Preoccupied, Giselle went back to work. The last batch of the new collection had arrived and in the morning she had started to unpack and rearrange the section of the store that was meant to display it. The store itself was separated into three segments. The entrance area had two paths along tables and stands with the old collection. Some of those were on sale.On one side was the counter that Laureen manned regularly, taking care of payment and packaging the purchases. The inner area of the store was divided into the visually distinct part that displayed the new collection and the part with the essentials and the changing cabins. Essentials at Dean's were shirts and socks, belts and shirt cuffs, ties and pins.They closed up at 5pm and quickly sorted through the money in the counter, locking it into the safe. Mr Dean would pick it up later or in the morning to deposit at the bank. Neither of the two women were responsible for this. Both women however felt quite accomplished when the new collection was done, a few customers had bought expensive sets and everything in the storage area had been brought into order.

When they left through the side door, Giselle stopped Laury by taking her hand. "Thanks for taking care of me yesterday", she said with a friendly, but serious stare. Laury smiled at her and nodded, "Anytime. I'll call you later to check on you, alright?". The two hugged and Giselle responded, "Yeah, and don't forget about your new phone number from yesterday". Laury only chuckled and shook her head. Then both waved and went separate ways.Giselle's bus was on a twenty minute frequency, so her wait was fairly short. The bus stop was crowded with people who either had finished shopping or gotten off work, just like her. A tall man in his 40s and a modern suit kept glancing at the wristwatch. He was in a hurry. An old woman next to her, leaning on her walking stick watched the pedestrians on the other side of the street. Giselle followed her gaze and saw a teen with green and red hair, cut off pants and a jacket covered in patches of various band names. She couldn't recognize a single one of them.Two buses arrived in short order. The first went to the main station and took at least half of the crowd with it. The second one still left a few people waiting for yet another bus. She found a seat on the left side and glanced out of the window. The sun was visible through a thin cloud cover and would soon vanish behind the tall city buildings. By that time she'd be home.

Her ride home usually took about twenty minutes, depending on traffic. She let the mind wander for a bit until she remembered Samuel. She read his message again, frowning.Sure, Ian was crashing at his place, but what could he be wanting to talk about? Ian seemed sort of fine when he showed up in the morning?The uncertainty didn't let go of her until she pushed herself up the stairs and past her apartment door. After changing into a spaghetti top and leggings, her finger swiped through the contact list. A few seconds after, she waited for someone to pick up until a familiar voice answered, "Hey Giselle, thanks for calling". She answered kindly, "Yeah. Hi Sam. How have you been?"."Been quite good actually? I started a new job last month. It's been a breeze", he explained happily and Giselle could hear his excitement. She smiled at the positive news and said, "Good for you! I remember how much you complained about the old one. Glad you got out". She heard him take a deep breath, "Yeah, I guess. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Ian. He barely smiled or ate, but wouldn't tell me shit except that you two had a fight. And that he needed my couch for a few days", Sam's tone turned from a playful high pitch to a serious one. His voice in general wasn't as deep as his bother's.

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Giselle pondered for a bit, then decided to outline a bit more of what had happened. He'd find out anyway. No use being secretive."Well, it's a longer story. Saturday we went out with Celestine. Was his idea, I just trailed along. And she threw their breakup story at us. Ian wasn't exactly amused, as you can imagine", she sighed and Sam acknowledged the sentiment, but didn't say anything. Giselle wasn't sure if he knew the story, but it wasn't her place to tell. "I also did something stupid, invited myself and brought our neighbor along who I've started to become friends with", she said and paused, bracing herself, "And since I had a one-night-stand with her and kept it a secret, Ian found out from Celestine and her keen observation skills. He was hurt and we ended up in a fight", as Giselle went through the events like that, she had to admit to herself that it sounded horrible. She was horrible. Yet she didn't feel convinced. Annie. Memories resurfaced. Her thoughts lingered on Annie until Sam disrupted her distraction, "Damn, Giselle. You have to get things in order. I know you've never been welcome in our family, with mom constantly nagging and expressing her dissatisfaction, but you're good for Ian. You have to try and fix it. I'll talk to him, alright?".

Lips pressed into a thin line, the brunette wondered what she should respond now. She still couldn't get herself to promise it'd never happen again! How was she supposed to fix this? She pulled her legs close to her chest and stared into the distance. "Giselle? Are you there?", Sam asked and she said, "I am, was just sorting through my thoughts. Sorry 'bout that". "No worries. Let's fix this, alright?", he tried to get her consent and she finally agreed, "Let's do that. Text me okay? I gotta go". A click inside the phone told her he had hung up after sending a goodbye through the line. Suddenly she had tears inside her eyes and she had no idea why. A deep sigh emanated from her chest and her forehead fell onto her knees as her arms pulled her legs closer and closer in an embrace.