Elliot and I were just driving straight, he kept staring at me and smiling all I could do is smile back, he finally broke the ice,” so you call me a few minutes after I left you at work and you are carrying a box of your belongings, let me guess, you heard that you won the lotto last night and decided to tell of Leslie and quit your job?” the big smile still in his face, I laugh, “ no you idiot I got fired for being late and Leslie really took advantage of the situation, she made me the example, can you believe her?”, “no?, really?, I never saw that one coming” he said sarcastically. “Dude, come on, I just lost my job” I said, he took a deep breath, “you lost a job you hated because you couldn’t get up in the morning to show up for it, the way I see it, even if Leslie was a pain in the ass about it, she kind of did you a favor” I looked at him for a second, he was right, but really being out of a job its not exactly something everybody wants.

“We’re here” he said, I got out of the car walk to my porch, open the door and there it was my house at eight in the morning, last time I was in my house at eight in the morning on a Monday was five years ago when I got the call that I had gotten the job and I would have to be there the next day ready to get to work.

I had been no more then ten minutes in the living room when I realize I had gotten out of the car without saying goodbye to Elliot, he must think I’m the worst person in the world after all I’m sure had to make an excuse in order to come pick me up, I walked fast toward the front door to see if he was still there, but the driveway was empty “God I’m hungry” I said really loudly as if someone else were to answer me, I was so used to being surrounded by people at this time of day and making small comments. I walked into my kitchen remembering that Elliot had brought me some chocolate cake last night and there was still a piece on the fridge.

Elliot often came by my house with chocolate cake when he was having a bad day, it was a really strange tradition he started a couple of years ago when he had a big fight with his mother about him starting a new business, his mom didn’t think he had what it takes to do all that work and she let him know all about it, he told me his problems while I indulge in my favorite food. Yesterday when he came back I new right away what it was about, that new girl Melanie he had been dating was all wrong for him but of course I had to be supportive and sit down quietly listening while eating my cake, maybe that’s why he would always bring it, to entertain me so that I wouldn’t volunteer my opinion, he is smooth that way.

Yesterday was a specially irritating day for Elliot because as soon as a had put the first bite in my mouth he started talking, “why is it that for a woman to be attracted to me I either have to be a complete workaholic or a stay at home mom” he said  annoyed, “I mean do you have to ask me how much I make a year or what car I drive as soon as I sit down for dinner and if I’m not up to your standers that immediately I have to be a great cook, great at laundry , great with tools”  he said mad, “what are you talking about?” I said confused and with a lot of cake in my mouth, “I mean I either have to be a man from the fifties or a woman from the fifties. Melanie told me that she couldn’t be with me anymore because she couldn’t focus on one thing, she said I either let her advance in her career which meant I had to commit to being at home or make the commitment to take care of her economically so she can do home stuff, those where her words home stuff can you believe her”, I put down the fork to talk but before I could open my mouth he kept going, “its like there’s no more balance, I have to be reach and indulgent or poor and submissive.

Elliot left without me getting in a word, I had to agree with him though, sometimes I felt like I had to take over the world in order to be someone in this world and I notice that contrary to Elliot’s need to be a complete human being most of the guys I dated had to problem playing Mrs. Mom and stay at home doing nothing while I busted my ass at a job I could barely stand, yes I believed that women’s liberation tended to create a new generation of extremely lazy man, not all of them, Elliot was one of the good ones, that’s why we had been friends for so long.

I had nothing to say to Elliot last night and today I didn’t even thank him for brining me back home, I made my plan to call him later and decided to focus on what I would do, I went straight up the net  I thought what better time to look for a job  than when i just gotten fired. I got my laptop from my bedroom and brought it to the living room, as my slow computer turned on I turn on the television and started to channel surf to see what was on. As I change each channel that contain the same bad news of the economy I started to feel more and more depress, yes I hated my job but at least it allowed me to have cable, internet, new clothes, outings and now, what was I supposed to do. Finding a husband from the fifties wasn’t sounding like such a bad idea at this point, good thing I had some savings to keep me up float for at least a couple of months.

Elliot would be mad at me if he knew what I was thinking, good thing he wasn’t here , that was the different between me and Elliot as soon as he would get bad news he would run to my house and have a conversations about it, a one way conversation but a conversation nonetheless, I was the total opposite, as soon as a crisis arrived at my door step, I would just close the door and drown myself watching TV while I figured my next step, I hated talking about thing over and over as if by talking the answer would automatically appear, that never happened when Elliot would come and talk to me, why would I think it would be different with me.

My computer seemed to be trying to tell me something since it had been ten minutes since I turned it on and it still hadn’t loaded correctly, I hated technology, it made me believe that I could have anything at the tips of my fingers but when I needed it didn’t really work. I decided to leave my job search for later, after all it was still pretty early I had all day to search for something new, some new job that would fulfill my life in the best way possible and not consumed me in the decision making of each day like what to wear so that my coworker wouldn’t make fun of me or think of the right thing to say in a meeting so the boss wouldn’t feel threaten by your knowledge and her lack their off. No, like Elliot said I had an opportunity to do something better.

I put the computer on the coffee table and plaster myself on the big couch, I had this couch reupholster a year ago when all was good in my life, I has just fished watching Pride and Prejudice and thought I was so glad that my relationships and life was not as complicated as Elizabeth, I could just walk up to anyone and say anything I wanted and that would make for no prejudgments or prejudice against people but I was inspired by the beautiful dresses and hair houses so I decided to bring a new light pink fabric into my life in the form of a couch and since then it had been my favorite place to seat.

As I sat in my flowery pink couch channel surfing realizing that there was nothing on TV I decided to get my pride and prejudice movie from my bookshelf where it kept company to the rest of my Jane Austen collection, after all I could afford to lose a couple of hours watching Mrs. Darcy it wasn’t like I needed to go to an interview today I can procrastinate with my favorite guy in the world.