State of Serenity

Rhyan Dodds sat on her plush, baby pink living room couch wrapped in a knit, white throw with her laptop comfortably placed in her lap. She had her smooth grooves playlist on, softly filling the room from her Beats Pill speaker and the lights in the room dimmed down to create a peaceful aura. She lit a few scented candles that she’d gotten from Bath and Body Works filling the room with a mixture of fresh linen and peaches, which happened to be very soothing to Rhyan.

She had her Microsoft Word application on her computer open, her fingers mindlessly moving across her keyboard as she typed more content up for her very own fiction novel. After experiencing the worst breakup known to man just two months ago, she was inspired to write a book about unrequited love which just so happened to be the position she found herself in with her then boyfriend, Jamie Stretton. 

Rhyan and Jamie had dated for nearly two years and just days before their anniversary, he expressed to her that he didn’t feel nearly as strong about her as she did him. After going five years without dating, Rhyan was devastated. She had spent the early portion of her adulthood single, thinking it was the best way to establish herself and her career for her potential family and the first man she’d deemed worth her time and even seen herself marrying in the years to come, didn’t even reciprocate the feelings she had for him. The situation had only shoved Rhyan deeper into her writing. 

Leaning over the armrest of her love seat, Rhyan clasped her mug of hot chocolate into her hand to take a sip of the sweet beverage. The rain hit the windows in her home in a heavy downpour, creating a knocking sound from outdoors. If Rhyan hadn’t planned to spend the entire weekend at home, alone, she would have assumed someone was coming to visit her. She knew better, though. 

Besides her older brother, who was married with two small children, Rhyan basically lived in New York all alone. The majority of her friends and family all lived in Florida, which was ultimately home to her. If it hadn't been for the majority of her offers for writing opportunities right after college at New York University being in Manhattan, Rhyan would have probably moved back to her family home in Palm Beach Gardens. 

Rhyan and her brother, Taj, were pretty close but they both had busy lives that didn’t allow them to see each other all the time, especially since he had long work days as an attorney. Sometimes, though, she looked after her niece and nephew whenever Taj and his wife, Kensa wanted a date night or time alone, which Rhyan adored because the kids were not only well behaved but they made her even more excited to have her own in the next couple of years. 

Rhyan smiled as her micro mini labradoodle, Reese climbed onto the couch and laid his head on her thigh as she typed. Rhyan affectionately rubbed his head and lightly scratched beneath his chin before setting her mug back in its place on the table. 

As soon as she began to read over the parts she’d added to the twentieth chapter of her book entitled, Deception on Bleecker Street, she received an incoming Facetime call from her youngest sister. With a smile, Rhyan accepted the call as she wrapped her throw tighter around her body to keep the cold air of the central air unit at bay. Although she had free range to change it, Rhyan preferred to keep her apartment cool. 

“Rhyan! I miss you,” her 19-year-old sister, Nadine said. The greeting caused Rhyan to smile a little bigger as she grabbed the remote off of the table that controlled the lighting in her living room. She adjusted them until Nadine could see her face clearer before resetting the remote in her lap because she knew she’d cut them back down as soon as their call finished.

Rhyan could make out the custom pink blanket she’d gotten Nadine made for her dorm room with her pictures and her name across it in a stylish yet chic way. The lights in her dorm were on allowing Rhyan to see her entire smiling face as she shoved candy into her mouth. 

“I miss you too, Nadine! Are you still coming up here in two weeks?” Nadine was a freshman at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and for her spring break, she’d begged their parents to allow her to spend the entire week with Rhyan opposed to going home to Florida. Though her parents wanted her to spend her week off with them, they knew Nadine absolutely missed Rhyan since returning to college for the spring semester and decided to allow her to see her sister beyond a camera. 

“Of course! Mom keeps trying to play the lonely card, but Taj is supposed to be going down to see her during that same week so she wasn't able to make me feel guilty,” Nadine told her. 

