669A/N: Thank you to the reviewers! You're fabulous! :)
Thursday was Julie's last midterm, and she was glad to be done with it.
She was literally unlocking her apartment door as her cell phone started ringing. She didn't recognize the number, but she said hello as she opened the door.
"Julie?" a male voice asked.
"Yes," she said.
"Hi, this is Matt Turner, we met yesterday."
After the necessary niceties were exchanged, Matt asked Julie if she would be able to come over the following day at 6:45. She said that she could and she jotted down the address of the apartment.
"Who was that?" Jack asked when she got off the phone.
She hadn't even had a chance to tell him about what happened at the bridge, because when she came home he wasn't there, so she took advantage of the alone time to study. Within an hour Jacob and Jack returned, and Jack made it very clear that he wanted to go straight to bed.
So she took the opportunity to relay the story.
He raised his eyebrows. "Some guy just accosted you by the river and pawned his kid off on you?"
"He didn't accost me. I know it seems kind of random, but hey, this would be a much better job than the one I have."
"True," he said, taking her hand and pulling her down on the couch on top of him, smiling. "Hi."
She chuckled a little. "Hi."
"How was school?"
"Well, today was my midterm, as you may remember, and I was totally nervous, especially-"
"Mm hmm," he murmured before she had even finished, kissing her neck.
Since she took the hint that he didn't care about the details, she tried to sum it up before he could cut her off again. "But I actually did surprisingly well on it."
"That's good," he murmured, peeling her zip up sweater off of her.
"Perhaps we shouldn't do this right here on the couch where anyone could walk in and see," she suggested, but he was already smothering her words, pulling himself above her.
She accidentally sighed a little, then guiltily hoped he hadn't heard her.
Apparently he either didn't hear, or didn't pay attention.
She got the job.
She wasn't sure how, as he hadn't even had a chance to check the reference sheet she had carefully compiled on her computer that morning, and his wife literally spent about 70 seconds sitting in on the interview before flitting out the door, leaving him to conduct the other 25 minutes.
He informed her that the hours would range from 20 to 30 hours a week, and the pay would be $9 an hour, plus holiday bonuses (he would definitely need her a few extra nights for Christmas shopping, he explained, and there may be times at Halloween and Easter when he would need her, as well).
Julie happily took the job. He was offering her more money, and it was all cash, so whatever she earned was what she brought home. Not to mention she would much rather watch a sweet baby than serve chicken and pizza. She would prefer to come home smelling like baby powder than greasy fast food. The baby would also probably take naps, hopefully allowing her some time to study while she worked.
When she asked him when he wanted her to start, he replied, "Is this week too soon?"
So when she went in to work on Saturday at 12 o'clock, she happily put in her two week notice, and she hoped she would be able to finish it out by bending her schedule and just working two jobs for a couple weeks. She did have to add in the note, however, that she could no longer work Thursdays, because Julie had classes that day, and Matt informed her that he would definitely need her every Thursday to take Anna to her swimming lessons from four to five, then to bring her home and stay with her until seven or eight, depending on who could make it home.
Julie couldn't get over her luck, but she wasn't about to question it. It was, after all, just babysitting; how hard could it possibly be?
The first week was a piece of cake. The "swimming lessons" were a breeze, and consisted of Julie taking Anna out into a pool and basically holding her while getting her "accustomed to the feel of the water" and urging her to her kick her legs. How much swimming could they really expect out of a one-year-old?
It was the end of Julie's first week before she actually met the mother again, and she was slightly embarrassed to realize she had forgotten what the woman looked like.
She was reminded when, while chatting into a cell phone and raiding the cupboard, the blonde turned on Julie with a raised eyebrow and demanded to know why her crackers weren't in the cupboard.
Julie gaped for a full five seconds before uttering, "What?"
"My crackers," she said a bit shrilly.
Julie continued to stare, more than a little confused, and then her confusion turned to irritation when the woman began talking into the cell phone as if Julie ceased to exist. "I swear, I let Matt make one decision and he hires a damn moron. I would bet you anything she ate them… My healthy crackers! Not that she couldn't stand to lose a little weight," she said, flicking a disdainful look over her shoulder at Julie's figure.
Later, when she was at home complaining to Jack about the rude bitch she worked for, she wondered why she didn't say something to her.
"She accused you of eating crackers?" Jack asked with raised eyebrows as he munched on some Fritos.
"Yes! And she talked about me as if I weren't even there. Not only do I steal her crackers, I am apparently deaf and dumb."
"Wow, she sounds very appealing," he remarked.
"Oh yeah. Not that she's ever home anyway, thank God," Julie remarked, pacing a little. "I swear. You know how most kids try to go to their parents when they're around? When the Wicked Witch walked over and smiled at Anna as she left for the gym, Anna just looked at her blankly and actually leaned closer to me. She's known me for a week, and already she prefers me over her mother. Not that I blame the poor kid. The dad seems nice, but the mother… Actually, I usually deal with the father. I wonder where Emma is. Does she even work, or does she just work out 40 hours a week? Matt never actually mentions her when she isn't around. But at least he's involved, you know? The other day when I got there Matt was sitting at the table with Anna in her high chair and he was reading her the Chicago Sun Times." Julie chuckled, smiling a little at the memory. "That was amusing, but hey, at least he tried, right?"
