony had spotted them and began adding 'colour blind' to the list of disabilities he was accusing me of.

Hercules was also allowed to stay but I had decided to keep him in his cage when Anthony was home to prevent giving him cause to throw him out the window.

"I half expected to find a pile of dirty clothes and an elephant in the lounge room." She smiled pleased that she didn't see any of those things.

I licked my lip. She would find both of those things in the bedroom with my teddy elephant scatted somewhere on the messy bed and a pile of dirty clothes in both the bathroom and the wardrobe - and lets not forget the shoes in the middle of the room.

"How are you settling in Sky?" Sandra asked me as she too began a quick look around.

"Good." I smiled not really knowing what else to say. After all, I did spend the morning locked out on the porch with a bird pecking at my arm.

"I know my son can be a little hard to live with at times. He can be very stubborn when he wants to be."

"We've developed an understanding." I assured her. Yes, I got to keep my rabbit, he would do all the cooking and we were going to attempt to share the bed. What could possibly go wrong?

Don't say that. Every time someone says that in a movie, everything goes wrong.

Well, life isn't a movie inner self.

You're right. Your life is more like a train wreck with the occasional car crash.

"Skylar?"

I blinked hearing my name.

"Are you alright dear?" Sandra expressed her concern.

"Yes I'm fine." I assured her.

"We should be on our way, with the traffic we are probably already running late for our appointment." Charlene butted in, saving me from Sandra's looks of concern and calling us to action.

If there was one thing Charlene was good for, it was distracting people from my lack of attention during one of my 'moments'.

I followed the two women down to the car and kept quiet for most of the drive not really knowing what to say or caring too much about the topic of conversation - the wedding.

I was beginning to get a little uncertain about this whole endeavour. Sure, I could put up with Anthony for a time and he seemed willing to compromise with me on matters of importance. We were both acting like adults in the situation to achieve our ultimate goals, using each other for our own means while respecting each other at the same time.