The Messy Date
The Messy Date
Victoria Khomits
Ruby rolled over and yawned. She stretched her arms out over her head and began to shift in her bed, still keeping her eyes shut. She could feel the sleep escaping her and she tried to get comfortable, but it was of no use, she was already awake. She slowly slouched out onto the edge of her bed and sat there. She noticed the clock on the wall above her closet and it read 2:00 am, which to her, was pretty early. If anyone walked in her room at that given moment, they would have been almost horrified with the disheveled state Ruby was in. It looked as if she would have cowered and hissed at the sun if it were to shine on her. Her hair was a tangled mess on top of her head and her eyes were swollen and closed as if she just woke up from a long hibernation.
After much contemplation, Ruby reluctantly got up from her bed and made her way around the pile of clothes and dirty laundry that lay around her room. There was so much lying around that it was almost impossible for her to remember what her floor looked like before, much less remember what color it used to be. After shuffling things to the side, she made an attempt to go through her drawers and pick out some clothes to change in, but she settled with the pair of pajamas she had on. (They were the ones she had been wearing for the past week.) As she made her way past the dresser, She recognized herself in her mirror and laughed at the state her hair was in. Refusing to use a brush to fix it, she didn’t think it would make any difference if she did brush it.
“I’m not going out anywhere anytime soon,” she told herself and she made her way out of the room. The rest of the house was in a much better state than her room, granted it was also very disorganized. The table in the hallway had old newspapers and magazines lying around, none that she would read, but she was just too lazy to go through them and throw them out. She entered the bathroom. She may have been too lazy to change or brush her hair, but she managed to find brushing her teeth as an important event that marked the start of her day. The bathroom had a laundry basket that looked like it was about to burst, holding in 3-week old laundry, never washed. The counter of the sink was fairly clean, though it was cluttered with skincare and hair products. The shower was no better. It was cluttered with soap bottles and scrubs. Some were empty but Ruby never cared to go through them and throw away the used ones.
Once she was done she walked to the kitchen and took out frozen pancakes from the freezer and began to heat them up. She knew how to cook, but she would rather have them readily-made and easy to cook instead of putting in the effort to do it herself.
The kitchen was probably the most cluttered place in the whole house. The sinks were filled with dirty dishes and Ruby would only attempt to wash them only if it was necessary and she didn't have any clean ones in the cabinets. The fridge was empty aside from some dairy products and drinks, but the freezer was always full of ready to go meals since Ruby couldn’t be bothered with cooking. The counter was littered with stains and used cups and dishes that Ruby didn’t care to clean. The chairs around the counter were used as clothing racks for dirty laundry and worn clothing.
The only clean place was the sofa as this was the place Ruby spent most of her time. Once Ruby was done with heating up her pancakes and soaking them in syrup, she took out her sloppily cleaned fork and made herself comfortable with her food in the living room. She found the remote and she turned on her favorite show.
This is how her day would go. Finding comfort in the messiness of her home, while spending the majority of her day indulging herself in her favorite series. Not once was this ever a problem with Ruby, she enjoyed her mess as much as she enjoyed not cleaning it. Her messy personality was never something she wanted to fix about herself. That was until she accidentally invited Ian to her house for dinner.
Ruby was employed at a publishing company, and although she was classified by her messy habits at home as lazy, she tended to be unusually diligent at work. Besides loving her job, Ruby also enjoyed the company of her coworkers, especially Ian’s. Ian was tall and svelte, with a bushy set of eyebrows and clean slick hair. He was particularly sweet, specifically toward Ruby. Ruby, of course, approved and let herself enjoy his banter. Although they clearly had and reciprocated the same feelings, nothing arose from their occasional conversations. This was all fine and dandy with Ruby, she wasn't impatient enough to rush into a relationship.
One day, Ian strolled over to her desk with deliberation as if he was contemplating something. Ruby, immersed in work, didn't notice.
“Hello,” he said, cheerfully, almost startling her. Ruby looked up and smiled. In Ian’s hand, he was holding two cups of coffee. He handed one to her and she accepted it appreciatively.
”Thank you,” she said as she took the warm cup and encased it with her hands.
”What are you working on?” he asked curiously, as if trying to find a reason to stay near her desk. She indulged him for a few moments, but He seemed to be only half-listening, with something occupying his mind. As if he was impatient to move the subject along.
He found his opening and went for it, ”Ruby?”
”Yes?” she said looking up from her coffee.
”Well I was wondering…” he paused as if trying to find the right words. His expression turned bashful and he looked down at the floor, like a puppy. Ruby almost giggled at the sight of him but tried to listen intently. She knew where this was going. ”... if you would want to have dinner at my place sometime, I don't know, maybe this Friday?” Ian stopped to look at her, holding his breath.
She was stunned. Did Ian just ask me out? Ruby began to internally scream and tried to regain her composure before it got the best of her. This newfound happiness had given her some unexpected boldness and without thinking she said:
”Or we could go to my place?” His surprised expression only made her more ecstatic.
