Love In Between

Ava had fun last night.

She decided to let loose after a long week of nonstop work. Her girlfriends from the office successfully convinced her that she needed to unwind. She was stressed and even her makeup couldn’t hide the eye bags under her eyes.

She went for a complete spa treatment with her girls; they got massages, manicures and pedicures. After that, they went to the chiropractor to get their bones cracked. Then they got some new dresses and went to the club, where they danced the night away.

Ringggggggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!

Ava grunted as she reached out her hand to the side of her bed, blindly searching for the alarm clock.

“Ugh! Stupid Ava!” She cussed herself out wordlessly before saying, “Siri, turn off the alarm!”

“Okay!” The alarm went off and Ava sat up, mentally cursing herself for having a little bit too much fun.

Her legs were tingling from all the drunk dancing she did all night long. She shouldn’t have stayed for that long. But the problem was more of the drinking than the time spent at the club. She didn’t even know how she got home.

In the spur of the moment, she went all out, downing shots on shots on shots.

That was a terrible idea.

Her head was throbbing. It felt so heavy on her body that she wanted to just throw it off.

She grumbled as she got off the bed, zombie-walking into the bathroom where she got ready at a painstakingly slow pace.

She was still kind of drunk from the previous night which ended about three hours ago, and she had a hangover at the same time.

She finally got ready, knowing very well that she was running late, but she was the CEO, she could afford a little late coming.

She dressed up in a plain black dress, stopping just above her knees, and hugging her figure rightly. She did her makeup lazily; anyone could tell she didn’t put much effort into it, unlike regular days.

She wasn’t stable enough to wear heels, and her legs were still hurting, so she opted for flats instead. She couldn’t be bothered with how her hair looked today, so she just brushed through the curls, unlike her regular straight hair look.

She gathered everything she would be needing and locked her room.

She was already tired and the day had barely begun. She took the elevator down to the ground floor where she was met with the security guy, Gary.

Gary was a buff guy with a mullet, still living in the 90’s, but he was really friendly to everyone in the building, so they didn’t mind his ancient ways.

“Good morning, ma’am Ava, trust you had a good night.” He winked at her. “I know you sure did from the way you walked in the building. Luckily, I was the only one here and I helped you get to your apartment. No need to thank me by the way.” He winked again.

Ava wasn’t in the mood to chitchat, but what the hell happened last night that she had to be lucky he was the only one there?

“Um… Gary, what do you mean by ‘luckily’?” She cocked her head and raised a brow.

“You don’t remember, ma’am?” He laughed heartily. “You got jiggy with it last night! I’m positive you had a crunk from how knocked out you came into the building early this morning.”

“Really?” Ava asked, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“Ma’am, you were so disoriented that you had your underwear in your hand, and you were waving it in the air like a spice girl, while singing out loud and asking me to shiver your timbers, at 4 in the morning.” Gary couldn’t control his laughter as he remembered the scene vividly.

At this point, Ava wished the ground underneath her would open up and swallow her. She visibly squirmed where she stood.

“But it’s aiight, ma’am, that wasn’t a bother. I was just glad I could help you out by taking you upstairs and tucking you into your bed safely.” Gary told her with a sweet smile on his face.

“Um… Thank you, Gary. I’m late for work.” She immediately rushed out of the building, not even waiting for an answer from Gary.

She got to her car, the Audi RSQ8 her mother had saved monthly in her savings account for before she died. She was beyond embarrassed.

“Ugh! Stupid Ava! What the hell?! Why did you drink so much?” Ava chastised herself.

She started the car. As much as she wanted to just take a taxi she couldn’t afford to waste any more time so she drove as fast as she could.

“Oh my goodness!! What the hell is this day?” She complained as she pulled over, obeying the warning of the police vehicle behind her. She impatiently waited for the officer to come around to her side of the vehicle.

“Good morning, ma’am, do you know why I pulled you over?” The policeman went straight to the point, which she was grateful for.

“Why?” She reluctantly asked, almost rolling her eyes to express her disinterest in whatever he had to say.

“You were going over the speed limit.”

“I’m sorry, officer, I’m late for work and I can’t afford to waste another minute.” She explained to him, hoping he would let her off with a warning.

“Well, you’re gonna be wasting a whole lot of minutes if you hit somebody. And that’s not the only one. I ran your records and apparently, you have many speeding tickets, unpaid by the way-”

“I know, officer, and I promise I will pay them as soon as I get back from work today, you have my word.”

“Your word doesn’t cut it for me. Would you rather go to jail, miss?” The policeman asked.

It was definitely not her day.

“Officer, look, I-”

“Ma’am! Do not argue with me! You must pay your outstanding fines this morning or your license would be suspended. You have too many, I wonder how your vehicle hasn’t been impounded.”

“Alright, fine! I’ll pay it right now, online.” She picked her purse from the passenger seat and brought out her phone.

“No. You have many traffic tickets, so you have to pay in person at the traffic court.” The policeman deadpanned.

“What?! Officer, I’m sure I can pay online. Or are you just trying to waste my time or something?”

“Ma’am, you could be facing jail time, and I’m sure you’d rather drive over to traffic court this morning than go to jail, isn’t that right?”

“Ughh!!” She revved the engine and turned to the direction of traffic court.

She should’ve just taken the taxi.