{I guess this is one of those several perspective stories. This chapter is told from Lye's perspective.}
“Topaz? Toe, are you awake?” I whisper into the darkness of her room. “Toe, I can’t sleep. Can I lay with you?” I can hear her scooting over to one side of the bed and looking up at me.
“Don’t hog the blankets!” she replies as I feel my way over to her bed and lie down. Pulling the blankets over me, my eyes begin to adjust to the darkness, and I can see Topaz staring at me. I put my hand on her cheek, and she slowly lowers her head back onto the pillow and closes her eyes. Removing my hand, I roll onto my side so my back is towards her. I study the fabric on the pillowcase for a while before realizing that it wasn’t really the pillowcase but instead a shirt. Lifting up my head, I pull it out from underneath me and roll onto my back, studying it.
“Toe?” I whisper, realizing that this wasn’t one of her shirts but a shirt that belonged to an ex-girlfriend of hers.
“Hmm?” She replies, not bothering to open her eyes.
“Do you still love her?” I ask. This time she does open her eyes, and she stares at me intently and then moves her eyes to the shirt.
“Very much,” she finally says, looking back into my eyes again. Whenever Topaz looks at someone, it’s like her eyes are boring into your soul, and with just that one glance she knows everything about you.
“Then why did you break up?” If she’s going to pry into my soul with her eyes, I’m going to do the same to her with my questions.
“Lye, just go to sleep. I’m tired,” she replies and closes her eyes, obviously trying to blow me off, so she doesn’t have to answer. Normally, I would beg her to tell me, and eventually she would, but this is something that I haven’t been able to get answered for years, so instead I just lay the shirt over her shoulders and close my eyes, hoping sleep comes.
When I wake up, she’s not there. For a second I panic and look around worriedly as if someone could’ve snuck into the room at night and snatched her without waking me, but then I hear the shower running. Wiping my eyes with my fingertips, I get out of bed and stumble my way down the stairs. Sitting on the table is a plate of pancakes and a note: Went running…made breakfast when I got home. Sorry if they’re cold, I wasn’t sure when you would wake up.
I smile and pick up the plate, putting my hand on top of the still slightly warm food. I know Topaz must’ve made these just for me because she doesn’t eat more than an apple and banana in the morning anymore. There was a time where she could probably wipe clean an entire breakfast buffet at IHop, but after Stacey left I could sense the change in her even though she was so far away. She would log on grouchy and complain about how hungry she was.
Devouring the pancakes, I glance at the clock: 8:45. Topaz has fifteen minutes to get to class which means I only have forty-five until my first class begins. I put the dishes in the sink and stomp up the stairs.
“Toe, you have fifteen minutes!” I scream, banging on the bathroom door. I wait a few seconds, but I don’t hear any response, not even the water is running anymore.
“Toe, are you alright in there?” I ask, slowly opening up the bathroom door. She’s standing in front of the mirror completely naked, drying herself off. Though I know I should close the door, I can’t. There’s something strange yet beautiful about the way she moves her arms as she runs the towel over her thighs and up her stomach to her…
“Oh my god! Damn it Lye, you scared me!” Toe gasps grasping her breasts as if those could save her from a robber or murderer. I smile.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to tell you that you only have fifteen minutes. I tried knocking, but you obviously didn’t hear me.”
“Well thanks for telling me. Now get your tush out of here, so I can finish getting dressed!” She says, playfully throwing a roll of toilet paper at me. I can hear the roll hit the door as I close it.
I go back down the stairs and begin to wash my plate from breakfast as I wait for the bathroom to open, so I can have it to take my shower. Moments later Topaz comes down the stairs with a school bag on her shoulder.
“I’m leaving; bye!” She shouts. I turn around and study her clothes. She’s wearing a collared shirt with a black tie hanging loosely from her neck and a pair of skinny jeans.
“I’m glad to see you’ve actually put clothes on,” I joke with her. After sending me a snickering glance, she closes the door between us.
“Hey Lye,” a cute blonde says, walking up to me and taking my hand. “How are you today?”
“Hi Marie, I’m fine,” I reply, throwing my fakest smile her way. It’s not that I don’t like Marie, I do, but if you start a conversation with her, then she will never shut up.
“Any new love in your life?” she asks me.
“Nope,” I reply, beginning to walk faster.
“Did you get laid?” I stop walking.
“What the hell is up with these questions?” I demand, turning to face her.
“Well word’s out. You moved in with a hot chick, and I want to meet her,” Marie explains. I laugh a non-comical laugh.
“First of all, Topaz is not hot…” I begin, but I’m interrupted by a snort.
“Topaz, such an odd name,” she giggles.
