Melissa came home from work that evening, tired right down to her bones and every muscle aching.

The workweek is officially over.

Now it was time to…

Scream.

Melissa wanted to officially scream.

The tiny one-bedroom apartment was a mess.

It was a mess when she’d left.

It was worse now:

Soda and beer cans everywhere:

By the couch, on the coffee table, left upon bookshelves, on the T.V. stand.

The ones that were empty were dented and crushed.

Fast food wrappers rolled around the floor in the fan-manufactured breeze and pizza boxes dotted the carpet.

If she hadn’t just gulped fresh air, Melissa might not have recognized the distinct odor of unwashed clothes.

She high-stepped over cans and garbage to the washer and dryer and opened the laundry closet doors.

A basket full of dirty clothes had been propped up on top.

The laundry was in the washer…but it was wet and spoiled.

This was the load she’d started this morning, just before leaving for work!

“Douglas!”

Her boyfriend came tromping out of the bedroom.

He looked like he’d just gotten out of bed.

His scraggly dark hair tumbled over his face in places even as parts of it stuck out at strange angles in the back.

He definitely needed a shave;

Doug was the kind of man who just couldn’t grow a beard and his facial hair only came out in ugly and scraggly little patches.

From three feet away, Melissa could tell Douglas had been smoking naughty substances.

“Sorry,” he let out a yawn.

“I was taking a nap.”

“You were supposed to be cleaning up,” Melissa said.

Doug waved it off. “I will, I will. Don’t worry about it.”

That’s what he’d said yesterday.

And the day before.

And the day before that.

“Did you at least look for a job”

“Yeah…” Doug stuttered. “I did.

No interviews lined up yet, but I put my resume everywhere.”

Melissa knew it was a lie.

Nevertheless, she persisted. “Yeah? Like where?”

Doug huffed. One of his tells.

“Um…you know. Everywhere. Retail mostly.

Places that don’t require experience.

Entry-level jobs. That kind of thing.

” Oh sure. That kind of thing.

It must have shown on Melissa’s face.

“You okay babe?”

Something inside Melissa snapped just then. “Yeah.” she said.

It was her turn to lie. “‘excuse me for a couple of minutes.”

“Um…okay.”

Melissa walked back out into the parking lot.

The first thing she did was bury her face into her hands, and scream into them until the tears started to leak out.

Why?!

Why did she have to be in love with such a loser?!

It was just endless frustration!

Douglas wasn’t always like this.

He used to be charming and energetic and motivated.

But Douglas was a bottle rocket.

He’d charge headfirst into something,

full of big ideas and great ambitions,

Then something would deter him, or distract him, and he’d go veering way off course, and then just peter out.

Some said that Doug had undiagnosed ADHD.

Lots of energy, no focus.

Others thought he was an “Adult Gifted Kid” and he’d gotten by on his own natural talent (and he WAS talented) for so long that he never really learned how to work hard for something.

But really, Melissa felt, Doug was really just a big kid; and not in the good or fun way.

He’d throw his heart and soul into something for a few days, like a kid getting new toys on Christmas, and then be bored and listless again immediately afterward.

Laying around the house, drinking sugar and booze, and eating like he was still a teenager

Cleaning house like he still had his mother to pick up after him.

It was then that she knew what she had to do.

Taking her cell phone, she dialed an old college friend of hers:

One who lived nearby and she’d kept in close touch with

one whose career had taken her far away from a career in dentistry.

It went straight to voicemail.

Damnit.

“Hello, thank you for calling Mommy Vee. If you’d like to schedule a recording session-”

Melissa hung up.

Damn it.

This was not the sort of thing she wanted to leave on a voicemail.

Her phone buzzed just a second later.

“Veronica?!” Melissa said, picking up the phone.

“Melissa? What’s up?”

“Remember that thing we talked about…?

The thing about if and when I was ready for it?”

There was a brief pause as Veronica chewed on her lip from the other end of the line.

“You want to be one of my models?”

Even though her friend couldn’t see her face, Melissa was shaking her head.

“No, she said. Well…kinda. It’s complicated.”

“How complicated?”

“Let’s just say that I need your help, and I think I have an idea that might be beneficial to both of us.” Melissa gritted her teeth.

“But I’d definitely need your help at first, financially…”

She explained her plan…

By the time Melissa was explaining her idea, Veronica was laughing so hard.

“No no no, stop. Stop. I’m in! I’m in! Consider me an investor and supplier!”

Melissa said her goodbyes and had her tears replaced with a devious smirk.

“Everything okay ?” Douglas asked her when she came back in not quite ten minutes after she’d left.

“Yes.” Melissa said. “Just had some last-minute calls I had to make to the office.

Do you wanna do something tomorrow?

I’m starting to feel some cabin fever is all.

Been close to a month since I’ve been somewhere besides the office or home.”

Her boyfriend looked around at the pile of junk that he’d littered all around the apartment.

“I mean yeah. I just thought we’d spend part of tomorrow cleaning up.”

If not for her phone call, Melissa would be bristling right now.

“We’d” clean it up. Douglas had made ninety-nine percent of the mess.

He couldn’t be bothered to learn to cook, or bring garbage to the dumpster, but “we’d” clean it up.

If she was having second thoughts, she wasn’t anymore.

“It can wait. Let’s order pizza and just watch some T.V.!”