The Fiery Flames of Love – 1.5 – Furnished

The very next morning I woke up early, and kissed my uncomfortable sleeping bag goodbye. I was determined that today we would furnish my house, and last night was going to be the last night I would ever sleep in an old sleeping bag on the floor of an empty house. The house smelt brand new, looked brand new, felt brand new. All it needed was the furniture.

I left as early as possible, having gotten dressed quickly. I had no food in the house as of yet and I was starving. Keeping on a budget for the furniture was not easy. Luckily after today I would be sitting in what I hoped would be a fully furnished house.

I stopped by at the grocery store and spent a couple dollars on an apple, biting into it as soon as I left the store. The apple satisfied me for now, but I definitely could see myself in my own little home kitchen cooking up a storm. It made me excited, thinking about all the recipes I could finally try. I’d never cooked much at home when I lived with my parents but… I reckoned I could manage.

The thought suddenly hit me with a jolt as I stared across the park. I’d come here with the mindset that I would be meeting Clawd and he would help with the furniture. But, that’s when the problems surfaced. We hadn’t exchanged numbers, addresses, or even figured out a meeting spot! As I stared across the road at the park, the place we had met, it proved to be the only solution.

As I’d arrived at the park, I’d taken a seat at on one of the benches. My plan was to wait for Clawd until noon. If he was still a no-show at that time, I would leave and pick out the furniture myself. Or, I could call Gemma or Jack. I was too afraid to do that though. I felt as though I was intruding on their lives. They had jobs, and in Jack’s case, a family. I felt bad having to constantly drag them away. Looking nearby, it seemed there was a family outing. I decided to try make some friends.

I managed to catch up with a teen named Lolly Racket. She told me that the large group around us was indeed her family, but she definitely didn’t seem to be too interested in what they were doing.

“I’d much rather be at home playing Grand Theft Auto V.” She sighed. Whatever that was.

I will admit, Lolly had some pretty funny jokes. Lolly soon lost the frown she seemed to have been wearing. At least we were keeping each other entertained.

We were soon interrupted by a light tap on my shoulder, and I turned to find Clawd.

“Clawd! Hey!” I grinned happily, glad he’d shown up. As I checked the time on my phone, it read 12:05pm. Lucky for him, Lolly had kept me occupied- otherwise we would have just missed each other.

“Hey, Isabelle!” He smiled. “Sorry about that. I realized we didn’t really organize any meeting spot, or exchange phone numbers or something. Lucky we had the same brain wave and both headed for the park.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I was going to leave in just a moment.”

“Alright then, follow me!” Clawd said, heading away.

“Bye, Lolly! Nice chat!” I called with a smile, waving to Lolly as I left with Clawd. Lolly was a nice girl. I hoped she’d get home soon so she’d get to play her Grand Auto Theft. That’s what she called it, wasn’t it?

“The park has some beautiful flowers, doesn’t it?” Clawd mumbled quietly to no one in particular, sniffing a purple flower he’d picked in his path. I quickly rushed to catch up, smiling at him.

Before I could react, Clawd suddenly whirled around in a flurry of motion and presented the very flowers he’d just picked in front of me.

“For you.” He smiled.

“Oh, wow! These are beautiful. Thanks Clawd!” I replied, shocked.

“Here we are!” Clawd called, not hesitating to push open the door. “The best consignment store in all of Twinbrook!”

“Wow.” I gasped.

Clawd chuckled. “Well, it’s also the only one.”

Uh oh. I was going to have a lot of choosing to do.

“Is that all, ma’am?” The cashier asked me, presenting me with the price.

“Yeah, that’s all. Thanks very much.” I smiled, feeling Clawd’s presence behind me. We had finally done it, I’d picked all my furniture. I was so relieved.

“It will be delivered to your house in approximately two hours. Thanks for your business.”

Clawd and I arrived a couple minutes early, and the truck soon followed. I was so excited as I watched Clawd and the workmen transport the furniture into the house.

Ding Dong!

“Hey guys!” I grinned. “You’re just in time!”

“Yep!” Gemma smiled. “We decided to pop over and we just saw the furniture mover leave. We’re not to late to move everything into place, are we?”

“Of course not!” I retorted. “Come inside,” I said, and motioned to Clawd. “Also, this is Clawd. I met him the park. He’s an extra set of hands.”

