ONE - The Funreal

My grandmother is a strange person. She goes to funerals for entertainment. This funeral in particular is Tommy Manson's. No one liked him, he was a school bully, and never left our small rural town of Center City. He died in a car accident after leaving a bar in the next town over. His parents, girlfriend, and young son, Tommy Jr., were the only family he had, so local police officers and those of us who went to school with Tommy came to comfort them. I was not originally planning on being here, but Gran said it would be good for me to go because I had known him. We arrived late, but no one seemed to notice. The room was full of people, but there were few tears shed for the town drunkard.

My grandmother may have had a morbid fascination with funerals, but she is also the most empathetic person I know. "It's a shame he died so young. And with a toddler at home too."

"Gran, I'm pretty sure she was going to leave with the kid soon anyway. I heard from Zack that he was hitting her."

I should mention Zachary Holland is my best friend. Always has been, especially after everything that happened in middle school, but let's focus on the present for now. I notice that he is across the room from us, standing with a few other police officers, including his partner, Samantha Garcia.

"Speaking of Zachary," my grandmother says quietly, "when are you going to go out with him."

"Gran! We're just friends! Don't read into it just because he's a guy," I whisper back impatiently.

We quietly pay our respects to Tommy's family, and I notice that his son looks like he did back in elementary school. Wind swept blonde hair and mischievous green eyes. I just hope he grows up to be a better classmate, and a better man, no that the bad influence of his father is gone. I walk over to Zack and Sam to say hello, and Gran winks at me before heading toward the door.

"They drove separate tonight, so I'll go ahead and leave. You'll have a way home."

My thoughts briefly go into overdrive: WHAT! No, no, no. First, how does she know? Second, I am not going to mooch off Zack for a ride home. That's redic– oh great. She's gone.

"Hey, Alex!"

"Hi, Sam. Is he behaving himself?" Samantha and I were quick to be friends when she moved here last year. She is the first female officer to be partnered up with Zack, and I honestly think they'd be good together outside of work too, but Zack never listens to me saying that it's against force rules to date your partner.

She laughs "Yeah, most of the time. I still have to keep an eye on him sometimes though."

"Unfortunately, my grandmother left me here, and I don't have a ride home."

"It's okay, we drove separately tonight. I'm sure Zack wouldn't mind giving you a lift."

*So, Gran was right, and Sam wants me to go with Zack even though she lives closer to my apartment… odd…*

"I would help you out, but I've got a date after this, which is why we drove separate tonight."

*Oh, that makes sense. *

"In fact, I should be going. I need to change clothes of course." She leaves with a twinge of pink in her cheeks, and I can tell she is overly excited, which I can't blame her since the both of us seem to be terminally single.

"Hey, Lex! Did I hear that Gran left you behind tonight?" Zack is kind, too kind somedays, and I can tell I don't have to ask for a ride.

"Yeah, sorry to be a burden."

"Never. Want to go to the little café down the street from here? I hear they have great bubble tea with popping boba. My treat."

Damn. I'm a sucker for popping boba, and he knows it. "I suppose."

We walk down the street from the funeral home and enter the little café. I look up and find that the menu is vast. I finally settled on a classic: small mango green tea with popping boba. Zack gets the Tiramisu bubble tea with cream float, and I wonder how he's going to sleep tonight. We sit down at a little table for two next to the window. I notice that the little café has a romantic vibe to it, and to make things more awkward, it appears to be decorated for Valentine's Day a week early. As awkward as I felt being there with my friend, I suddenly felt bad for Tommy's girlfriend.

"It's a shame that Tommy had to die at such a young age. I mean, I know no one liked him, but it's sad that his son has to grow up without a father."

"Yeah, but now his mom doesn't have to go through the abuse anymore, and she has a chance to find real love, and then he has a better role model anyway. In some ways, Tommy's family might be better off without him. I'm not saying that his death was a good thing, because it's not, but maybe it was just part of God's plan."

"I guess you're right."

"Anyway, enough about depressing funerals. What's been going on in the world of Alexandra Kay?"

