False Assumptions
"And this was at 11 at night?" Cass asked the next night, sitting across from AJ in the local retro bar they always went to if they were in the mood to go out. AJ didn't drink, but she didn't shy away to getting out of the house for a few hours. And they also done the most amazing fried pickles ever. And she also needed to vent to Cass.
"Yeah." AJ nodded, sipping on her Pepsi whilst Cass enjoyed a glass of wine. She'd normally only have one or two. It was enough to ease any of the stresses she had, "She called me a lunatic too." AJ shook her head, having explained to Cass what her mother had said to her.
"She's ridiculous." Cass shook her head, "If I were you I'd just… cut off all ties from her. You don't need that in your life." She said.
"You know I can't do that." AJ sighed.
"Why? Why can't you? What's stopping you?" Cass asked, "I don't talk to my parents."
"Your parents are dead." AJ said quietly.
"And I didn't speak to them before they died." Cass pointed out, "Wanna know why? Because they were horrible, and abusive, and toxic." Cass said, "You don't have to feel like you owe them anything just because they're your parents." She said.
"She's just not well. That's all." AJ defended lightly, "They've been through a lot this past year. With my brother." She sighed, swallowing a small lump in her throat as Cass just nodded.
"Yeah, and I get that." Cass said in that comforting voice that had rescued AJ a lot more than she'd like to admit, "I know it's been rough but… sooner or later, you're gonna snap. Maybe that's what she wants. I don't know." Cass said, "But you can't have that sort of negatvitiy in your life all the time. Weighing you down. Especially from your own mother." Cass said.
"I know." AJ said.
"Do you?" Cass wondered, "Because we have this conversation once a month and nothing ever changes." She said.
"It's hard." AJ said with deflation, "Yeah, there's nothing holding me back but… they love me, and they've always done their best for me, despite the parts in between." She said, "It wasn't easy when we were kids, but they always put me and Robbie first." AJ nodded.
"That's what they're supposed to do, April." Cass said slowly, "They're your parents. They shouldn't be looking for the roles to be reversed now." She shook her head, "They should be encouraging you to go life your life. Be what you want to be."
"I wish." AJ sighed.
"Have you decided what you're doing about the weekend?" Cass asked her.
"No." AJ groaned, "I'll have to get it off work."
"I'm sure we'll manage." Cass smiled a little, "It's your decision. If you don't want to face it then… don't go. Like I said. Just focus on you. Take care of you and your needs." Cass nodded.
"I should go." AJ nodded, "It's not something I wanna relive but… I should be there. Even if it is for my mom and dad, more than it is for me." She said as Cass just nodded, "Oh, I don't know, Cass." She debated with herself, folding her arms on the table and placing her head onto her arms.
"More pickles?" Cass laughed a little.
"Yes." AJ muffled through her arm as Cass laughed, getting off the high stool and heading over to the bar with the empty basket to order more pickles whilst AJ lifted her head back up, brushing her hair out of her face as her eyes caught onto a man at the bar smiling across at her. He was alone, but that didn't spook her because his smile was lovely and comforting, and before she knew it, he was walking over to her.
"Hi there." The man smiled to her as AJ sat up straight, "I hope it doesn't sound… strange or anything but I've been watching you all night." He smiled.
"Just a little strange." AJ teased as the man smiled.
"You have beautiful eyes." He noticed, now that he was up close to her, "Sorry, I'm Damien." He extended his hand out as AJ shook it politely.
"And I am April." AJ smiled. She wasn't a natural born flirter. She normally made a joke that wasn't funny and then stayed silent for the rest of the time, thinking about how terrible the joke was. But she had been on plenty of dates, some more successful than others.
"You wouldn't… You wouldn't mind me asking if I could buy you a drink?" Damien asked.
"If it will help you sleep at night." AJ smiled, "It's just a Pepsi."
"And?" Damien waited.
"Ice?" AJ shook her head.
"Just Pepsi?" Damien asked.
"Yeah." AJ nodded as Damien smiled.
"I will have it sent over." He nodded to her with a sweet smile, walking back to the bar as AJ smiled to herself, whilst Cass walked back to their table with more pickles.
"Was that a drunk harassing you for a dance?" Cass asked, edging herself back on her stool.
"No. He was actually really sweet." AJ smiled, "He wanted to buy me a drink." She said.
"Why is nobody buying me a drink?" Cass groaned, "I've already gone over my budget for this week." She sighed to herself whilst the waiter came over to the table and sat down AJ's drink for her as she smiled back to the kind man, Damien across the bar. Sometimes it just took something small to boost her confidence.
The next morning, AJ was busy at work, making her way through the rooms, feeling a heavy weight on her shoulders as she still hadn't decided what she was doing about the weekend. It was Thursday, which meant she didn't have much time to think about it.
She knocked on 'the spy's' hotel door, as she and Cass were calling him, waiting for him to respond which he didn't giving her the go ahead to just walk straight in, pausing and gritting her teeth with apology as she saw he was on the phone by the table with his work sprawled out across it.
He just nodded to her with assurance that it was fine for her to come in and do whatever the hell she wanted to. He knew by now that she was going to clean his room whether he said so or not, so she went ahead and tidied around him whilst he continued with his phone call.
