Muddled Love

Little Sister

Usually when people use the washroom, it's for two things: doing the number one or pushing out that number two. For me, I have a number three and that's to think about life and its matters. In this case, I'm thinking about the dreaded answer I have to give to my family and Bennett. To like Lucien or not to like him romantically?

What was he thinking by saying that he likes me and for five years? Is he out of his mind? I can't even tell if he is lying or saying the truth. There's no way that he would actually be in love with me. I mean, he has been playing around with all these women and forcing me to clean up his breakup disasters. If he really liked me, then he would have all his attention on me! So now that I have concluded that he doesn't actually like me romantically, then why is he making up that lie? What would I benefit from that? How am I even going to answer that question about what I think of Lucien?

All right, I know it's lame that I escaped by making up an excuse that I have a huge stomach ache, but I was really distressed. I needed a safe haven, and the only place in a restaurant would be at a washroom. Fortunately, this little fancy brunch place my sister found only has two washrooms for the whole restaurant, meaning that no one can disturb me when I have locked myself in one stall. Now I'm just sitting on top of the toilet cover which I have first disinfected with some soap and toilet paper, and I'm contemplating. Even when I hear someone knocking on the door, I just tell them to scram because I'm busy. It's the fourth time that someone has knocked, and my patience is wearing.

"Didn't I tell you already? This is—"

"Gemma," I hear Lucien's distinctive voice. "Open up."

"No," I bellow. "I'm not going out there to look like a fool, and it's all your fault!"

"Just open up and I'll explain."

"No! I don't want to hear it!" I yell. "You've screwed me over enough for one day! Can't you just leave me alone?"

"So you're really going to just sit on top of a toilet for the whole day? You're in denial, Gemma," he tells me.

"I really would prefer to stay here," I mumble and hug my knees.

"Come on. It's not that bad," he assures me. "Just open up and I'll tell you my plan. I'll make sure that Bennett falls for you."

"I don't trust you."

"I'll buy your every meal." At the sound of free lunch and dinners, I sprint to the door and unlock it. Lucien pulls the door open before me and chimes, "I can actually see why you'd stay here. It's not bad actually with those fancy fountains and oh wow, a super high tech Japanese toilet!" He marches over to the toilet and pets the cover of the basin. "Man, I just love it when those toilets warm up your seat on a cold winter day and you know that you can get—"

"Okay I'm not here to hear your weird fascination with these odd inventions," I remind him. Lucien likes to know the latest gadgets and the more bizarre an item is, the more intrigued he becomes. His favourite book is something called the world's craziest inventions that in my own mind waste someone's time and money. He, on the other hand, swears that even incremental efficiencies should be acknowledged. I'm sure he believes in aliens.

"Sorry." He scratches the back of his head and shyly grins. "I just get so excited when I see a high class toilet and beautiful washrooms. That's why I just crash at one of our president suites at this hotel my dad helped build. The owners are actually good friends with us and left us one of the best suites there. Of course it's much easier to—" I cough at him to make sure that he gets my message. "Oh right." His hands clap twice before he makes his glorious announcement: "So after improvising back at the table—"