Elise: If Sven changes my graphics one more time, you’ll have to come to Belgium and bail me out of jail. I don’t look good in orange.
Another soft chuckle leaves me.
Laurie: Let me do the chores. I’ll talk to you later.
I see that she hearts my message before I walk to the doorway of the living room and look at where Austin is lying on the double-seater couch, busy doing something on his phone.
There’s a crumpled brown bag, an empty burger container, and a super-size soda cup on the floor, and on the coffee table are two open bags of potato chips.
“How was your day?” I ask as I move closer to put the burger box in the bag.
Without looking at me, he replies, “Okay.”
I can’t remember when he last asked how I am. Just like every other night, it hurts, and after picking up everything, I stare down at him.
His mouth tips up in a smile, but when he realizes I’m beside the couch, he quickly sets his phone face down on his chest and frowns at me. “What?”
“Nothing.” I shrug. “What did you have for dinner?”
“You’ve got eyes.” He gestures with a chin lift at the trash in my hands, then gives me a questioning look, making me feel like I’m a nuisance. “Don’t ask me stupid questions.”
Getting out from under his feet, I go to the kitchen and throw away the trash. A sigh drifts up from my chest when I see the open pizza box on the table, a fly sitting on the single leftover slice.
This has become a habit as well. Whenever Austin gets something for himself to eat, he never thinks about me. Especially when I work late. It would mean so much to me if he’d saved the pizza slice in the fridge or microwave where the flies wouldn’t get to it.
Slamming the lid of the box shut, the urge to cry and lose my shit almost overwhelms me, but I somehow hold it in.
I don’t even have an appetite, so what does it matter anyway.
Wanting to get all the chores done, I open my favorite playlist, and being a little petty, I put the volume up as the first song starts to play.
In the laundry room that’s attached to the kitchen, I sort the colors from the whites and get the first load going before taking the already dried clothes out of the dryer.
Dead on my feet from the long day, I softly sing along while I sort Austin’s socks in pairs.
“You’re making a fucking noise!” Austin suddenly snaps from the kitchen, and the next second the music stops. “I don’t want to listen to this shit.”
Stalking back into the kitchen, I level him a glare I can’t contain anymore. “I don’t care.” I press play again while looking him dead in the eye. “Just like you don’t care.”
His head jerks back. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“Would it have killed you to save me a slice of pizza?”
“I did!” He points at the box.
“You left it open for flies to get to.”
“I didn’t.”
I turn around, walking back to the laundry room while snapping, “I’m the only one doing chores around the house. You could help.”
“You sit in an air-conditioned office all day while I’m working like a dog out in the sun. I’m fucking tired when I get home, and I’m not in the mood for your nagging.”
Grabbing the socks, I walk back to him and shove them into his hands. “And I’m not tired after putting in all the overtime? You get off at five! Did you even notice that Heather is making me work until nine every night?”
“Don’t bring my sister into this,” he snaps angrily. “It’s your fucking job, Laurie. If you have a problem with it, quit.” His tone drips with bitterness, and he looks at me with disgust. “We’ll see if you can find anything better out there. If it weren’t for Heather and me, you’d be out on the street.”
Sadly, he’s right. Every dollar I earn goes toward food and bills. If I had savings, I’d leave and find something better.
