Stories are a retelling of the extraordinary events in a person's life. They are never the every day boring things. A lot of stories start off giving you a background of what the ordinary felt like before they hit you with a curve ball about what makes their story special. Some of you are scratching because you just realized this, and others of you are rolling your eyes because that was obvious. Well, sit tight, I'm getting to the actual story part of it.
It all started when the guy I was romantically interested in stopped talking to me. A week after his nonexistent phone calls and texts I lost my job. I had given them two years of my life and they had given me a paper stating to apply again in another year. On top of that, my part time job had laid me off. With nothing better to do, I wallowed in self pity.
For three weeks, I didn't know what day it was. I didn't leave the house for anything more than food, and I watched everything in my Netflix list. It was a miserable existence. At the end of the third week, my best friend couldn't take it anymore.
Gemma Johnson has never let anyone stop her from doing anything she wanted. At 18 she got a tattoo and her mother screamed. By birth, she's a Gemini and she acts like it. Gemma came knocking on my door that fateful day with a plan and a posse.
The doorbell rang and I relished the chance to open the door in my yoga pants and ugly cleaning shirt. When I saw Gemma, I realized I was in for it. Flanking her on the left and right were my sisters Riley and Mimi. I shuddered on the inside. As the oldest of three girls I aimed to be the best example but that often didn't happen. For a split second, I considered not letting them in but I realized that if I didn't, they would just use the spare key I kept outside and come in anyway. I took a deep breath to prepare myself for the storm that was about to blow into my house. I clicked my door open and stepped back.
Gemma pushed herself through the door with shopping bags from Claire's slung under each arm. Mimi had a long box tucked under one arm and cleaning supplies under another. Riley finished off the bunch with her hair cutting bag slung over one shoulder and another shopping bag from Claire's. The three of them pushed past where I was standing behind the door and plopped all of their belongings on my dining room table. They immediately got to work unloading their items and within a matter of minutes my table was full of clothes and chemicals.
"Hey Monica, will you go out to my car and grab the last two bags? You'll see them in my backseat." Gemma called as she was organizing the pile of clothes.
The way she was acting, one would think that I was helping someone else and not being invaded; but nonetheless I grabbed her keys off the table and walked down to the parking lot.
Her Volvo sat freshly waxed in its semi-permanent spot. The bags she was talking about were oddly hot and smelling of Parmesan cheese and garlic. I took a quick peak inside and my suspicions were quickly confirmed. They had brought me Olive Garden! I smiled on the inside as I walked back into my homey apartment.
I had left the three of them alone for less than two minutes and they had completely transformed my apartment. They had opened all of my windows, tucked all of my clean unfolded laundry into a basket and onto my bed, and thrown away all of my take out boxes and brown bags.
"What's going on?" I asked as I set the bag of goodies on my kitchen counter.
Gemma emerged from my bedroom hallway all hot and heavy. "This is your intervention Monica."
"I don't need an intervention. I don't do drugs." I said calmly and genuinely.
"You don't need to do drugs to have an intervention. My friend Emma's sister was addicted to shopping and she got put on this show to learn to deal with it. She had an intervention and everything. It was really-"
"Ok Riley, you can slow down I get it. What do I need to have an intervention for?" I asked crossing my arms in protest. Riley was a Gemini too. Despite the fact that my best friend was six and a half years older and did not have blond hair and blue eyes like the rest of us, she and Riley could have been twins.
"Your life. Just like your apartment it's a complete mess." Mimi, the quiet Virgo chimed in.
"Look, I know I'm not where I expected to be but that doesn't mean-" I started but was cut off by Gemma.
"Monica, have a seat." This time she wasn't as commanding, and I felt better about listening to her. The four of us each took a different seat, Gemma directly in front of me on the ottoman, and Riley and Mimi to my left and right respectfully in chairs that were across from each other. You could have put a small table in between us, and I was not opposed to calling us the knights of the round table. King Gemma began.
"We are here because we care about you Monica. It's been three weeks since you've done anything, and we're worried about you. Pete was a dick, leading you on like that and then leaving. If I ever see him I'm going to kick him where the sun won't shine, but until that day I'm not letting you waste your time dwelling on the fact that the relationship didn't work. It's stupid, and he's stupid. I didn't want you to get hurt in the first place but now that you did, it's definitely time to do something about it. We came here to get you out of your slump and back on my feet." It was touching that the people that meant the most to me were here to help me, but the truth was I didn't want their help. As a Capricorn I pride myself in being able to tackle things on my own, and the fact that I hadn't yet was embarrassing.
I stood up to lighten the mood. "Oh look, I'm back on my feet. Excellent job. You guys can leave now." I smiled half joking, half hoping they'd listen.
"That's not going to work. Look, we brought all of your favorite things; Italian food, Ryan Reynolds movies, and a few new journals. Plus, we brought things we knew you needed." Mimi explained. "Like a closet organizer, and a quick clean up."
"A new haircut, and nail design. Girl they are a disaster." Riley offered.
"And shopping therapy without the actual shopping part." Gemma finished. The three of them looked at me expecting an answer.
"I think the three of you are incredible. I'm sad that it has come to this but I'm so thankful for you. Sometimes a girl just needs a kick in the pants from her best friends to get herself motivated again." I looked around at the incredible people I was lucky to call my family and wondered what I would ever do without them.
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