Working.

chapter four

“You really need to get a job though,” her friend Juno inserted, after multiple collective fits of laughter at a movie Ollie had played for them.

Ollie punched her in her arm. “Way to ruin the mood,” she grumbled out. She was the only one who thought this - Amara and Wendy nodded in unison, eyes still glued to the large screen in front of them.

“Yeah, you can’t keep on living off our groceries forever. I think my boss is about to fire me.” Wendy chimed in with a huff. The other three ladies took their eyes off the screen now, giving her weirded out stares.

“You… literally own your business?” Amara stated, but it came out as more of a question than her voicing out a fact. Wendy could feel their stares on her and finally took her eyes off the television.

“So? The economy is getting bad. Not as many people can afford coming to a realtor to buy properties these days.” She responded, frowning in defense and scoffing as she pulled one of her knees to her chest. They rolled their eyes at her classic move of underplaying her achievements.

“Anyway, Ollie,” Juno said, lightly pushing her by her shoulder. “Do you want to wait until you have to put your house up for sale before you get your life together?”. Amara and Wendy hummed in agreement to these words.

“I know that you’re heartbroken and everything, but I’m really tired of having to walk on eggshells around you- “

“I never asked you to!” Ollie interjected.

“You never did, but I still have to, Ol. And coming to your apartment is the only way we can hang out with you. We’ve been in this whole routine for almost a year. You shouldn’t put your life on hold for that long for someone who didn’t love you as much as you loved him. I agree with Wendy. It wasn’t right for us to have coddled you for as long as we did, but in the end, you are the one that faces the consequences of your life directly, not us.”

It had been evident that Juno had these thoughts on her mind with how quickly she rattled off. Ollie could feel her mood dropping by the second, wrapping her arms around herself as she had begun to feel chilly.

“Yeah. She can barely even pay her water bills now.” Wendy blurted out, with little to no thought behind her words. She covered her mouth, and Amara smacked her upside her head, causing her to make an ‘oomph’ sound and her bun to fall out.

“Damn it Wendy, I’m scraping by just fine!” Ollie managed to yell through her discomfort. She hated how she was always put on blast when they came over, which was quite literally every time they met up in person.

“Yeah? By betting in online games? Get a grip, Ollie.” Wendy scoffed, having enough of Ollies irresponsible life. She took the last bite of her food and let the metal spoon clang on the table, leaning back against the loveseat on the floor and picking up the remote to turn up the volume. A beat of silence followed this.

The rest of them froze. For Ollie, it was because she had not told a single soul about it. For the other two women on the floor, well, it was most definitely due to shock. Why would their friend put her already limited amount of money on the line, all just to enable her aimless living?

“Is this true, Ollie?” Amara asked, coldly and calmly. Juno brought her knee even closer to her, trying to process everything that was occurring.

Ollie shook her head vehemently, rocking back and forth. The plain truth was that Ollie was not a trust fund baby, nor did she have as much money in her savings. After all, she practically threw almost half of her savings into the air with her failed wedding preparation. On one fateful day, she decided to take a chance with her tightly budgeted money for 2 of her day’s meals. She had of course won enough to encourage her further into the rabbit hole of gambling, and eventually lost more money than she had gained; which convinced her to play even the more.

“You aren’t slick Ollie. I practically read body language and take cues for a living. You were checking your phone like a rabid dog when we first came, and I just so happened to see your screen on my way to the kitchen.” Wendy said, almost done with the whole matter.

Why the hell was that your first resort, Ollie? You have a whole a*s degree and years of experience under your belt. Why…?” Amara trailed off, getting choked up. Whether with anger, hurt or disappointment, it wasn’t really identifiable. Frankly, not even Amara herself could tell what exactly she was feeling in that moment. She shook her head and packed up her belongings, standing up right after.

Amara opened her mouth to say something, but shook her head instead. She grabbed the keys to her car off the table she had once sat in front of and left Ollie’s bungalow, shoes in hand.

Wendy turned down the tv volume and sighed.

“Every time I talk about it, you make it look like I’m the bad guy. I love you, and whatever, and you’ll never catch me say this again, but we can’t keep giving you space to disregard your wellbeing like this. If it means we have to stop providing all these things for you and stop coming over for it to click, then so be it. See you when you get a job.” Wendy said in farewell, leaving far cooler than she had started off as well.

Ollie and Juno were left seated on the floor. Juno finally looked up to a starstruck and shaken Ollie, her facial expressions contorting into looks of disappointment and sadness. She flashed a bitter smile.