When she turned to Jack to hear his response to her rant, however, she noticed not only was he not listening, but he was on the phone.
Julie frowned, pouting slightly.
Jack laughed into the phone. "No, that's awesome. We'll see you there."
As he hung up, Julie said, "You were on the phone?"
"That's implied, since I was talking on it," he replied sarcastically. "Anyway, that was Evan, and he invited us to a party at someone's apartment in Wicker Park."
"A party?" she asked a little unenthusiastically.
"Yeah, a party. It's Friday night, you don't have class tomorrow, let's go," he said.
"Well… it's just that I was planning on doing some studying for sociology tonight, and I have this extra credit thing for humanities that I'm supposed to do on ancient Greece vase painting, so I wasn't planning on going to a party tonight."
"You've got all weekend," Jack reasoned. "Do that tomorrow."
"Tomorrow I have to work 10 to 4 at KFC and read an entire chapter of my earth science book, and do the practice at the end."
"Which you could put off until Sunday, when you don't work."
"I don't work there," she corrected. "I have to watch Anna from 9 to 3 Sunday."
"So do it after," he stated, getting up off the couch. "Come on, don't be such a party pooper."
He wasn't in college; he didn't have tests to study for or assignments to complete. She couldn't say that, however, or he'd get a complex, so instead she struck a compromise.
"How about this?" she said. "It is 8:35 right now. When are we supposed to be at the party?"
"About ten."
"Okay. I'm going to go do the humanities assignment right now, when I get done I'll hurry up and get ready and we can go."
"You're gonna study? But Jacob's not here; what am I supposed to do until we leave?"
She felt like snapping at him to amuse himself for an hour, but instead she counted to three and said, "I'm sure you'll think of something," with a small smile. "Now I need to go concentrate right now."
"Don't be a perfectionist. I don't want to be here all night."
"I'll try not to," she said, opening up Microsoft Word on her pink laptop and opening up another window for the Internet.
She had just pushed search for "ancient Greece vase painting" when she heard Jack say, "Morgan, what are you doing? Want to go to a party tonight?"
Ugh, he was inviting along the stuck up bitch from down the hall.
That would so help her concentration.
Julie was only halfway through her chapter of earth science when her cell phone started ringing, bringing her right out of her concentration zone.
She growled a little, picking up the phone and answering it without even looking at the caller ID.
"Hello?" she answered, her tone slightly unfriendly.
"Julie? This is Matt."
A little surprised, she took the edge off her tone. "Oh, hi, Matt, how are you?"
"I'm fine, but I'm in a bit of a pinch, I was hoping you could help me out."
That did not sound good. "What can I help you with?" she asked cautiously.
"I know you weren't supposed to work today, but I have to run to the office and Emma… can't watch Anna," he said, a bit of irritation evident in his voice. "I can't take her with me, and I was really hoping you could come over and sit with her. I won't be more than an hour, I just… I'm stuck."
Julie stole a look at her watch, which read 6:48. She sighed inaudibly, then she said, "I suppose I could come over."
He sounded relieved. "Thank you so much. You're a lifesaver."
It was only an hour, she reasoned as she slid her notes in her book to mark her page and flipped it shut. Jack wouldn't be home from work until closer to 10:30, so she could still go sit with Anna and be back in time to finish her studying before he got home.
With that plan in mind, she ran down the hall to grab her purse and keys out of her room.
True to his word, Matt was back at the apartment by 7:45.
He was yanking his tie off as he sat down on the couch with a long sigh. "Thank you for coming over on such short notice," he said.
"Oh, it was no problem," she fibbed.
"I'm sure this isn't how you wanted to spend your Saturday night. I don't want to make you hate your job your first week, I just… Emma has no concern for anyone else's plans, least of all mine, and she tends to do things like this."
Julie was curious, even though it was none of her business, what was so important that Emma had to do.
"Did she have a work thing, or…?"
He kind of scoffed. "According to her it was for work. She had to go for drinks with a 'potential client.'"
So the Workout Witch did have a job. Julie forced a half smile. "Sounds important."
"Self-important, maybe," he said, looking at his watch. "She's an art dealer." Then, somehow switching topics completely, he asked, "Are you hungry?"
Taken off guard by the shift in conversation she repeated, "Hungry?"
"Yeah, I'm starving," he said, getting up off the couch. "I made you come all the way over here, ruined your Saturday night, the least I could do is feed you."
Actually, she realized she hadn't eaten in quite awhile, and since he mentioned it her stomach finally realized it.
"Let's see what we have in here," he said, opening up the freezer. "Lean Pockets, Lean Cuisine, broccoli… deli spirals?" he said with a grimace. "Okay," he said, shutting the freezer door. "Take-out it is," he said, flashing Julie a smile. "What do you feel like?"