”Alright, that works, just text me your address and I can come over at 8:00, or whatever time works for you” his expression was rambunctious. Ian began to make his way back to his desk, smiling at her as if he was deliberately trying to pull his mouth as far apart as he could. All Ruby could do was return the grin and watch him leave her sight.
Once he was gone, Ruby had to fight the urge to jump up and start dancing. Concealing her smile she got back to work. But her mind wouldn't quell even for a moment and she began to wonder what she could wear for the date. Maybe a black cocktail dress? No that's too formal. Oh I know! The dress stack got me for Christmas, The blue one. Oh God, I can't believe he asked me out. This better not be a dream.
Being satisfied with one thing led Ruby down the path to designing the perfect date. She planned out her outfit, the dishes she would make, and any reorganizing she would have to do. Of course, buying new furniture was out of the question, so she had to settle with the minor successes she could achieve.
After planning out the whole day in her head, Ruby was surprised to find the workday over, and the office empty. She jumped up and cleaned her area before heading out for the day.
One home, she was greeted by a text from Ian and her heart fluttered as she struggled to find the key to her apartment. Ah, in only 3 short days, as today was Wednesday, Ian would be over at her house and maybe this would become a routine.
Flooded by ecstatic thoughts, Ruby entered her apartment and was sobered up by the state her house was in. Now Ruby always knew the condition her house was in, Messy, and that's how she liked it. But after the thought of Ian coming into her home, in this state, unnerved her. She started to panic!
Tossing her things onto the counter and throwing her coat on the sofa, Ruby began to walk around the room, fully grasping the predicament she got herself into. Have him come over to my place! I must have been crazy.
As she walked around, Ruby’s feet hit plastic bottles and cardboard boxes to make room for her pacing. God, what am I going to do?! The more she paced and the more she thought about her surroundings and the date, the more anxious she got. Her only options now as to go through with her date, have Ian be disgusted by her, or faking her death and living the rest of her life in her tiny, trash-filled apartment, away from the world's judgment.
Concluding that neither of those were good options, Ruby opted to call Stacy for some much-needed advice.
Stacy was Ruby’s friend since high school after they met in their junior year. Ever since Mrs. Trulane’s English class, they stuck together as if joined by the hip.
Taking out her phone, Ruby began to inform Stacy, through text. After a few moments, she imputed that the situation was amusing to her friend.
“This isn't a joke,” Ruby sounded irritated.
“I’m sorry, but it really is,” Laughed Stacy.
“I just don't know what to do,” Ruby collapsed on the living room sofa and sighed. Why is it that she always seems to be getting herself in these sorts of situations and Stacy has to somehow come up with a brilliant solution to help Ruby out.
“Well if you really don't want to go through with the date, then don't.”
”But I do!” Ruby rapidly replied. She liked Ian, that isn't to be construed.
”Well then just clean your house, I don't really see this as a big problem. I mean, your house can't be that bad...” Stacy was disillusioned with Ruby’s lack of problem-solving.
”See that's the problem. If I tried, I probably won't finish it until the end of this month. And how can you say that, you've been to my house, it's a pigsty.”
”Ok, nevermind, you are right. You are going to need a special cleaning force to detox your house or you can start house shopping and hopefully be moved into a new apartment tomorrow.” as much as Ruby wished that Stacy was joking, she really wasn't. These were Ruby’s only choices: move, burn her house or cancel the date. Neither of the options seemed to be the right one and cleaning wasn't something she wanted to tackle. But she didn't have much of a choice.
”You really think I can get this house cleaned by Friday?” Ruby was anxious for Stacy’s reply.
”Well if we both did it, then yes I think you have a fair chance. But this means you can't give up halfway. Not like how you did last time when we tried to clean your room.”
Ruby felt a renewal of shame and relief at the idea that Stacy was willing to help. She needed her, but she knew the way she acted when she asked Stacy to help clean her room. Half-way through, Ruby gave up and fell asleep while Stacy finished, not noticing Ruby wasn't helping. Knowing this time was going to be different, Ruby reassured Stacy that she was serious this time.
With that in mind, both girls agreed to start Thursday and then since neither had work Friday, finish up Friday morning. With that amount of time, they should be able to get the whole apartment clean and sparkly and still be able to get Ruby enough sleep for the date.
Feeling elated again, Ruby let her thoughts fall back onto the date and Ian. She left her coat and purse on the counter and made her way to her room. After changing into her pajamas and adding her work clothes to the piles of dirty laundry in her room, she made her way to the living room. To celebrate this success she decided to spend her evening watching her favorite show.
The next day, after work, Ruby and Stacy met up around 4:00 pm to start on the apartment. They worked from 4:00 until 8:00 and Ruby started to notice her motivation dwindling. They only made it through the kitchen and at that rate, would probably finish up by 3:00 the next morning. This meant that Ruby would be missing her favorite show and she couldn't sleep in as she wanted too. Her whole weekend would be off.
