A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps by Kit Bryan
Rule 92- Sometimes the only way to get things done is to do absolutely nothing.

We make it back to my house and Lucy hesitates halfway between the front door and her car. The plan was for her to hear home but instead she is hovering.

"Do you want me to stay?" She offers. Damn it, I must look even more miserable that I thought if Lucy is so unwilling to leave me alone. Or maybe she's the one who doesn't want to be alone. She says she's angry with Fin and he wasn't worth her time, and that might be true for all I know. But you can be angry and still be hurt or sad at the same time. Still, I don't think that I'll be particularly good company. I desperately want to go to bed. It isn't super late, but emotions are exhausting apparently and I'm done with thinking for the day. I just want to pass out and not care about anything or anyone. I know that kind of makes me a terrible friend, but it's the truth.

"Do you WANT to stay?" I turn the question back on her.

"If you're still upset I can stay up with you." I offer reluctantly. Lucy's response is immediate.

"I'm FINE. I told you, it isn't with crying over. Don't worry about it. I'll talk to you tomorrow then." She says, her expression stubborn. With that done, she turns sharply on the spot and heads straight for her car. I let out a sigh of relief as she leaves. I love my friend, but I just want to be alone to lick my wounds and tend my damaged pride in peace.

I shower and put on my most comfortable pyjamas then crawl into bed. The lights are out, I have a random playlist of videos of people doing really satisfying cleaning playing quietly on my phone and my eyes are already falling shut when my phone starts ringing. Loudly. Right next to my head. I immediately decline the call, feeling more than a little pissed at whoever is calling. It might not be late, but it's late enough. I DO stop to check who called me before I try to close my eyes again. If it's Lucy or Marcus I can ignore it. They'll call again if it's important. If it's my dad I'll call him back. I'm not even sure if he's home or at work. I haven't seen him but I basically went from the door to the bathroom to bed. It's entirely possible I missed him. A glance shows that my missed call is from the mayor. Ugh. Yeah no. I'm not dealing with that right now. I put my video back on. A few minutes later he calls again and I swap my phone to silent mode. He rings at least two more times and I totally ignore them and if he calls again after that I have no idea because I am well and truly asleep.

Ugh, what year is it? I wake up so completely disoriented. There is sunlight peeking through my curtains and I am way too hot under my blankets so I'm kind of sweating. How long was I asleep for? With a groan I search for my phone only to find that it must have fallen off my bed while I was sleeping. I force myself to lean down and collect it from the floor and very nearly tumble out of bed due to my reluctance to move and get it properly. The screen feels too bright. I usually don't mind mornings but today I think I hate them. I'm surprised to see that it's nearly twelve. I have slept most of the morning away. That's a bit unusual for me but I guess it isn't surprising. At least sleeping so long meant I wasn't thinking about Ashton... Until right now when I thought about him again. Damn it. This is like playing 'the game' If you so much as remember it exists you've already lost.

"I just lost the game." I mutter to myself, even though there's no one to hear it. Those are the rules after all. I get up and go to the bathroom, have a quick shower and change into comfortably cool clothes only to find myself lying on my bed again doing nothing but aimlessly scrolling through my phone. I should get up, do something, anything. But I can't seem to find the motivation right now. Maybe I shouldn't pressure myself so much, I've had a busy and stressful week. There's no harm in taking a day to laze around a bit, right? Still, I should probably at least answer my messages. I have more than a few. I start with the one I expect to be easiest. Marcus texted me this morning while I was still asleep. Marcus- Hey Kat :) I heard that your unusual houseguests have gone home. I wanted to know if you want to be put back on the roster for work or if you're taking a few more days off. (Not that I would ever encourage you to skip work) but as your friend and not your supervisor I'd be happy to pretend you're still unavailable for a while longer. Let me know!

Well, that's easy enough to answer. I was already considering taking a few days off, and if he's offering to take care of it all for me then I'm not going to object. I answer quickly.

Kat- Hey, sorry for the late reply, I kind of slept in. I'd love if you could be my friend and not my supervisor today. Can you extend my leave for maybe another week? I might have been off work for a while, but I haven't actually had a break. I could use some time to catch up on housework and I'm kind of keen for the chance to sleep in for a few days before you trap me back on all the opening shifts.

Marcus- I thought you might. I'll just have to continue harrassing all the newbies into taking the early shifts. Enjoy your break, you deserve some 'me time' and let me know when you're free to hang out.

Kat- Don't lie, you're going to cover most of those shifts yourself. You're way too nice to force anyone to work when they don't want to.

Marcus- You know me too well. Don't be gone too long, or at least make time to take me out for drinks. If I have to work mornings you're going to have to make it up to me.

Kat- Sure thing.

Well... He agreed to that WAY too easily. There is no way he hasn't been gossiping about me with Lucy. I can't blame either of them. It's not like I was exactly hiding my feelings. It would be stupid of me to expect them to ignore it and Lucy probably only spoke to him about it to make sure that he won't say something particularly blunt and upset me. I trust that they're both just trying to spare my feelings. Next on the list of people to talk to is Lucy. She's number two on the difficulty list since I know she's struggling with her feelings too. I'm not sure that I'm the best person to help her with it being equally emotional as I am. I'm pretty sure any advice I can offer will be terrible, but between the two of us and with Marcus' assistance I'm sure we'll manage to get by. With Ashton and Fin gone, dad will probably go back to his usual work hours and I'll be back to eating dinners alone or with Lucy when she's free.

Kat- Hey Luce, just checking in. Are you working today or are we doing dinner?

Lucy- I picked up an extra shift this afternoon. Unless you want to do a late dinner then I probably can't make it.

Kat- Maybe tomorrow then. I've been lazy today, I'll probably have another early night.

Lucy- Okay, but I'll definitely come tomorrow!

Kat- Great. :)

I move onto person number three. My dad. I haven't spoken to him since he caught Ashton and I kissing. I couldn't face him after listening in on their conversation. He hasn't messaged me. He's probably giving me space, or he's just gone back to work and is as busy as ever. I send him a message instead.

Kat- Hey dad. Just checking in. Also I thought you should know that I'm taking an extra week off work to relax a bit. So if you have any time, maybe we could do dinner this week? Or lunch?

Dad- I'm glad you're taking some time off. You work too much. You're young, you should spend more time having fun. I don't know how much time I'll have this week but I'll let you know.

Dad- Also the mayor has called after you about five times. The fae child has been talkative. Did you know that Ashton is a prince?

Oh damn. No wonder he's been calling so much. I'm going to have to practice sounding shocked. Ugh. I'm going to have to call him back. I thought that my work would be done now that Ashton has left, but apparently not. I send off a quick text to dad before I make the dreaded call. He will be waiting for my response so he can get back to work. I can't help but find it funny that he would lecture me about working too much though.

Kat- If the mayor asks I had no idea. But yes I knew. I'll take care of it. Thanks dad.

Now I have nothing left to do but to call the mayor back. Ugh. This is going to SUCK.