Pastel Diversion

Everytime! Every single time she shuts those refrigerator doors, it’s raining dusty, useless kitchen gadgets! Ugh! God only knows why she always ended up putting them back up, not like she would use the dehydrator for a while if ever.  She doesn’t have time for this crock, it’s almost nine.  Parking around campus is near impossible and she doesn’t have time for a twenty minute walk from Acadia Lot across campus.  

Jamie grabbed her sling bag, sun glasses, and her lanyard with 3 pounds worth of keys, and walked out of the apartment.  Not a minute and she walked back in grumbling and switched from her slippers to her slip-on sneakers.  It was nice out, sunny, low sixties, perfect early Spring weather in the Carolinas but sloth slippers aren’t professional for her campus activity, even on a Friday.

Jamie’s been having a hard time since Layla moved to Florida.  She replaces the sadness and drowns herself in research and extra credits for Dr. Clements’ data sampling studies on dysfunctional relationships.  Layla was her life’s pace setter, their relationship was the opposite of dysfunctional, until now when distance put a wedge on normalcy.  She keeps telling herself, just a few more months.  Weekends are the hardest.  She has to find things to keep her distracted.    

Jamie’s parents were open to her being a lesbian.  They love her the same even after she brought Layla home for Thanksgiving.  It was not that way with Layla’s parents.  She’s all alone since she came out and Jamie’s family basically took her in.  The thought of Layla being hundreds of miles away, all alone causes Jamie’s panic.  Not jealousy, more concern.  She made absolutely sure Layla put her contact information and her parents’ as an emergency.        

The first few weeks, they talked daily.  When Layla’s work at the genetics research began, their daily schedule changed.  Panic sleeps with Jamie every night and she would rather run her car out of gas than her phone battery die and miss Layla’s random call. 

“Miss you tons the past 2 days.  Sorry I missed your last call, it’s been a tough couple of days.  Love you.”  

She stared at Layla’s last text before she cranks up her VW and heads to campus.  She has their picture together in a cute tiny frame hanging off the rear view mirror.   

She just misses the heavy traffic and pulls into the first parking spot by the laboratory's backdoor. She checks her phone one more time, just in case her music drowned any notification from Layla. Nothing.  She turns her cell’s notification to do-not-disturb and tucks her phone in her jeans back pocket.  She hopes all the subjects come a little late for their sessions, to stretch her day just a bit longer.  She passes a couple undergrads giggling in the hallway, she smiles and shakes her head. Kids! She thought. 

She met Layla in that same hallway two years ago, when she was a student transferring from the Community College.  Layla was her teaching assistant for Bio 310.  After the semester ended, Layla asked her out for a date when they saw each other at Zeke’s.  Jamie was shockingly happy and they have been inseparable since.  There were strict rules in the beginning, there should be no personal belongings left in Layla’s apartment, she did not want her hypersensitive conservative parents asking things.  Layla’s been in the US for over a decade.  She came from Indonesia as an international student.  Her parents are bi-faith couple, Muslim dad and Catholic mom.  They crossed the multi dynamics of religions but somehow are not open to multi sexuality love.  Layla was raised in the Catholic faith with Islam’s tolerance.  She celebrated both religious holidays.  When asked, she simply says “I dont have religion, I have faith.”  One key characters Jaime loves about her partner.  Jaime’s a Methodist.        

“How goes it?” says Blake, her lab partner when she entered the observation room.  

Jaime smiles, shrugs and pulls a chair next to him.  “Ready for the day.  How many interviews today?” she asks, pulling a protein bar from her left back pocket, glances at her cell she took out of her right back pocket. No text.  

“Seven.  This couple is ready when you are.”  Blake says, points his chin toward the interview room next door.  

She looks up.  A relatively young man and his much older wife are sitting in the other room, separated by a mirrored glass wall.  Jaime clicks on the microphone and says to the couple,”Good morning, thank you for being here.  Do you understand the purpose and the intent of this interview?”  They nod and the interview begins.  