“Awesome!” Gemma smiled.

“Hi, there. Alright, let’s get moving.” Clawd spoke from behind me.

It was finally finished. I sighed in relief as we stared around at the finished work. The kitchen was magnificent.

The living area was tucked in a corner, cozy with a nice picture window and TV.

The entry ways to the bathroom and bedroom were decorated and given new doors.

A small study was also tucked away in the other corner of the front of the house.

The bathroom was currently quite plain, but at this point. I was getting a little broke, heh.

The bedroom was almost finished also. All we did after this was add a nice big window and some lovely curtains.

For now, the basement below wasn’t furnished. I didn’t have enough money- or, for that matter, anything to put down there yet.

“We’re finally finished!” I sighed in disbelief, “I have a house!”

Jack chuckled. “You sure do! It’s been great to see it come together. I can’t believe that between the four of us, we’ve completely redone the place!”

“Yep! You guys should join me in architectural design. We’d make a great team!” Gemma smiled.

“I don’t think I could do all that again,” Clawd sighed, leaning back. “Too much work.”

“Toughen up, pretty boy!” Gemma laughed. “A little furniture moving got ya’ tired? Where are those muscles?!”

“You guys hungry?” I asked, spotting three nods. “Alright, dinners on me. Stay put for now.”

I headed to the kitchen, glad that Clawd and I picked up groceries on the way home. They were only the bare necessities, but I guess I could make salad, right?

I’d never cooked much before… but, well, how hard could it be?

Salad, of course, was something good and easy to start with. I just grabbed various vegetables and started chopping them up. Going well.

After chopping them all up, I threw everything together in a bowl. Well, it sure looked like a salad, right?

“Dinner’s served, guys!” I smiled, calling to my friends. Even if I did mess up, salad couldn’t kill them, right?

“So, Clawd, lemme ask you something,” Gemma asked, swallowing a mouthful. “Those are some interesting eyes there. Yellow, huh?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s a… rare disease.” He stuttered. “Nothing life threatening or… dangerous, but it just makes my eyes look this way.”

“I see.” Jack answered also, but looking extremely unconvinced.

“Here, Isabelle, we’ll clean up.” Gemma said, you stay put.

“Yes, we will.” Jack nodded in agreement. “The salad was lovely, considering you probably didn’t have much in the fridge.”

“Thanks guys.” I grinned.

“Sorry, but I have to leave. It’s getting dark.” Clawd said.

“Gotta run!” Clawd said, rushing outside.

“I don’t like him.” Jack muttered. “There’s something wrong with him.”

“He’s a nice enough guy, I supposed.” Gemma shrugged. “Maybe he still lives with his parents. Curfew, you know?”

“Sun down is a pretty strange curfew.” Jack retorted.

I got up, concerned. “What if it’s me he doesn’t like?” I worried, biting my nails.

“Of course it’s not you, Isabelle!” Jack reassured me, “And if it is, he’s not right for you.”

“He did that the other night too, ran away at sun down.” I added.

“Something’s fishy about that boy.” Jack repeated, shaking his head. “No matter, come on Gemma, let’s clean up.”

Since the others were kind enough to clean up, I sat down and booted up my brand new computer, looking up the job listings. It was the next thing on my mind, as now that the house was finished, I was well and truly broke.

I shut down the computer finally, very concerned.

“I can’t find any jobs that I think I can do.” I said absentmindedly, staring into the distance.

“Don’t worry about that for now, Isabelle. There’s plenty of jobs out there. The listings change all the time. Give it time. Until you get a job, we’ll support you.”

“Thanks,” I smiled, “But I can’t except anymore from you. I need to stand on my own two feet, get a job, start supporting myself.”

“That time will come, Isabelle.” Gemma added, “How about you go clean up and get ready for bed. Jack and I will finish up and get going.”

“Thanks Gemma.” I smiled, heading into the bathroom for a warm bath.

After I came out, I quickly caught Gemma and Jack on their way out, bidding them farewell.

“I’ll see you soon!” I called happily, “Thanks so much for everything.”

“No worries!” Gemma called. “We’ll keep in touch!”

“Definitely.” Jack added.”

That night I was excited just to go to sleep. I had a bed! Climbing into it, I snuggled in, grateful for everything that had happened in my life recently. I feel asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Today was a good day.