I ignore her and continue, “And she is not, nor will she ever be, a ******** buddy.”
“Then why the hell are you living with her? What is she to you?” Marie demands, starting to walk again. I follow her.
“Because she’s my friend, and sometimes friends decide it would be a good idea to live together to keep each other company. Plus, she has cash. Maybe not a lot, but she has a very decent job which she was very lucky to get considering she just arrived in town yesterday,” I explain. Marie makes a disgusted face at me.
“Now what?” I ask, getting annoyed.
“She’s a brainiac, and smart people don’t throw parties and get drunk and accidentally end up in someone else’s bed the next morning! You’re going to have no fun with her, Lye, and you know it. You’re going to regret ever letting that girl into your life. You’re going to…”
“Marie!” I scream.
“What?” She asks, obviously pissed that I cut her off, but I don’t care.
“You don’t know her, and you don’t know what she’s been through. I do. Now if you’ll just shut that large trap of yours and get out of my hair, we both can go on with our days. Thank you,” I reply. She gives me the bitchiest look she can muster and speeds up her pace.
Banging on the door, I search for someone who may have the code to open the door. After my chat with Marie, I spent four hours sitting in classrooms, and right when I started to think that my day actually might brighten up, I get locked out of my place of employment just because I don’t remember the code to unlock the door. I’ve been working here for two years now, and every half a year, the daycare has to change their security code to make sure no creeps get in to steal the little kids, as if anyone would. I still haven’t memorized the latest code even though I’m pretty sure Topaz—I talked to my boss about her when I found out she wanted to rent a house with me, and she agreed to give Topaz the job—already has it down.
I was right. A few minutes after punching in several different combinations of six random numbers and then a star, Topaz walks out of one of the infant rooms carrying a one-month-year-old and opens the door for me.
“All that banging woke up little Chloe,” she says making little pucker faces at the baby in her arms. Even though I knew Toe wasn’t too happy with me for waking Chloe because she’s one of the more difficult babies to quiet down, I had to think, if we had kids together, they’d be awake all the time because girl, I wouldn’t stop banging you. I laugh to myself, but she hears it.
“You think this funny?” She begins looking at me, but then she turns to Chloe again. “Lye is a very bad girl. First she wakes you up, and then she laughs about it. Do you think she should be punished?” In reply, the baby giggles and drools on Toe’s hand.
“Good luck getting in,” she says smiling and then proceeds to turn around, leaving the door to close in my face. I sigh and go back at punching in random numbers. After about three minutes, I give up and begin just staring through the glass door. As if she can feel my eyes searching for her, Topaz walks out of the room again. She opens the door for me.
“I’ll tell you the code if you promise not to steal any of the babies!” She exclaims. I put my hands over my heart.
“I promise on my life,” I reply. She smiles and steps back to let me through the door.
“Now that I’ve entered this castle, will the lovely gatekeeper please tell me what the secret password is?” I ask her.
“072108 star, but shh you can’t tell anyone else. It’s a very deep dark secret that many would kill to get, but don’t give in to their torturing. They will only do horrible actions with this information!” she replies to me, moving her lips very close to my ear. I take a step back away from her warm breath and get down on one knee bowing my head.
“I will protect this information with my life!” I reply.
“If you two are done with your shenanigans, then I would advise you two to get back to work before you’re both fired,” Chelsea, our boss, says, making both of our heads turn in her direction. Smiling, I get off the floor and turn to Topaz.
“This is where we depart…” I begin, holding her hands in mine.
“Till the moment we meet again,” She finishes, backing away from me so our hands slowly separate. I can hear Chelsea laughing quietly behind me. Chelsea is one of the coolest bosses any employee could ever ask for. She’s in her late twenties and is drop dead gorgeous. I don’t think it’s possible for anyone not to have a crush on her, so when I see Topaz staring at her as she backs away from me, I don’t think anything of it.
“Now that you two are done, I would like Lye to accompany me to the blue room,” Chelsea says, taking my hand and leading me down the hall. I turn my head to look back at Topaz, wanting to make a joke about how Chelsea is going to punish me for knowing too much, but she has already gone back into the yellow room to take care of a screaming Chloe.
“Nickie, crayons are not for eating!” Chelsea exclaims beside me, letting go of my hand. I turn my head to where she’s kneeling next to a little boy with purple drool running down his chin. I laugh as she repeatedly tells the kid to spit the crayon out.
“Hey there, Nickie,” I say, walking up to them, “Some fancy drool you got there. Do you want to know how else you can get purple drool?” He shakes his head, but I close my eyes.
“I can’t see you. You’re going to have to tell me. Unless you don’t want to know how…” I continue. He reaches and grabs my arm.