I hate that he not only used my full first name, but my middle name. "Not much. I'm doing well with my online classes, and I have quite a few more finished drawings. I finally got the landlord to send someone to fix the faucet in my apartment, so that's good. The Moran household seems to be doing well. I had dinner with my parents tonight, which is why I came with Gran."

"Good. I hope the faucet leak didn't do too much damage to that cabinet. Have you finished the remodel of your bedroom yet?"

I'm surprised he remembers. "Yeah. No more sleeping on the couch in the main room. What about you? How's work been?"

"Good. Crime has been down the last few weeks, but boring is good in my line of work." I chuckle at the comment, knowing how tough some of the days on the job can be for him. I wish I could do more to comfort him somedays, but he likes to keep the deep dark stuff out of our conversations. "So, Sam had a date tonight. You jealous?"

"Not of her date, no. Why?"

"Wait, so you're jealous of her? Interesting. A cute cop like you shouldn't have so much trouble getting a date."

"You'd be surprised by the number of girls that throw themselves at me, but they're just girls. I'm looking for a woman who has standards."

"Good luck with that." I say, partly mocking, but also commiserating. It has gotten hard to find someone out there that wasn't like Tommy.

We talk some more like this for a few minutes as we finish our drinks. It feels nice to talk to someone for a while. When I'm drawing new designs, I tend to hole up in my apartment and not come out for weeks, which happened yet again this month. I hadn't seen anyone in three weeks until tonight, and I don't really count my parents, so talking with Zack felt good. Talking with Zack always feels good. I feel comfortable enough to be myself around him. No mask of happiness or the need for professionalism, just my authentic, no holds barred, self. I sometimes wonder if he feels the same around me though, lately it seems like he's been keeping something from me.

We drive to my apartment in a comfortable silence, which is odd for a police cruiser. I get out, and he walks me to my door on the third floor. "You didn't have to come up. You could have dropped me off at the door."

"I know."

"Well, since you're here, come on in. I'll show you what I've been working on that's kept me cooped up all this time."

He follows me into the apartment, and we head over to my workstation. I show him the collection of sundresses and summer blouses I have been working on for the past few months. I was a bit embarrassed when we reached the last page, a formal gown with lace and fabric flowers that I spent a week perfecting.

"Wow."

"I know right. I surprised myself this time."

"You have real talent. I don't understand why you keep doing this stuff freelance. Why not get a job at a larger company?"

"No credit. Large companies never give credit to the designers, it becomes a joint effort. Not to mention the fact that everything changes so many times before the final product that you hardly recognize your own design." There was a bit of a pause, and I could tell Zack was thinking what he's always telling me: 'You have the potential to do more, why stay cooped up in your little apartment when you should be sharing your work with the world.' But I'm just not ready yet.

"Hey, it's getting late. Don't you and Sam work an early shift tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Thanks for sharing these with me. Maybe we can get together sometime next week, I've got some vacation time."

"I've got an interior design job next week, if you wouldn't mind doing some heavy lifting."

"No problem. Anything to spend more time with you."

I snickered a bit at how cheesy that sounded, but he's right, we haven't hung out just the two of us in a long while.

"I'll let you sleep. Let me know by the end of the week when you want to do this job. That way I can request the day off."

"Yep. See you soon."

As Zack leaves my apartment building, I start to get ready for bed, thinking about how I also envy Sam for having a date tonight. On the other hand, it's been so long since I went on a date, it may have been more anxiety filled than enjoyable at the moment.

Before stepping into the shower, I pause, seeing the reflection of my hazel eyes in the mirror, letting my gaze rest on my long strawberry blonde hair. I really need a haircut but haven't had time since I started on my latest summer design collection. I decided I would schedule one in the morning so it would look better by the time I get to the client appointment I have next week.

The interior design job is set for Monday. I text Zack the details and begin to start the idea process for the job. The client wants sleek black and white, but I'm hoping that he will like my idea of adding subtle blues to accent the spaces he's asked me to design. Black and white can be too sharp, and unwelcoming. Blue helps soften the space a bit, making it feel cozier.