With that playing in her mind, Ruby’s effort began to deplete and it was evident in the frequent breaks she began to take. This of course didn’t go unnoticed by Stacy.
“What's wrong?’ Stacy asked as she put down the mop and came near Ruby. Ruby was incharge of cleaning the windows in the living room, but noticing that she had been stagnant for a while and had been in front of the same window for at least 30 minutes, made Stacy suspicious that Ruby wasn’t going to go through with the plan.
“Nothing” Ruby said, shaking her head. But Stacy wouldn’t let up.
“Are you feeling ok? Does your head hurt?”
“No, I'm all right” Ruby let out a frustrated sigh.
“Fine, it's fine. If you don’t want to tell me it’s ok” Stacy went back to mopping.
Ruby continues to work, but her laziness got the best of her. She cracked.
“I can't do this anymore,” she said meekly. Stacy stopped working.
“Why?” she put her mop down and went near Ruby again.
“Because...well because I just can’t” Ruby began to get irritated at everything. The Windows for being dirty, the dishes for not being done, Stacy for helping her, and even at Ian for asking her on a date. She felt like ants were crawling all over her body.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that I don’t want to do this anymore, that’s what!” Ruby’s irritation turned into whining, like a petulant child not wanting to complete her chores.
“Well why? I thought you wanted to go on the date? What changed your mind?” as patient as she was, Stacy’s resolve was beginning to crumble. She knew what Ruby meant, but she wasn't going to let her give up that easily.
“Because it’s not worth it! I would rather sleep in and stay in bed than put up with this! We have been working for 4 hours and nothing has been done! Not one thing! And I'm starting to think this was a waste of time” Ruby exploded. She didn’t mean to yell but it just happened, but she didn’t regret it.
“That’s your problem Ruby, you never think anything is worth it. That's why your house is a pigsty and you are too embarrassed to have other people over. You know maybe if you were prudent and thought about the consequences of your actions I wouldn't need to fly to your rescue every single second.” Stacy didn’t mean for it to come out that way, but she was tired of Ruby’s lazy behavior and was tired of always being the one to fix her problems.
Ruby felt cold, and she felt sick to her stomach. How could she say that? Doesn't she know how hard I worked?
“Then why are you here?” Ruby spat, as if she couldn’t stand to look at Stacy.
“You are right, Why am I here? You can clean up your own problems.” and with that, Stacy collected her things and made her way out of the apartment without looking back.
Ruby stayed by the windows silently, looking away from the door, the way in which Stacy exited. After hearing the door slam closed, she collapsed to the floor. She looked around for several seconds, noting the trash bags that were full of garbage and the smell of lysol. She wanted to stop cleaning and forget about the whole date, but with the way Stacy left, Ruby couldn't help but feel shameful and guilty. She was still upset at Stacy but she couldn’t do this on her own.
Feeling defeated, Ruby climbed onto the sofa and began watching her show. It may have been 12:00 am but Ruby could still stay up and then go to sleep around 3 in the morning. Her whole weekend wouldn't be completely ruined.
30 minutes into her show, she got up to get a drink of water. Her phone chimed and Ruby ran back to the sofa to get it, hoping it was Stacy.
Disappointed as it wasnt, she made her way back to the kitchen and got out a clean glass from the cabinet. She zoned the kitchen area and began to revel in how clean it was. It was gorgeous. Stacy and I really did a nice job and if we kept going maybe…..
Her thoughts stopped short. “What am I doing, I can't keep living like this” she placed her cup down and began to censure herself. She realized that she couldn't keep living life like this, afraid to have people over because her house was so messy she couldn't even see the floor, much less remember its original color. She couldn't keep having this aching insecurity that she was willing to fight with her friend over.
Filled with renewal of motivation, Ruby set out to finish what she had started, this time without Stacy’s help. She didn’t have the guts to ask Stacy to help her after the way she talked to her. Focusing on the problem at hand, Ruby made herself busy and cleaned the house from 1:00 am until 5:00 am. Finally finishing and passing out eventually at 6.
Cleaning wasn't easy, just because Ruby had the will to do it didn't mean she didn't have the urge to give up. Fighting through it, she managed to finally clean her apartment without actually being forced to do so. This was essentially all for herself. Ok, maybe a small part for Ian but it was for herself. She wanted to change, and the date gave her a good reason to do so.
Ruby woke up around 3 in three in the afternoon and only had about 5 hours to get ready and to make dinner. Peeling herself off the sofa, she, for the first time in a long time, woke up to a clean apartment. There were no stains on the counter of the kitchen, no dirty laundry hanging out in every corner of the house, no stale smells wafting through the air, and she could finally see the floor.
This new atmosphere elevated Ruby's spirit. Of course she still had to apologize to Stacy, but this new ambience manifested by the house made Ruby smile wide. Like she knew everything was going to be ok.
And with that outlook, Ruby made her way to the bathroom, ready to tackle her hair and appearance before it hit 8:00 pm.