Punk found himself not even paying attention to the phone call, as he watched her wander around the room. After a few angles of her bending over to pick things up, he turned away and tried his best to stop being an immature little boy.
Once he'd finished his call, she was finishing up in the bathroom, and he put his things down at the desk and waited outside for her to come out.
"Oh, God." AJ jumped, placing her hand on her chest whilst coming out of the bathroom to see him standing.
"Hi." Punk smiled.
It was the first time she'd seen him in casual clothes. He had some basketball shorts on and a t-shirt, and it seemed like he was perhaps working from the room today.
"Uh… hi." AJ said, wiping the sweat she'd worked up from her forehead, "So I was gonna take those empty bottles of energy drinks but I didn't want to disturb you." She pointed over to the bottles on the desk where he was working.
"If it makes you happy." Punk nodded.
"None of this makes me happy." AJ gave a laugh, walking over and grabbing the bottles from the desk to throw out in the trash in the corridor, "Working from home today?" She teased, trying to make light conversation as she finished off folding up the clean towels in the bathroom.
"Yeah, you could say that." Punk smiled. He'd noticed the second that he'd saw her, how absolutely gorgeous she was, and it saddened him to watch her carry out his garbage from his room.
"So I assume you're here for business?" AJ said, turning the bathroom light off and closing the door over as she faced him. She made conversation with all the guests, but he seemed different. Having his eyes on her seemed very intense. He was intimidating for sure. And she still couldn't figure him out.
"Yeah, business." Punk said vaguely, "I want to apologise for the other day, snapping at you the way I did. I wasn't raised like that, and you gave me that note I dropped which was pretty important. I would have had to come all the way back for it." He said as she just waved her hand, "I was just in a rush. I would have snapped at anyone if it means anything to you." He said.
"It's ok." AJ nodded, "We can all get a little angry when we've had to get out our beds too early in the morning." She smiled to him as he nodded. They found themselves looking at each other for a few awkward seconds, with nothing to say to one another, yet none of them wanted to excuse the other.
"So do you… work here like every day?" Punk asked, as a joke.
"I try to." AJ said seriously as Punk looked at her with shock, "But sometimes I gotta give the other girls some shifts." She shrugged.
"Do you like it?" Punk began to wonder.
"Would you like cleaning toilets and stripping beds for a living?" AJ asked him.
"No. That's why I chose not to. You have a choice. You choose to be here." He told her as AJ gasped a little at the arrogance of him.
"Some people don't have a choice." AJ defended, "They take what they can get."
"Because they're lazy to go out and do something that will make them happy. If it means they gotta put the work in, they'll just settle for the easy option." Punk said.
"So I settled for the easy option?" AJ folded her arms over her uniform dress.
"Maybe. I don't know. I don't know you." Punk shrugged, wandering away over to his desk again as AJ grunted under her breath. He was exactly who she thought he was. Arrogant, selfish and a little bit of a prick.
"Well." AJ said, loudly to get his attention, "Can I get you anything else?" She asked him.
"No. I'm good." Punk said as AJ nodded. Although it was her cue to leave, she just didn't want to. He was almost like a magnet. Not a good one though. Not one she wanted to be drew in by.
"She must miss you." AJ said, looking over to the framed picture of the little girl as Punk turned over to where she was looking and nodded.
"Yeah. She does." Punk nodded, turning back to his work, "She's used to me going away now, though." He assured her.
"She's beautiful." AJ made sure to say as Punk smiled and nodded, "What's her name?" She wondered with a smile as Punk looked up. She had such a beautiful, kind and compelling smile that was just so sweet to watch. She was like a dream.
"Bella." Punk said, "She's three on Sunday." He smiled sadly.
"You're going to miss her birthday?" AJ asked sadly, "That's terrible."
"I'll give her a call." Punk waved his hand as AJ scowled a little at how unfussed he was that he was missing his daughter's birthday.
"It's important that a girl has a good father figure in her life." AJ said as Punk slowly turned to her.
"She isn't… she isn't my daughter." Punk shook his head, smirking a little as AJ turned to him with confusion, "No. She's my niece." Punk nodded, "Yeah. My brother's little girl." Punk said, not understanding why he was even going into so much detail. He didn't know her.
"Oh." AJ shook her head, "Your niece?"
"Yeah." Punk nodded, "I'd rather have my eyeballs gauged out than have a sticky kid to look after." He shook his head as AJ hmm'd at his response, "Don't get me wrong. I love my niece. But I also love handing her back to my brother at the end of the day, you know?" He said.
"No. I don't know. My brother is dead." AJ said as Punk gulped, "And I don't know why I told you that." She shook her head, "I need… I need to go." She said, feeling her face go red, burning with embarrassment yet again as he looked over at her clearing her cleaning things out of the room.
"I'm sorry." Punk nodded, "About your brother." He said sincerely, "I… I couldn't imagine how it feels."
"I wouldn't want you to." AJ smiled and nodded, clearing out of his room.
"What's your name?" Punk asked, feeling daft for not having asked sooner.
"You don't need to know." AJ replied, "I'm just here to clean your room." She assured him, walking out of his room as he watched her grab the garbage and some other things, walking down the corridor to the next room as he closed the door over slowly.
A/N: Let me know what you think!
