Ellery's Promise

“Are you ready for this, babe?” My boyfriend asks. He has both hands on either side of my shoulders. I shake my head. “No, I’m not.” He smiles. “That’s the spirit.” 

We’d been spending the night at a hotel, to get away from the mess for a while. We go to the store and gather cleaning supplies. I’m casing the cleaning aisle at Home Depot when I notice a beautiful rug, with an amazingly colorful spiral pattern. It’s hanging from the ceiling, a display, perhaps. I run my hands across it. I can feel the small stitches as I let my fingers glide gently along the spiral pattern that resembles a flower, in a way. 

My boyfriend comes over, a cart full of paint, Lysol, Heavy Duty Cleaners, rags, floor coverings, mops and brooms, and window wipers. My mouth drops. I look down at my small carrying basket with nothing but rags and a couple of cute princess stickers I found on the ground. I look back at him and he’s doing the same. “What have you been doing this whole time, Ellery?” He asks in annoyance. “I-I was exploring!” 

He pulls me from the rug and I unwillingly stumble away. I put an arm out to the rug and point, kicking my legs like a little kid. I felt a bit childish, but it was a nice rug. He cupped my face. He forced my eyes up to his and I made mine grow big and puppy-like. My specialty. 

“Please? It’s really pretty.” I beg. He shakes his head. “Let’s get through the mess you’ve already started before I go and let you make another one.” I pull away from his hold. “Are you calling me disorganized?” He shrugged and shook his head. “You said it, not me.” 

I scoffed and stomped away. I loved having tantrums. I’d never had a father to have them with, so who better than my life companion? I wandered the store, actually looking for things that we could use to clean. My boyfriend had already had everything we might need, so I felt a little useless. Eventually, I made my way back to my boyfriend, who was at the checkout, buying all our items. I felt bad that he had to pay for everything. It was my mess, after all. 

I sighed in defeat and sauntered to him. He gave me a dirty look, grabbed a bag and the mop, leaving me to grab the other bag and the broom. He walked to the car, got into the driver’s seat, and waited for me to make my way to him, pouting. The car was a 2018 Lexus ES, and it kind of still smelled of cake,  from when his cheese factory working mother rode with us to a doctor’s appointment. 

He started the car and we rode in silence. “Babe, I’m sorry,” I said when we arrived back at our apartment. “If you like living in filth, that’s your prerogative. But you promised me that on the first day of spring we would clean. And clean good.  And I think that it’s unfair that you’ve been acting like a huge child after making me wait 2 years for you to get organized.” 

I sighed and sat back in my seat. He was right. I hated that. Nevertheless, I put on a happy face and grabbed his hand. “Okay. Let’s clean.” 

I went to the backseat and grabbed the cleaning supplies. A balloon tried to peak out of the trunk and I shoved it in angrily. He looked back at me, and I gave him a smile, flipping a braid from my face. 

We climbed the stairs to the third floor. He adjusted the bag to the other hand and he pulled out his keys. When he opened the door, all of his friends and family screamed, “surprise!” He looked at the living room and his eyes twinkled. It was clean. 

My apartment was a dump to be completely honest. My boyfriend’s mother and I had spent 2 days cleaning when my boyfriend was away on business. It was hard, hard work. I’d had clothes under the rug and banana peels on the paintings. Undergarments strung around like party streamers after the Emmy’s. It was a mess. I’d promised my boyfriend several months ago that on the first day of Spring, aka, his birthday, I’d clean. Finally clean. I thought that was a kind of poopy thing for a girlfriend to promise her boyfriend on such a special occasion, so I’d banded a gang to help me accomplish my goal. Almost. 

“Happy birthday!” I screamed. He grinned wildly and wrapped his arms around my waste. “Let’s PAR-TAY!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. Music played and we partied until midnight. He was so happy to have a clean house. Soon, we were picking up soda cans and plates from the ground. We collapsed on the couch and he put his arm around my head. “I love you, Ellery,” he said and nuzzled me. I welcomed the embrace and hugged him tightly. “I love you, Issac,” I said and he kissed the top of my head. We watched a bit of television and ate the remaining pizza. 

We played on his PC for a while and I enjoyed the beauty of a clean living room. He did as well and spread himself along the carpet and grinned. He made a “carpet snow angel” in the confetti, which I sprinkled over him. “Oh babe, I’m so tired. I hope the bedroom’s as clean as the living room he said and kissed my nose. I smiled. “It is… I think.” 

Issac stopped as he walked to the bathroom. “Wait, really?” He said disappointedly. I grinned. “No, Issac, I was just clowning around babe.” He nodded in relief and made his way to the bathroom, mumbling as he went. “Oh shoot, I need a towel,” he said and jogged over to the closet. The closet. “Wait, babe I-”

Crash!

Trash, piled mile high in the closet tumbled to the ground, knocking Issac over. He fell back spiraling and flailing. He spit paper from his mouth and glared at me. I half-smiled and shrugged, turning my palms up. 

“Suprise?”

The End