At noon, they finish the third interview.  Blake stands up to stretch and asks Jaime if she wants anything from the vending for lunch.  “No thanks, I am going to walk a couple laps in the courtyard.” she says as she closes her laptop and stands up.  The wind picks up a bit, Jaime gets chills as she walks toward her car to get a jacket.  There are three jackets on her backseat.  She decides on Layla’s mint green windbreaker.  She squeezes the jacket and smells it before she puts it on. It still smells like her partner’s mint bergamot spray.  She misses her partner’s warm embrace. She opens her phone to set her music when the phone rings, it’s Layla! 

“Hey you!” She perks up, “Perfect timing!”  Layla makes a grunting sound on the other side of the line. “You okay?” Jaime asks. 

“Yeah, ugh, I just woke up.  I had to stay up all night.  Someone broke into our sample storage last night and we had to sort through all of them and back up all of our data.”  Layla responds sleepily.

“What? Anyone hurt? Did they figure out who did it?”

“Yes, everything is good.  An angry highschool kid from a local school needed some fame and took a dare.”  Layla says.” I am very tired and I have to be back in the lab soon.  I just want to hear your voice, sorry I have been extremely busy.” 

“I totally get it.”  Jaime says. “No visit for Easter still?”  She tries to sound hopeful.

“Probably not.”  Layla answers. “I have to go shower and start my day.  Love you.”  She sends her kisses over the phone.  

Jaime reciprocates, hangs up and tucks her phone in her back pocket.  She plays their jazz playlist and walks the courtyard.  In late spring and early fall, she has to focus on not running into people, avoiding bikes and skateboarders.  Today is perfect, not completely empty but not quite as busy just yet.  Thank goodness for the wind!  She daydreams when she walks.  Her favorite, is about her house with Layla, walking distance to the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.  Maybe a kid or two, a boat and a nice car.  They talked about that before, having two kids.  One she will carry and another Layla will.  

“From very selective sperm donors!”  They said it at the same time often.  

“Not blue blood and not from a bigot bloodline.”  Layla said, often pointing up her finger.  

Jaime usually followed that up with making a banjo sound and picking on an air string instrument.  

Six laps today.  She turns off her headphones, tosses her jacket back in the car and runs back into the lab.  She checks the time, perfect ten minutes before the next interview.  She detours to the open space a few doors away from the interview room and she sits on the bench.  She opens her Facebook to see what is happening out in the world.  Layla’s tagged on a post.  Curious, she expands the post.  It has a picture of Layla and a guy about her height.  He looks a tad-bit younger than her.  Jaime subconsciously makes a fist with her left hand.  Her eyes blur and her chest pounds.  She scrolls.  It’s in Indonesian.  She clicks translate.  She blurts some curse words, they were in their slangs and not translating well.  All she could gather is the part that says ”Love you a million and so glad to have you back in my life.”  She wipes her face.  She needs to call Layla. What is happening here?  Who is this man with her?  She zooms in on the picture, “Welcome to Ybor” mural is behind them.  Layla is an hour away from Tampa!  Why and when was she in Ybor? 

Her alarm goes off, she has two minutes.  She stands up and walks toward the interview room.  She types “Break in, Laboratory, Genetics, Florida” in her phone search.  It returns one thing, she is relieved.  Wait, no, it’s dated 2020.  Jaime feels clammy, she is not feeling well.  She asks Blake to take the lead for the other four interviews.  It’s 5.30 when she leaves the room.  

She hurries down the hallway.  

“Jaim!  You need your keys.”  Blake runs down to catch up with her.  

“Oh, thanks, yah, I need that.” she almost snatches the keys.  

“Hey what’s wrong?  You don’t seem well since your walk at lunch.”  Blake inquires.

She shrugs.  “See you Monday.  Have a nice weekend”  She says as she turns and continues walking.