Rhyan chuckled, “Don’t I remember those days? Mom tried to do me the same way when I came to New York and decided I wanted to stay and spend summer vacation with Taj and Kensa.”

Rhyan reminisced about her first year of college, which seemed like it happened long ago but it was just seven years ago. Her mother was so excited to see her for the summer that it absolutely tore Rhyan in two to tell her she wanted to stay in New York for the summer with Taj, who’d already had an apartment there and was in his last year of school at the Pratt Institute. Then, the blow wasn’t so large for her mother because Nadine was still 12-years-old and not leaving home anytime soon. Now, her mother, Margaret, had no one around to soften the blow on a continuous basis as it had been when Rhyan was an undergraduate. At least this time, Taj’s children would be able to take her mind off the fact that her youngest child didn’t want to come home. 

“Arya and Kaiser being there will make her forget about me not coming home, to begin with,” Nadine said, mentioning Taj’s children. “What are you up to? Getting ready for a date?” 

Nadine’s questions caused Rhyan to smack her lips and roll her eyes, “You already know the answer to that. It’s a thunderstorm here, so I’m in the house for the rest of the night. I was writing until you called. Say hi to Reese.” Rhyan moved the screen a little until Reese’s face was in the camera. The dog opened one eye before he happily raised up seeing Nadine’s smiling face.

“Aww!” Nadine cooed, “Hi boy. He’s so happy to see me, I almost cried.” Rhyan shook her head at Nadine’s dramatics. “You know I’m still mad at that boy for hurting your feelings like that. You didn’t deserve that, and I hope he rots in he--,” Rhyan shushed her before she could even finish the word. 

“Don’t,” Rhyan said, shaking her head. “Sometimes things just aren’t meant to be, no matter how much we want them. He was a distraction to me, and he never did appreciate my craft how I do. Some things are just for the better.” 

Nadine scoffed, “He wasted two years of your life, Rhyan. How can you not be upset with him? If I were you, I’d be putting a hurt out on him.”

“And you’re also nineteen and immature, which is why I told you fifty times already not to worry about dating right now,” Rhyan told her, reminding Nadine of their mother which caused her to roll her eyes. “I’m twenty-six, and although it hurt, I definitely learned my lesson from that relationship. Plus, it inspired my latest book, so I’m making coins off of this experience. It’ll get better, in time.”

“I hope so,” Nadine said, “otherwise, I might just have to let Wendy’s brother talk to you. You know he asks about you every time I see him.”

Rhyan shook her head, vigorously causing Nadine to laugh loudly, “I rather be stranded in a desert until I die than to give that boy a chance, Nadine. Please don’t run that assist!”

Rhyan’s rebuttal caused them both to laugh, Nadine even harder than before, before they continued their conversation. Rhyan asked Nadine about her classes, extracurricular, and anything else she’d been doing while away at school, while Nadine begged Rhyan to read a snippet of her story to her. Rhyan didn’t understand why she called it a snippet, when every time they video chatted, Nadine wanted another sneak peek. Rhyan was sure her baby sister knew the entire plot from the snippets alone, but she continued to read them to her because she could always count on Nadine’s honest opinion. 

“I like that,” Nadine told her after she read the beginning of the current chapter she was working on. “I love Zion’s character. He can marry me, already.”

Rhyan laughed, “For now. Now, no more snippets for you! I want to get halfway done before I go to bed. So, can we call it a night and I call you first thing tomorrow morning?”

“Of course,” Nadine said. “I need to get up early for the gym anyway, so that’s perfect. Goodnight. I love you.”

Rhyan cheesed as she waved goodbye to her younger sister, “I love you too, Nadi.”

As soon as their call came to an end, Rhyan maintained a permanent smile on her face as she reconvened where she’d been previous to Nadine’s call. She turned the lights back down, reshuffled her music, and immediately began typing, her call with Nadine inspiring her further to get the chapter done before bed. 

Who knew she could be so productive on a gloomy, rainy day?