“Tell me! Tell me!” He exclaims. I can hear the crayon crashing onto the desk. I open my eyes.
“Okay you need to come in really close because it’s a secret.” He leans in closer to me. At the same time that I grab and start tickling him I say, “Drink grape juice!” He laughs.
“You don’t get purple drool from that,” he says.
“You do if you don’t swallow the juice,” I explain.
“I’m going to draw a picture of that! He’s going to have purple everywhere! It’s even going to be coming out of his nose!” Nickie exclaims.
Chelsea kneels down so she’s eye level with the boy and says, “But you can’t! You ate the purple crayon!”
“No, I didn’t. I spit it out.” He glances down at the table where the crayon previously landed, only to realize it wasn’t there anymore. Chelsea had thrown it away while I was talking to Nickie to make sure none of the other kids tried using it.
Chelsea and I both stand up at the same. She pulls me close to her as we walk further into the classroom to see what the other children are up to. When we see that none of the other kids are eating crayolas or doing anything else that’s remotely dangerous, she leads me to one of the tiny tables and pulls out a chair for me. I sit in it as she goes around the table to sit in one across from me.
“So what’s the story between you and this new girl?” She asks me folding her hands on the table. I roll my eyes, not wanting to explain this again.
“There’s no story,” I reply.
“Oh really? Then what was all that in the hallway?” She questions.
“That’s called having fun. You should try it sometime,” I answer. She sighs and leans back in her chair, tipping it over. I laugh.
“Look! Miss Chelsea fell out of her chair!” A five year old boy that was playing with blocks on the reading carpet exclaims getting up and walking over to where she was laying on the ground.
“Miss Chelsea! Miss Chelsea! Are you okay?” Three girls chant running over and jumping on her stomach. She begins to fake cry.
“I got owwys! Will you fix them?” She asks the girls and points to places on her arms that hurt. The little girls go wild trying to kiss all the wounds.
“It’s not working! Maybe Miss Lye-y-y needs to give me a kissy too to make sure I’m fully healed,” she explains grinning up at me.
“Yeah! You need to help her!” They cry getting up and pulling on my arms to make me go to where Chelsea is laying. I sigh and let them pull me. I kneel down right beside her and gently kiss her arm, just barely grazing her skin with my lips because I know it will drive her crazy. Right then someone clears their throat jerking all of our heads to look at the door where one of the more conservative parents is standing.
“Mom!” Two of the girls, who are twins, scream running up to hug the women at the door. “Miss Chelsea had a boo-boo, but don’t worry. We made it all better!” They explain.
Chelsea gets off the floor and gestures for the block boy to go over to his mom. The boy gets up and sulks up to his mom who orders him to go back to the carpet to pick up the blocks before they leave. By now we know better not to tell her that this is a daycare, and we generally clean up after the kids because if we do, we’ll be stuck listening to a two hour lecture on how children these days need better discipline.
“Bye Joey,” I say to the block boy as they leave room. Only seconds later, two other moms enter, gossiping about the one that just left.
“She’s such a priss,” the first mom says.
“Oh my god, I know. Like seriously, get a life. Not everything has to be all about rules, rules, rules. Her kids need to have a little fun in their life, or they’ll go up just as bad as her, if not worse,” the second mom replies. One of my favorite things of working at a daycare is seeing how the parents react with each other. Some of them become very good friends like the two standing at the doorway now, but in a lot of cases, the parents gain a lot of enemies, like the mom who just left with her three “perfect” children.
“Once at the supermarket I saw her yell…” the first mom begins, but then meets eyes with her child.
“What did Nickie eat now?” She asks, trying to wipe the purple gunk off his face that both Chelsea and I just ignored.
“Mommy!” He says, throwing his arms around her neck. “I ate a crayon, mommy, but Miss Lye got me to spit it out!”
“Oh really, and how did that crayon taste?” His mom asks.
“Not very good,” he replies, making a face of disgust. His mom laughs and grabs his hand.
“Mom, are we going over to Nickie’s house tonight?” The last of the three girls asks the second mom. She nods her head and picks up her child, and together the moms leave the room.
“Well that’s it for today. Do you need a ride home?” Chelsea asks, grabbing her purse and car keys.
“No, I think I’ll just wait to walk home with Topaz, but thanks,” I reply.
“Okay, see you later, love,” she says, as I stop at the yellow room doorway. I watch her as she leaves the building, and then look in the room.
“Hey Toe, are you ready to go?” I call into the room.
“No, Chloe’s mom hasn’t picked her up yet, and she still won’t stop screaming. I’m honestly just going to give up on this child,” she replies, exasperated. I smile and once again know that I’m going to be the one who saves her.
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