Page 84 of Like You Want It

I wonder if picking up the yoga instructor position is sapping me of my energy. I never had an issue when I was taking yoga as a student. But instructing is a completely different experience, and I’m starting to aggressively dislike both of my jobs.

I let out a sigh, wishing I could just go home and get in some jammies and veg out on the couch with a glass of wine.

But that definitely isn’t in the cards tonight, since I’m having dinner with my brother and my amazing niece.

Yeah, so Christine will be there too, but you have to take the bad with the good, right?

Quickly showering off the smell of coffee grounds and pulling on a comfortable pair of leggings and a shirt that fits loose, I give a few quick pets to Cabbie and put out some food. Then, I hop back into the car and drive the twenty minutes to where my brother and his family live in a town called Altadena.

The houses in this particular area are gorgeous. Lots of old craftsman and mid century modern style homes line the streets, mixed in with the odd Spanish revival with tiled roofs and stucco walls. It’s unfortunate that so many of these massive homes have been broken up into smaller apartments and units to rent. But I guess that’s a better option than demolishing them and building ugly ass apartment complexes.

I’ve always wanted to live in this area, to find a way to buy one for myself. But even just renting in Altadena, which Caleb and Christine do, is too expensive for me.

They rent a small two-bedroom, front facing unit that has a large kitchen and a side-yard for their Chihuahua, Bradley.

I couldn’t stop laughing when Caleb told me about Christine’s new dog, and how Ari refused to call it Pumpkin, which is what Christine called it. Ari wanted to name her Bradley, and eventually, she used that word so much that it stuck. Bradley wouldn’t respond to Christine calling her Pumpkin anymore.

I’m sure there’s something my therapist could tell me about myself in knowing how much pleasure I get from every minor discomfort Christine faces. But honestly, today is one of those days when I just don’t care.

I pull into Caleb’s driveway, a huge smile on my face when I see him playing outside with Ari on the short concrete walkway that leads to their elevated patio.

“Auntie Car!” Ari calls out to me, racing over and flinging herself into my arms the minute I’m out of my Honda.

“Hey there chicken nugget!” I cry out, swinging her around and reveling in the sound of her giggles.

“I’m not a chickenuget,” is her response, her head flopping back and her arms flailing around as I continue to spin her.

“Oh? Then what are you?”

“I’m a hubeen!”

“A hu-man bee-ing,” Caleb says, correcting Ari as he comes closer to where we stand, dizzy and giggly.

“That’s what I say!”

I set her down and smile at my brother. “Hey there.”

And then he does something I’m not used to. He reaches out and gives me a hug. A real one. Something he hasn’t done since… a long time ago.

I squeeze him tight, wanting to enjoy it but not wanting to bring so much attention to the gesture that he gets embarrassed and never hugs me again.

“Good to see you,” he finally says, then steps back. “How are you doing? You look a little tired.”

I roll my eyes and try not to be offended. “Just what every woman wants to hear.”

He chuckles slightly. “You know that’s not what I meant. How are things at work?”

I sigh. “I don’t know. I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

“Alright. Well, remember that I’m here to talk to if you want. And I’ll do better this time to listen and not just tell you to go back to college,” he says, giving me a teasing smile.

I nod and give him a small smile in return, then walk over to take a seat on the steps to his house while Ari continues to play in the grass. Caleb comes and joins me, and we chat for a while, catching up on the past few weeks.

“We’re barely three weeks in, and 50% of my students are already skipping classes,” he grumbles.

I can’t help the laugh that emerges at his frustration. I remember those days, when you’d had too much fun the night before and just couldn’t drag your ass to class for the life of you.

I may have only been in college for one semester, but it taught me enough to know how it works.