My Life After the Disaster

Chapter Five

I sit in the living room talking with my aunt, she got back from work a couple of hours ago and we ate supper together. Now we’re hanging out and talking about our days.

“You look gorgeous and very alluring in those outfits. Looks like you did an amazing job Rose. I’m sure your parents would be proud of you,” Guinevere tells me, handing me back my phone.

“Or they’d be shocked that I put myself out there like that. But I know my parents were always supportive of me and would’ve been happy for me. How was work?” I ask her, turning my phone off.

“The same as usual. I’m thinking about selling my company and retiring,” she tells me honestly.

“Really? You want to retire? Is anyone interested in buying?” I ask her, curious.

“I’ve gotten a few offers over the years but I always turned them down. I got a new one yesterday and I’m seriously thinking about taking it. They’re offering me 800 million dollars for my company. That’s a crazy amount of money. And I already have 300 million dollars. I’d become a billionaire,” she tells me, looking ecstatic. “I could spend more time with you too. I’m going to do it “ She gets up off the couch and goes upstairs to her room.

I wonder why she didn't tell me about the offer yesterday. I guess she was still possessing if and needed to think about it seriously a bit more before telling me. Oh well. I grab my phone and look at my pictures again. “Damn. I still can’t believe that’s really me.” I open up my text with Annabelle again and look at it. I never did say anything in response to her text message. ‘Thanks! With how I look in all my recent photos I’m going to have to agree with you. Sorry I didn’t answer you sooner. I got a bit too hot after your lesbian comment and had to go take a cold shower to cool myself down. I hope everything is going well with you now.’ Sent.

A few minutes later my aunt comes back down the stairs with a big smile on her face. “He’s reaching out to my lawyer and we’re making a deal. Tomorrow we’re going to meet up and make things official. Pretty soon I’ll be free to do whatever I want. How about we go out and celebrate,” she says, walking over to me.

I get up off the couch and say, “Where would we go to celebrate? It’s 7 o'clock at night and I’m too young to go to clubs.”

“How about we go bowling. They have a bar there. I could get a drink while we do some bowling,” she tells me, going over to the shoe rack.

“Okay, I guess we can do that. I’m just going to go grab my purse first,” I tell her, running down the hall to my room. I grab my purse off the bedroom floor and stick my phone into it then I run back to the front door. “All set.” I step into my sneakers and head outside with my aunt.

Guinevere locks the door behind us and heads over to her car, which is parked inside the garage.

I get into the car with her and she drives off, not going too far before we find a bowling alley and get back out again. We go into the building, get some shoes and pay for a lane for an hour then we sit down and change our shoes. I head over to lane 7 while my aunt goes to get some drinks for us.

I set up the score board, putting mine and my aunt’s names into it and start bowling. I grab a ball and toss it down the lane, it rolls down the center and smacks half the pins down. Damn it. I thought for sure it was going to be a strike. I grab another ball and toss it down the lane, this time it rolls down and hits the other half down. Awesome, I got a spare.

My aunt comes back and sets our drinks on the table behind us. I walk over and take a drink of my fruity drink while my aunt goes to try her hand at bowling. She is not good at all. Her first ball rolls down and hits one pin then falls down. Her second ball goes into the gutter and her last ball does the same thing.

The pins reset and I go down and grab my ball. I carefully position myself then toss the ball down, it rolls down and I get a strike. “Yes!” I put my hand up and bring it down, bring my elbow to my knee and make a fist. “That was awesome.” The pins reset and I go again, getting a second strike. I jump up, excited. “I’m on fire. And it’s only my second turn.”

My aunt comes down, picking up her ball. “You don’t need to rub it in,” she tells me, tossing her ball down, it drops with a thud and goes into the gutter again. “Dang it!”

I walk back to the table and take another drink of my drink. This would be hilarious if I didn’t feel bad.

We keep going for the whole hour. I won all the rounds but we had fun. My aunt started getting better and she finished off her drink. But she was still able to drive.

We head back to her car and go home, driving into the driveway and into the garage. Then we get out of the car and go into the house.

Guinevere goes straight to the kitchen and takes out a bottle of wine she had in the fridge then pours herself a glass.

“Wasn’t one drink enough?” I ask her, leaning against the door.

“No, we’re celebrating,” she tells me, pressing the glass to her lips.

“You mean you’re celebrating. I’m going to bed. I’m rather tired and I wanted to go shopping for some new clothes tomorrow,” I tell her, walking over to give her a hug.

“Aw, I was enjoying spending time with you. But I guess I’ll have more time with you soon enough. Since I’m selling my business for 800 million dollars,” she tells me, lifting her glass like she’s doing a toast.

I wrap my arms around her, giving her a gentle and comforting hug. “I love you aunt Guinevere. Have a goodnight. And don’t drink too much. You don’t want to be hungover for your meeting tomorrow,” I tell her, letting go of her.

“That felt nice. I love you too Rose. Have a goodnight. And I won’t. I know my limits so I know when to stop,” she tells me, taking another drink.

I nod my head then turn around and leave the room. I turn the corner, go down the hall and walk into my room. I strip down to my panties and climb into bed. Taking my phone out of my purse, I place my purse on the floor. I look at my messages and don’t see a response from Annabelle. She must be busy with Daniel. She did say they have s*x a lot. I open up my photo of her, kiss the picture then close up my phone and put it on the night stand beside my bed. “Goodnight Annabelle.” I close my eyes and fall asleep, thinking about Annabelle.