Benjamin Valentino

David and Clare

A two part short story.

David

The cold water coming out of the rusty tap felt as though it was piercing David’s skin as he splashed his face to wake himself up.

“5 am is not a good time to be waking up on a winter’s day” he thought to himself.
Walking out of the bathroom he hit his toe on the corner of the skirting board, he looked at the family pictures on the wall, he hated posing for pictures, but now he would give all he had to take just one more.

Lying on the bed, David leaned over to check the time again, 5:30. “5 more minutes wont hurt” he though rubbing his red eyes. “Well good morning to you all, this is Capital Fm on 67.4 fm” his bed side radio had turned itself on. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, trying to bring the clock into focus, David realised that he had over slept. The time was now 8:00 am.

Pulling up his Diesel jeans and pulling down his Ecko shirt, David thought of the shit that he was going to be in for being late. Tying the laces to his Nike sneakers as he sat on the bus to the mall, ”Oh shit” he though, he for got to bring his report that was due in today. He tried to think of an excuse that would sound realistic. For being late and for forgetting the report. His boss was not a reasonable man, even though he was family.

Opening the doors to his boss’s office David was as silent as a church mouse. He did not speak unless he was spoken too. Exactly 24 minutes and 13 seconds later David walked out the door with his head hanging low. He was fired. It was turning out to be a shitty day.

Walking in the mall he stepped in side the music store to pick up a few new releases.
The guy at the counter was dancing to the song playing in the back round.
“Great choices here” he said to David, with his tongue out and his head bobbing to the music. “Yeah thanks” David replied. He was not one for small talk, especially after the day he was having.

Slipping the cd’s that he had just bought in to his old backpack, he bumped into a girl, and went crashing to the floor. Getting up rubbing his head, he looked at the girl and offered her a hand up. She took David’s hand and pulled herself to her feet. “Thanks” she said in a soft sweet tone, brushing her blond hair to the side.

Opening the door to his one room flat, David was greeted warmly by his cat Mr. Socks.
Mr. Socks was a black and brown cat with snow white paws, thus the name. David tossed his bag onto his bed and sank into the chair in front of the TV. Waking up a couple hours later, David placed a 2 minute TV dinner into the microwave.
Digging in his pockets he pulled out a box of B&H Special Mild cigarettes. The microwave gave a soft “ding” when his food was ready to be eaten. He ate his dinner in the same chair in front of the TV watching old re-runs of “Walker Texas Ranger”. It must have been about 3 am.

He grabbed the cigarettes of the table and climbed out the window, bumping his elbow on the window frame. “Shit man!” he shouted and proceeded to make his way to the roof.

Lying on the roof top with cigarette in hand, he remembered all the things he had done in his life, all the girl he had done. He remembered all the girls that treated him like shit and one girl that didn’t. The girl from the mall, his ex-girlfriend.

He wondered what she was up too at the moment and with that he began to fall asleep on the roof top with Clare in his thoughts.

Clare

Watching the man that had helped her to her feet walk off and become lost in the crowd, Clare rubbed her lower back and headed towards her car. “Great start to the day” she thought to herself sarcastically.

Opening the doors to her office block she was greeted buy her fellow staff members.
“Good morning Ms. Knight” they all would say, with the fakest of smiles on their faces.
She did not mind their fake attitudes towards her as she knew that she was making the top dollar in the business. At this thought, she smiled. As she walked into her office she stubbed her toe on the corner of the door frame. “Ouch, shit” she sobbed.

Sitting in her office at her big wooden table, she felt more in control than ever. She would schedule meetings and appointments to meet with clients and other big investors in the company. Clare loved watching her work come into order, and go exactly to plan, reason being, her own life was a mess.

She sat in a meeting for exactly 24 and 13 seconds about how the company could do with better advertising. The head of the company asked Clare for the report he had asked her to type up the day before. Clare reached into her brief case and pulled out files and other bits of paper. “Oh shit” silently she muttered. This was turning out to be a shitty day.

On the way home from work she stopped off at the store to pick up a few groceries for the weekend. She walked to the automatic door and stopped, the door did not open. 2 minutes after of jumping and waving about, the door finally opened, just enough for Clare to slide in. while passing through the door, it closed banging into her elbow.

The lady behind the counter was singing along to Britney Spears - I’m Slave 4 U, playing in the back round. Clare was more of a Smashing Pumpkins girl herself. The girl swiped the good and placed them in a brown bag and handed it to Clare. “Have a good night hey” the girl behind the counter said as she continued to dance to the song.

Opening the door to her house Clare was warmly greeted by her miniature Yorkshire terrier, bubbles. Bubbles was a brown and black dog, and full of energy, thus the name.
Clare placed her groceries on the kitchen counter and pulled out some lasagna for dinner.

The microwave gave a soft “ding” when the food was ready to be eaten. Clare took the food to the lounge and flopped onto her favorite couch. She picked up the remote and turned on the TV. Flicking through the channels she finally settled on Friends. “Oh lord, not re-runs” she thought to herself gloomily.

Waking up a few hours later, Clare shook her wrist, trying to get rid of the pins and needles in it. She opened the draw next to the couch and pulled out a box of Dunhill Menthols and make her way outside.

Sitting on the outside furniture, she thought of her shitty day and the shitty things that had happened to her. The guys that had happened to her. Most of the guys she had dated were complete assholes, except for one. The guy from the mall, her ex-boyfriend.

She wondered what he was doing at that moment. “Probably a sleep with his new girlfriend lying in his arms” with that though a small tear dripped from her eye and she drifted off to sleep.