Chloe woke up Monday morning with new energy and a goal to do what she wanted from now on. She went to work after getting dressed in her shopping spree outfit. She was wearing a new pencil skirt and a cute purple silk blouse. She had new Donna Karen nylons and new Jimmy Choo strappy black pumps. She had always wanted to own a pair of Jimmy Choo's. Of course, she knew she couldn't afford a second pair and probably shouldn't have bought the first.
But she was going to pick out her own clothes without Jon's input for once. She even had on a new purple bra with matching lace panties. She had spent more on her outfit than possibly her entire wardrobe her whole life combined. She felt on top of the world for the first time in her life and thought to herself, Kendra is right; I really should live a little.
She opened her phone and looked at an email Kendra sent her earlier that morning with their bucket list from 15 years ago. Well, she would get started on some of these. Maybe the 'have sex in an office' would be overkill. But then, sex with her husband obviously was one-sided. If she were going to even the score...what was she thinking? She had never been the one to initiate anything of the sort. How could she possibly ask Nicki something like that? Bill would be easier; he was begging for it. She read over the list to see what else was doable.
Our Awesome Checklist of Living Life to the Fullest:
The following are in no particular order and should be completed as such except the last one, which should be completed last. Once all 50 are complete, life will have been lived fully, and we, Kenny and Chloe, will have enough experience under our belts to create new awesome adventures full of life and void of boring shit.
Such ambitious teenagers we were, Chloe thought as she read over the list.
She could do a few of these. Get satin sheets, Make rainbow cheesecake cupcakes, Try every flavor at Screaming Brain Freeze, Have sex in an office…
Chloe sent Kendra a text.
Kenny, I just read your email. Some of this stuff is crazy but, you're right...I really need to get out more. How many of these have you checked off so far?
It's awesome, isn't it! I found it a few months ago, and I haven't really started checking them off yet. We can update each other or something. I have to make sure you actually follow through. Lol.
Well, some of these were going to be tough. Kendra had said she would check up on her. Some of the things should be done together, it was a must, like visiting all five continents. And Chloe couldn't imagine doing it with anyone else. She would make a note to include her best friend when checking them off. Others she could totally do alone with no need of Kendra checking in on her, such as giving a $100 tip.
She was starting to get excited about it. Actually, this might be a little fun. She felt like she hadn't lived much at all yet, and time was ticking. She wasn't so young anymore. She needed to get out there and enjoy the life she had already wasted her twenties. Okay, today, she would try and be a little more adventurous and live her life to its fullest.
Chloe walked into work, and everyone did a double-take. Lauren at the front desk asked if she had done something with her hair. No, but that's a good idea. Bart, the permanent water cooler resident, asked if she had lost weight recently. No, but isn't awesome what a good fitting bra and a new outfit can do for one's figure. Even Geri from Human Resources asked if there was something different because she had a new "happy glow." A "happy glow?" Well, your life being turned upside down in a day does give you a new perspective on things.
Chloe got busy with work by first pulling all the files that Jane was to work on for the day and printing out a copy of Tomorrow's agenda to make copies for Francis. She had scanned all of Jane's work and copied the memos and agendas for today and tomorrow for Francis before ten o'clock. She was headed back to her desk when she saw Bill coming around the corner.
"Hey, Bill." She smiled to herself mostly as she greeted him. He started to say something most likely inappropriate but was tongue-tied. She never called him Bill, always Mr. Moore. And she was definitely in a great mood today.
"Er… Hi. Uh, Chloe." He managed to fumble out.
"Lunch today, right?" She asked as she paused at the corner to wait for his answer. She had just let that slip out to see what he would say since he was so tongue-tied.
"Lunch?"
"On Friday, you said we would have lunch today, and you said you knew where to get a good wiener. I don't know about you, but I could go for a good one, makes my mouth water thinking about it." She grinned at him. She wasn't sure where she was going with this and he was completely taken aback. "Billy? You okay?"
"Billy? Huh, oh yeah, I'm fine. Yes. Lunch today, right."
"Good, can't wait." She smiled again and left him with his jaw hanging open and a deer in the headlights gaze. When she got back to her desk, she sent Nicki a text asking him if he wanted to meet her for dinner and they could maybe go over their book club reading together. They met on Thursdays every other week for their book club. Most of the time, she got through half the book before she gave up and read the last chapter. Nicki would fill her in on the way over to the meeting what parts she was missing.
Nicki responded almost immediately, saying he would love to and would be waiting for her after work. She did like him a lot and was really excited about it. She worked for the Baker Marketing Firm for about eight years, and Nicki started about a year and a half after her. They hit it off right away, as her computer at the time was complete trash. It was an older model, one of the last ones left during the upgrade. He would come by often to help her reboot. She had always thought of him as her work husband. Oddly, she had never really thought about him in a romantic way. At least she hadn't until he confessed to her yesterday.