An Alchemist’s Love

Sunday Breakfasts

Flyn woke up later than usual, the previous night he had gone on a blind date that a friend had arranged. It was a college friend's acquaintance from work. The date was at a small Greek restaurant in SoHo, good but underwhelming considering the price. He was tired of paying the NYC premium for food, but his dates often expected a decent restaurant. It was one of the reasons he didn't go on dates often, the whole ordeal felt like a test and if you passed the superficial prerequisites, then maybe you would get a second date. Last night had gone without a hitch, in fact they had a couple good laughs and there was mutual physical attraction, but there was no chemistry between them. He played with the idea of being friends with benefits, but figured it would just complicate his life. After the date, the college friend, Caleb, called him out for a drink. They went to a dive bar on the West side, the kind that was intentionally rustic, and had a couple craft beers.

Flyn had actually set Caleb up with his best friend Thomas, and since then, Caleb had been trying to repay the favour with multiple blind dates and wingmanning Flyn at nightclubs. Caleb was a male model from Kazakhstan, who had not returned home since coming out. There was some family drama that they had never discussed, but Flyn knew that Caleb was from some back water conservative town. Caleb was around 6 feet tall, and had a slender but athletic body. His style was usually understated with one accent piece, often a gift from the companies he modelled for as a post-campaign "thank you". Today he was wearing black acid washed jeans, a black sweatshirt and a lime green Off White fanny pack. His hair was geled back as though he just came out of the shower. It was not difficult to convince Thomas to go on a date with Caleb, he had the jawline of a Greek statue, dark hair, and broad masculine features that hinted to a Mongolian heritage.

By the time they had finished a few beers, it was already past midnight. Flyn walked Caleb home, which was Thomas' apartment a few blocks away. They chatted about work, Thomas' recent hobby collecting antique porcelain cats, and Flyn's recent new hire as a tutor.

"She bailed on you TWICE in one week?" Caleb repeated with a shocked tone.

"Yah, sometching about a book signing and then the second time she was sick."

"Hmm, sounds fishy to me."

"Exactly, so I swung by her work place to chat with her."

"You did what? That so weird dude, like, how did you even know where she worked?"

"Her mom warned me that she would be reluctant and told me where to find her. Going there was damn embarrassing. I lost my temper, if I am being honest. She was just so nonchalant and entitled, ughhh" Flyn grumbled.

Caleb giggled and patted Flyn on the back. "Don't stress about, everything always works out somehow. Give her some time to warm up to you. I know from experience that everyone ends up loving you."

"Thanks Caleb" Flyn said, ruffling Caleb's hair which resulted in an irritated look and a smack on the hand.

"Eh! Don't touch my hair, yah? Sheesh, how many times to I have to tell you!"

They we're now approaching the entrance to the apartment building.

"Goodnight!" Caleb said, giving Flyn a small peck on the cheek, "Good luck with the tutelage!"

Flyn watched him do inside and waved one last time before calling an Uber.

When he arrived back to his studio, he kicked off his shoes, stripped down to his briefs and flopped on the sofa. Damn, it was already 1 AM but he felt wide awake. He connected to his Bluetooth speaker and began playing some lofi jazz in the background. He took this time to reflect on his day, and how the whole day seemed to slip past his fingers; nothing had gone the way he had planned. Later in the evening he got a text from Genavie, he guessed by the hour that she must have been drunk. His suspicions were confirmed when she used the word "bootie". No one used that word.

After Flyn woke up the next morning he prepared himself a light breakfast of bread, bacon and eggs. He finished the meal within 15 minutes and set about doing chores around the house. While he cleaned he worked through possible curriculum to cover for the upcoming class. There was a variety of approaches but it all depended on Genavie's level. The objective of the class was not to pass, but instead to achieve the highest score in her year. He would need to start with a standardised test to gauge her current level and then would work from there. They had a couple months to prepare, so it should not be impossible. The only problem would be her stubborn personality, would she be willing to put in the effort? Flyn was not allowed to tell Genavie about the bet, so it was not like he could use that as motivation or rationale behind why Ellalise had hired him. Today was Sunday, so at least he had a full day to come up with some tactics.

---

Genavie woke up on the couch with a slight headache and a craving for some oily food. She slowly sat up to find her mother in the kitchen stirring up some waffle batter. She ordered in fried chicken as well. We were decent cooks, but didn't have the courage or energy to batter and deep fry chicken at 10 AM.

"That smells like heaven" Genavie croaked, her throat dry from the alcohol.

Placed within arms reach was a glass of water that her mom must have poured earlier.

"Thank mom!"

"No problem sweetie, go freshen up and come downstairs for some fried chicken and waffles. Grab Claire while you are at it!"

Genavie walked down the hallway to Claire's room first, and knocked on the door. It normally took Claire a while to get up, so best to get the process started now.

"Wake up Claire" Genavie yelled through the door.

"Mmmkay" Claire grumbled in reply.

"Mom made waffles and chicken!"

That prompted a creak in the bed as Claire uprighted herself.

"Okay, out in a bit." Claire responded with more gusto this time.

Genavie giggled to herself, Claire was always a glutton.

Genavie went to her room and took a nice hot shower, double cleansing her face and spending extra time shampooing her scalp in an attempt to massage her headache away. Eventually she was cleaned to satisfaction and got changed, something comfortable, a cotton jumpsuit and a pair of clogs. She knew they would be heading out soon to get the Volvo, so she had to be presentable. Otherwise she would have just worn sweats.

By the time Genavie returned to the kitchen, Ellalise had already seated herself and begun to dig in. Genavie grabbed a dish as well, immediately gorging herself as soon as she sat down.

"Mmmmmm!" she moaned in satisfaction, "nothing beats this, nothing!"

Claire came out a few minutes later wearing a silver slip that moved like fine chainmail. It was like a backless dress in reverse, the front was completely exposed, and her back covered, her chest was covered by a fluorescent yellow tube top. Around her waist was a blue beaded belt, that hung loosely around her hips as though it had blown across her body in a passing wind. She tied her hair up into a high ponytail and had gold eyeliner which ended with a dramatic curl, like an ancient Egyptian.

"A bit overdressed for breakfast Claire." Genavie sighed

" No such thing!" She retorted, "I saw this old piece of mine in the guest room closet and was compelled to wear it. Although I did prefer it when you wore it Ellalise - instead of a tube top you went bare skin with only n****e stickers for modesty. What. A. Statement."

Ellalise gave her a radiant smile, "I had to do the designer justice!"

"Justice was served indeed!" declared Claire.

Claire grabbed a plate of breakfast and began ripping into it.

Genavie and Claire headed back out to West Village to get the car, and stopped for a coffee on the way. Genavie did not mention anything about her upcoming class with Flyn on Monday. She simply could not swallow her pride and admit that Claire had been right the previous night - Genavie had been lashing out and being rude by cancelling twice.

They both sipped at their coffees and slowly strolled down the street, in no particular rush to say goodbye.

They chatted more about art, ambitions and upcoming travel plans, then pencilled in a trip to Vietnam for summer. Claire and Genavie were rarely in the same city, let alone country, most of the time. So forethought and planning was always required.

Eventually they bid each other goodbye, and promised to meet up another time before Claire left for Florida. On the return trip home Genavie started trying to remember where she placed her Chemistry noted. Did she leave them at her dorm in Uni? "Shit... oh well..." she thought to herself and continue to sip her coffee on her Uber ride home.