"You don't have to do that," she said. "It's really fine."
"Do you want pizza? No, probably not, you work at Pizza Hut, don't you?"
She wasn't sure why, but she was flattered that he remembered that. "Is Potbelly's still open?" she asked.
"I honestly couldn't tell you. Come on, we'll go find something to eat in this damn city," he said with a smile. "Let me just go change out of this shirt and I'll be right out."
Well, she wasn't going to argue. "Come on Anna, let's get your little sweater on and we'll take your daddy out to get some real food." She leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. "No health crackers allowed."
As if she understood, Anna giggled.
They ended up at Wendy's, eating French fries and Frosties and talking about life.
"So what are you going to school for?" Matt asked idly as he dipped a fry in ketchup.
"I'm going to major in English and minor in communications."
"That's good," he said, nodding his head. "Hopefully you don't do what I did and change majors every time you change your clothes."
She smiled and dipped a fry. "What were you originally doing?" she asked.
"Well, for the first half of my freshman year I was going to go into business administration, the second half I was going to be a computer programmer, and in the spring semester of my sophomore year I finally decided on actuarial studies."
"Actuarial studies?" she questioned.
"I was going to be an insurance man."
"You're an insurance man?" she asked, not meaning to sound so surprised.
He smiled. "No, I ended up switching back over to computer science with a business minor, so you see, I actually knew what I wanted in the first place, but I got distracted."
Julie shook her head ironically. "Distraction. I know about that."
"Are you distracted?" he asked with a falsely serious expression.
She cracked a smile. "I've spent most of my life being distracted," she stated.
"You don't strike me as someone who's lacking drive or ambition," he remarked, dipping another fry.
"I'm not," she said on a sigh. "It's not that, it's that I intentionally distract myself. When I do know what I want there's usually some reason that I can't have it, so to stop myself from desiring something that I know I can't have, I make the decision to distract myself, to move my attention elsewhere. It's intended to be a good thing, but more often than not my distraction proves to be as bad as the thing I was originally trying to distract myself from."
Matt smiled. "You're a very complicated woman, aren't you?"
"Not really," she said, watching Anna steal a fry. Then she cracked a smile. "Well, maybe a little," she conceded, "but only to a mind that can't handle complexity."
One black eyebrow shot up. "Are you insulting my mind?"
"Not insulting, challenging," she corrected, raising an eyebrow.
He smiled. "Of course. Well, in that case, I admire and understand your complexity."
"Good man," she said with a nod, taking a bite of her sandwich.
He chuckled. "Do you have a boyfriend that also admires your complexity?"
Mention of her boyfriend caused her smile to wan a bit. "No, my boyfriend… he was one of my ill-fated distractions," she explained.
Matt nodded. "I see."
On reflection, she couldn't quite believe she said that aloud. "I'm- That must sound so terrible to you," she said, trying to backtrack.
"No," he said, shaking his head, glancing up at her. "I understand completely."
Strangely, she believed that.
"Just… may I give you a word of advice?"
Julie nodded. "I always listen to advice, but if it's good advice, I probably won't heed it," she warned.
"You're young," he told her. "It's okay to have a distraction once in awhile, but make sure you don't end up getting stuck with your distraction. When you're ready, discard it and look for something real before it's too late."
Privately, she thought that sounded like very good advice.
She was also honest enough to admit she probably wouldn't listen to it.
Matt finished off his last fry and put the empty fry holder on the tray. "Well, I should probably be getting the little one home," he said as he watched Anna rub her eyes with her little fist.
"Aw, is she tired already?"
"Already?" he asked with a smile. "It's about 35 minutes past her bedtime."
Julie's eyes widened and she looked at her watch, seemingly not believing him. It read 9:35. "Oh my gosh, it cannot possibly be 9:35. Didn't we just get here ten minutes ago?"
He flashed her a smile. "Time flies when you're having fun."
And Jack got off work at ten.
Inwardly cursing, Julie ate the last bite of her sandwich and gathered up all their garbage while Matt helped Anna get her sweater on.
"Did I run you late for something?" he asked, watching Julie quickly deposit the garbage in the trash receptacle.
"No, not at all. I just have some assignments that I need to finish, so I should probably be getting home so I can…"
"Finish them," he offered.
"Yes," she said with an emphatic nod as he lifted Anna out of the high chair.
"Sorry," he said, offering a lopsided grin. "Didn't mean to distract you."
She returned the smile. "It's okay, it was actually a very enjoyable distraction."
"I agree. I'm glad you thought so. Maybe next time we'll get hungry earlier and Potbelly's will be open."
"I love Potbelly Sandwich Works," she told him.
"They do have good sandwiches," he said.
"Well, thank you for dinner," she said, opening the door and gesturing for him to walk out ahead of her.
"No problem. Thank you for having dinner with me. It was a nice change."
I know what you mean, she wanted to say.
Instead she just smiled and got in the car, hoping she would at least make it home before Jack, though she no longer had any illusions that she might finish her studying before he got there.
A/N: Let me know what's going on in those complicated reader-minds of yours, please! :)