The summer was coming to an end and the last thing I wanted to do on the last days of summer break was work on lesson plans for the school year ahead. It was crazy to think that I’ve been working at Waverly High for the last 4 years; the class I started out with are now going to be seniors, getting ready to venture out into the real world.
I walked into the make-shift office I made for myself and sit at my desk. I let out a deep sigh, looking at the shelf of books next to the various picture frames on it. I immediately notice the one with Marielle and I. It was back when I visited her family in Seattle and we made the plan to go to the Space Needle.
I took the picture frame and shoved it into one of the filing cabinets in my office, too lazy to replace the photo with another one. I didn’t even have a photo to replace it with.
The doorbell rings, and I immediately go and answer it.
“Hey,” I greeted, seeing Pep standing there with Mollie. Pep smiled, and Mollie immediately entered the apartment once she saw Milo come to the front door. As usual, both kids run off to Milo’s room.
“Thanks for looking out for Mollie,” Pep began to say. “My mom just threw this at me without knowing my own schedule later today.”
“You know I don’t mind,” I answered, putting my hand in my pocket. “Especially Milo.” She smiled, followed by a deep breath. “Are you in a rush, or…?”
“Oh, uhm,” Pep nervously answered, trying to find the right words to say. I don’t say anything else; I opened the door wider, inviting her in. She looked at me, hesitant. “Thanks.” She walked into my apartment, looking around the small common area.
“Make yourself comfortable,” I said, picking up a pile of papers from the kitchen table. “I was going to start working on lesson plans, but who wants to think about back to school already.” Pep laughed, taking a seat at the table.
“Wasn’t ready for school as a kid, definitely not ready for school as a teacher,” Pep teased. I laughed, nodding my head agreeing with her. “You have a cozy place here.”
“Better than my parent’s basement apartment,” I mentioned, grabbing two cans of soda from the fridge, handing one over to Pep. She smiles as she takes it, noticing the can was a Dr. Pepper soda.
“You just got this apartment?”
“I’ve been here for almost a year,” I began to answer. I sat across from Pep, engaging in conversation. “September will make it a year. Milo’s getting bigger, and I felt like he needed a space of his own, clearly.” I pointed towards the closed bedroom door. I’m just glad I can trust Milo and Mollie behind a closed, bedroom door at their age.
“You’re lucky that you found something; my luck has been running thin since getting back to New York.” She huffs, leaning back on her chair with her arms crossed. “Kinda crazy to believe that I’d be the one living back at home nowadays.”
“Life has a funny way of showing you the things you want, but giving you the things that you need,” I commented. Pep nodded her head, taking a sip from her soda.
“Yeah, I need an apartment on a dancer’s salary,” she joked. “That’s nearly impossible.”
“It can’t be as bad as being on a teacher’s salary,” I joked around. She laughed, knowing that I was right. “Also, I was…lucky to get the opportunity to live here–“
“Your ex-girlfriend got you the place?”
“No,” I quickly defended myself. “It’s a 2-income apartment.”
Pep scrunched her eyebrows together. “Don’t you live here by yourself?”
“I work part-time on some nights,” I confessed. No one knew that I was working two jobs to make ends meet, and I wanted Milo to have the best childhood possible while he was still a kid. I refused to put my adult problems on him. Pep seemed surprised, but ultimately nodded her head.
“What do you do?”
“I work nights at a gym. Typical workout fanatics and marathon trainers usually come in during that time, so it’s pretty chill.”
“Milo working at a gym? Who even are you,” Pep teased. “You couldn’t even keep up doing the PACER test in high school–“
“Listen, I was a scrawny teenage boy in high school–“
“Even Connor ran faster than you, and he went on to Princeton for electrical engineering–“
“I know, Pep; I was in the same gym class as you were,” I spat back as she laughed. Some things truly never change about a person. “Anyway, it’s just an extra income needed to stay here.” I left it at that. I felt like it was inappropriate to talk about Marielle after everything that’s happened. Also, it wasn’t any of Pep’s business to know the grit of the situation. We just got on good terms.
“I get it. I was in the middle of getting my masters in business, all while working at the local academy in North Carolina, and now I’m going to have to take a gap year off to start my life over again.” I didn’t realize she went back to school. Pep and school were never compatible.
“A gap year?” I repeated. “I would’ve thought living back at home would’ve cut the cost of living by a lot compared to when you were living in NC.”
“The house was already paid for,” she mentioned. “The estate was in Cullen’s family name, so all we had to do was just keep the lights on in that place.”
“You didn’t have to work?” I asked. She shook her head.
“I danced, I studied, and I took care of Cullen.” I was annoyed that Pep minimized herself to fit a picture that someone else created for her. The Pep I grew up knowing would’ve fought like hell to get her independence. “Needless to say, I’m practically starting my life over. Finally.”
“Finally?”
“I did some traveling around the country. I rebelled,” Pep recalled. “It was like I was running on zero sleep, Red Bull, and adrenaline until I felt like I had no more left in me.”
“So you lived your crazy years in a span of a few months?” I asked.
“Crazy, as in psychotic, manic, and unpredictable as fuck; then yes,” she said, and not in a jokingly way.
“So you coming back to New York was because you needed to reset?” I asked. All I wanted was to get an image of what Pep’s life was like in the time we weren’t talking. It made me feel horrible knowing that this all was happening while I was sitting here, angry at her for everything that wasn’t her fault.
She nodded her head, followed with a sigh. “Trying to. It’s hard, carrying that–”
“Dad!” a kid’s voice yelled out. Both Milo and Mollie walk out of his bedroom door.
“-ish around,” Pep finished saying. “What’s up, guys?”
“Can we go to the park?” Milo asked me.
“The park?”
“Please! We want to go and play at the park!” Milo pressed his hands together, begging me to say yes. I looked over at Pep, watching the interaction.
“I mean, if Pep says it’s okay for Mollie to go,” I looked at Pep, putting the decision on her.
“Please Peppie!” Mollie begged. Peppie. Gosh, I haven’t heard that nickname in so long.
“Fine, fine; but don’t go crazy and twist your ankle or anything; you have a dance recital in a couple of weeks.” The two kids jump in excitement and run back to Milo’s room. I remember the days Pep and I would excitingly run back to my room whenever my family agreed to go outside to play.
“I guess we’re going to the park,” I confirmed. Pep smiled, getting her stuff and getting up from the table.
“Don’t you have errands to run and that’s why you dropped Mollie off in the first place?” I asked.
“No, I said I had a schedule, I never said they were errands.” I laughed, calling the kids out to get ready to leave the apartment.
Letters From Liz. 