A Step Closer to Love

“Ermm” Arabella cleared her throat to grab the attention of the drowsy man beside her in the back seat.

The young driver looked at her through the rearview mirror and winked at her. She frowned to send a message she was not pleased with his attitude.

“Do you have something to say?” Kieran said his voice slurring.

Was now I good time to tell him what she wanted to say? Was it not better if she could allow him to be sober so he could hear all she was going to say?

“Don’t worry, I would tell you tomorrow morning” she replied sighing.

Her whole weekend and week start has been very challenging and stressful. She attended her cousin’s elaborate wedding and traveled almost immediately and here she was taking a drunk man home.

This was not the way she saw her living here to be. She did not envisage that her boss would be living in the same house and that her immediate superior would have a crush on her boss and that she would be caught in a crossfire that she knew nothing about.

“Are you married?” the driver asked.

“How old are you?” Arabella asked disgusted.

“Age doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a number” He responded with a wink.

“Boy I am not in your league,” Arabella said looking out the window. “This is probably your summer job” she added.

A blush crept up the face of the boy. He had just been discovered. He just clocked seventeen and he was doing this job to get himself a motorcycle.

“Just do your job well and I would give you a good tip,” Arabella said dismissing him.

She had a whole day of work silence but for some reason, she wanted the silence she could only get in her bed room back home in Japan.

The young driver pulled into the gate of the mansion. Arabella had no other words to describe this house except that it was a mansion.

“This is where you live?” the boy gasped in shock. “You are rich?” he added in question. “I would accept a big tip and pay okay?”

“I don’t live here. I am currently squatting here” Arabella said.

She had the same expression. This house was too big for him to own. It felt surreal and she could not believe it.

“Tell your boyfriend to give me a generous tip,” the boy said.

“He is not my boyfriend” Arabella quickly countered him.

“Really? You look so good together and sitting in that back seat together. I can imagine you two together” the boy complimented.

“Are you flattering me to get more out of me?” Arabella asked.

She could not believe this young boy. He was only doing so and saying they look good for some extra money.

“Well I am saying it out loud because of the money but it is true. If you weren’t rich I would ask you to come to me as I would treat you very well” the boy said pulling up to the front of the house.

Arabella could not help herself but laugh. She was being courted by a high school student.

Everly was worried. It was only Arabella’s first day here and she was not back by this ungodly hour she took in the balcony watching for them. She was not afraid because she knew though Kieran had a stone-cold expression he would take care of her out of necessity. He did not need to like her to take care of her.

She watched as the car pulled up into the front of the house and how the door of the back and driver’s seat opened after a few seconds. She watched the stranger ginger-haired red boy come down from the car too.

She watched as Arabella spoke and gave him some cash and how he said a few words before proceeding to leave the house jogging down the path. She watched as Arabella put her head back into the driver’s seat for a few moments before popping her head back out and signing.

“Did that boy get drunk again?” Everly said loudly.

Her son rarely got drunk but when he did it was a show he always put on. She hurried down the stairs and came to him.

“Why are you back so late?” Everly said grabbing the attention of Arabella who stood confused about how to successfully get this grown man inside.

“We had a welcome dinner for me” Arabella answered.

“Where is Kieran?” She asked.

Arabella pointed to the sleeping boy in the back seat of the car. Everly sighed loudly. Her family would not be the end of her.

“Help me get him out,” She told her as she moved to the car. Both women struggled to bring him out of the car and he gave them a hard time.

“What of the car? Who would park it?” Arabella asked.

“I would ask my husband to come park it. Just help me get him to the couch and you can go to bed. You have had a long day and you have to get to work tomorrow too” Everly said as they pulled him with them into the house.

“Okay then,” Arabella said.

They were soon on the couch and they dropped the drunk Kieran onto the couch. It seemed as if with each passing moment he got more drunk than before.

“Thank you so much, darling. Why don’t you head to bed?” Everly said breathing out.

She was too old to be logging around her grown son every time he drank. He should be more responsible and stop causing trouble for others.

“I would but can I get a glass of water?” Arabella asked.

She had been exhausted from helping all the drivers move her colleagues and now carrying Kieran from the car into the house.

“Oh yes, come with me” Everly said as she led her to the kitchen.

She could also use a glass of water as well. She felt like she had lifted a couple of weights a record number of times.

“How was your first day at work?” Everly asked curious.

Maybe Arabella would give her the pleasure of a conversation that her family denied her all these years