Annie: "How was couple's night?"

Giselle: "Scary?"

Annie: "I wasn't home, if you're wondering whether I heard you!"

Giselle: "Ur evil :see_no_evil:"

Ian frowned at Giselle, "You've been texting her non-stop for 3 days. Do I need to worry?". His wife turned her head and put her phone down next to her. Then she responded, as if she had something to prove, "Uh, no? Why would you think that?".

The TV was on and they had picked a romantic thriller to watch together. And while both occasionally socialized with their friends or checked their social profiles on the phone, today Giselle barely looked up at the movie. A similar scenario happened the day before couple's night.

"If you're going to do that again tomorrow, we're gonna watch Moonraker. I mean you're not paying attention anyway!", Ian pouted and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You're not mad at my texts, you're mad at having to watch a movie I picked and now I'm not even paying much attention...", Giselle analyzed the situation. "Yes, Mrs Fancypants, I told you I wanted to watch Moonraker!", Ian grumbled. He loved the old James Bond movies. Roger Moore and Sean Connery. And sometimes he'd watch Golden Eye. The exception in this pattern. Giselle indulged his hobby sometimes, but after seeing every movie twice, she generally tried to let him watch alone. Or distract herself with her phone while snuggling up to him.

Giselle: "I'll text you later..."

Annie: "Sure thing!"

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The evening passed and both Ian, Giselle and their friendly neighbor went to sleep. The next morning, Ian was no longer mad at her. Generally his endurance to stay mad was more of a short sprint than a marathon. Today that didn't make Giselle feel any better. Breakfast was especially prepared by her with love, and came with a coffee and french toast that showed a heart baked into it on top.

Their evening consisted of Roger Moore being chased by a tall man with metal teeth through Rio de Janeiro. Ian was happy, Giselle distracted. Annie explained how Baseball worked. And why she was interested in Baseball.

Annie: "And when the batter manages to hit the ball, he can run from base to base, for as far as he trusts himself to reach. Everyone else can also progress to the next base. The defending team tries to get the ball back to a person near a base, and when the ball reaches that person before the batter arrives, he'll be out and cannot score..."

Giselle only followed the European Champion's League in soccer. Baseball always seemed too far away. No one played that in Europe. Her closest contact was Space Jam. A movie with Bugs Bunny, where Michael Jordan tried his luck playing Baseball instead of continuing his successful Basketball career.

Eventually the next couple's night was upon them. It had only taken two more James Bond movies and about three thousand messages from Annie. Giselle rode the bus home. She was late. Later than any other day in weeks.

Laury was incredible with customers, especially the regulars. Gossip was her life and she lured the customers in like fish in a net. Everything else wasn't quite her strong suit. Giselle had to unpack, reorder, price and update the computer. She didn't mind, but Mr Dean brought in the spring collection. It meant restructuring half the store. And it fell on Giselle to see it through. It was probably why she got a significant promotion every second year.

When the bus stopped, she hopped out, walked the sidewalk down the road and found the sun almost set behind the neighboring buildings. She sighed and looked up at the blood red clouds. Her handbag had the size of a small backpack and hung down from her shoulder, squeezed by her right arm. Both hands dug into her mantle pockets to stay warm.

The main entrance door to the apartment building was open wide. She walked through and kicked it. Behind her it fell into its lock. The neighbors sometimes forgot to close it before dusk. After the climb to her home, she stood and dug through the handbag for keys. There were voices behind the door. Her hand hesitated. She hesitated.

When Giselle started to feel dumb and childish and alone, she pushed the key into the lock, turned it and went inside. Immediately the voices fell silent, but she recognized them. Annie and Ian. A knot formed in her chest and started to tighten. Without bending down, she slipped out of her heels and hung the mantle on a hook behind the door. When she emerged into the living room, her face betrayed her. It made her look like biblical wrath reincarnated.