Boundless

Chapter 8

After wishing Daniel a good night, Paige sent Maggie, the girl she was babysitting, back home. She was a tiny little 3 year old whose parents send her to Paige fortnightly to go their customary dates.

After hopping onto the bed, Paige tossed and tossed all night long, sleep evading her tired eyes. She’d never had any online friends, so she wasn’t sure how these things worked. Although calling Daniel a friend would be an overstretch, Paige could certainly wear him down. She was great at it. All she knew was she needed his opinions. She knew next to nothing about the guy, not even how he looked, so it was weird for her to believe and take him up on his advice, but she had no other choice. She didn’t know anyone else who would give her an unbiased opinion.

Paige had alternate Sundays off from the cafe and the following Sunday was an off. She couldn’t sleep a wink before 5 am, so she was thankful for that. She woke up at 11 and wasn’t proud of it.

They had plans to hang out at Emma’s place today. She quickly got dressed up and grabbed a taxi. Emma and Chloe were talking about a new movie when Paige finally got there.

“Wow, look who’s finally made time for us,” Emma said with a mock glare.

Paige shrugged. “I slept in.”

“It’s coolio. What kept you up last night?” Chloe said.

“My annoying tendency to overthink, what else?”

Chloe laughed. “I was just telling Emma how Predestination is the greatest movie of all time and she kept telling me how predictable it was. The nerve! Can you believe her?”

“Of course, she can!” Emma protested.

I shook my head. “Someone probably just gave you spoilers.”

Sound of someone climbing down the stairs caught our attention.

“Hello ladies, how’s it going?” Ethan, Emma’s older brother greeted as he walked towards them.

Ethan was a few years older than them, but a lot older life experience wise. Paige only knew him through Emma, but he had always been nice to her.

“Haven’t seen you in a while, Ethan,” said Paige, smiling. “Where have you been?”

“Just got back from New York last week. How’s your music thing going?”

“My “music thing” is going alright, thanks for asking.”

“That’s great! We gotta catch up soon, yeah?”

Paige was confused by that because they’d never really hung out, but she managed to mutter, “Sure, yeah.”

He nodded towards Emma and Chloe before leaving the house.

“That was weird,” Chloe said.

Emma rolled her eyes. “He’s always weird.”

Paige shrugged nonchalantly and they moved on to talk about Emma’s questionable cooking skills.

 ***

Her mum was in the kitchen, making dinner when Paige finally got home. Her mother had aged way beyond her years during the last couple years. Her eyes were sunken in exhaustion, her wrinkles more as a result of frowns than of smiles. 

“Mum, I told you you, you should rest. I’ll take care of this,” Paige said as a way of greeting.

Her mum simply shook her head and nodded her to take a seat.

“You only have Sundays to rest,” Paige continued to argue, but she sat on the couch.

“You only have Sundays to rest too, sweetie,” Her mother pointed out.

“That’s different.”

“Is it?”

“Of course. Where’s Sarah?”

“Studying for her test,”

“Right,” Paige replied with a nod.

Sarah joined them a few minutes later and they ate their dinner in complete silence, that seemed to say a lot more than actual chatter.

***

It was late at night when Paige decided to text Daniel.

Sophie: Hey Sunshine

Not two minutes later, she got a reply.

Daniel: Hi, Princess.

Daniel: For the love of God, stop f*****g calling me that.

Sophie: How can I, when you say such heartwarming words?

Daniel: f**k you

Sophie: Aww see

Daniel: You’re so annoying, why am I talking to you?

Sophie: You’re so grumpy, why am I talking to you?

Daniel: I think we both need help

Sophie: I think you’re right

Sophie: So being a DJ must be cool.

Daniel: The noise and the people can get exhausting, but it sure is fun.

Sophie: Yeah?

Daniel: It’s just that sometimes it becomes more about the people and what they’ll like, than about the music.

Sophie: Isn’t that your job? Play music that people will enjoy.

Daniel: Yeah and I don’t mind that. What I am trying to say is that I need to please everyone. Like people are dancing, having the time of their lives and this one dude comes and asks me to switch the song, so I do and then this other set of people come and then tell me to play what I was playing earlier or something else altogether.

Sophie: So you think you cannot please everyone.

Daniel: Precisely. And then there’s this whole shebang of smiling at people when  all you want to do is bang your head against a wall.

Sophie: I can see why being nice would be so hard for you.

Daniel: Do you?

Sophie: Yeah, it’s because you’re an asshole.

Daniel: Ouch.

Sophie: You’re rubbing off on me ugh

Daniel: Good

Daniel: What about you? What’s your story?

Sophie: No story lol, I’m as boring as they come

Daniel: I’m sure there’s a story. Why do you juggle so many jobs?

Paige hesitated to answer. It wasn’t like she was ashamed to talk about her lack of financial resources—she was aware that didn’t define her. She was worried he’d pity her.

Sophie: Money is a little tight, that’s it.

She quickly decided to change the topic before he could comment on that. It didn’t take her more than 10 seconds to pick something non-committal.

Sophie: What do you think of Bad For You?