The nice thing about Spring, the sun stays up until close to seven.  She picks up her phone, debating whether she should call Layla or not.  Layla’s busy.  They promised each other to be mindful of their time.  Layla said she didn’t sleep last night.  She puts her phone down and starts to drive.  She passes her apartment and takes the next right to the causeway.  She needs to clear her head.  She drives three additional miles to get to the public beach.  She walks out to where the sand and the water meet.  Why, Layla? 

Her stomach growls, signaling her to go home or get something to eat.  Damn Facebook, she says to herself. 

At the apartment parking lot, she sits in her car for a while.  She picks up her phone to dial Layla’s number, shakes her head and puts the phone down, several times.  It doesn’t make sense.  She reaches her console to get a bottle of water.  She usually keeps a couple of them there, but they’re gone.  She shuts the console cover and walks out, phone in hand. 

Her mind is somewhere else, looking for Layla through space.  If only she can project myself to the Citrus state and talk to her.  Maybe he is the reason they can’t see each other over Easter break.  Her eyes burn.  She walks in her apartment, tosses her keys on the coffee table.  She’s parched.  She opens the fridge.  As the door opens she pauses and holds her hand up to make sure the empty Brita pitcher along with the dehydrator trays are not falling on her head.  She’s safe, nothing moved.  She grabs a bottle of water and shuts the fridge door close.  She drinks the entire bottle quickly and tosses the empty bottle in the recycling bin.  It hits the bottom of the plastic container.  Wait!  She pauses.  She doesn’t remember emptying the recycling bin yesterday. She turns around and looks up the refrigerator, all the kitchen gadgets Layla left are neatly stacked.  

The front door opens.  Jaime turns around.

“Surprise!!!!!!”  Layla and the man on Facebook standing at the door.  

Jaime is speechless, tears roll down her cheeks.  She wipes her eyes with her hands.  She is not sure why Layla would bring sadness and surprise her with it. 

“Jaime!  I am here.  Are you going to give me a hug?”  

Jaime slowly walks toward Layla, happy and confused. Layla squeezes her.

”Why are you being weird?  Where is my Jaime?”  she says as she pulls away and looks at Jaime’s moist face.

“Oh, this is my cousin, Bambang. He is part of the surprise.”  Layla pulls Bambang closer.

He offers his hand.

The cloud on Jaime’s head lifted.

“Oh my gosh.” she rubs her face and shakes his hand.

“Why what’s wrong?” Layla says, her turn to be confused.

Jaime laughs and tells them what she saw on Facebook and the anger and confusion she had.  Laughters erupt.  Jaimey hugs Layla again, tighter this time.  

“When I called earlier, I just wanted to make sure you are still on campus.  I really just woke up from my nap in the car.  I didn’t finish until late yesterday.  I picked Bambang up from the airport and we had dinner in Ybor before we drove up.  We stopped and napped at rest stops along the way.  I was hoping I can surprise you before you leave this morning but we slept longer than we thought in Georgia.  We just came in two hours ago.”

 “Good God Jaime, you haven’t cleaned since I left.  The Brita hit my head when I opened the fridge.  Not a good welcome!”  Layla says.

“Gosh, yeah, I miss you so much, sorry I will get better.” Jaime says. Layla hugs her.  

They all move to the couch.  Bambang is all smiles.  

“So Easter is next weekend.”  Jaime says. 

“Yeah, I can’t stay that long,  Bambang starts a new job in Michigan after Easter and I have to be back on Wednesday.  Everyone requested an off for Easter, since I am the newest in the bunch, I offered to stay and cover the lab watch.” 

Jaime smiles and looks at Bambang, and looks back at Layla. 

“So, Bambang had a big blow up with my parents when he found out they are not talking to me anymore.  He called me up and asked if he could visit, not knowing that I am Florida.  So he flew into Tampa to get me so we can catch up while driving to see you,”

“He is leaving on Sunday and heads north.  I will stay and fly down on Wednesday morning, if that’s ok with you.”  Layla looks at Jaime and winks.

Jaime bursts into tears.  What a basket of Easter blessings!