Georgina

Georgina sighed, another hard day at work.

Working minimum wage sucked, but so did the piles of unpaid student loans and overdue late fees. She didn’t have a choice, Lucien and her barely scraped by with their savings and the wills left behind by their parents. They didn’t have anything to their name, but they had each other.

Goergina knew Lucien would be working a night shift, and so she kept some leftover dinner for him in the fridge, and decided to go to bed early. She had another full shift in the diner tomorrow, and she needed her energy to be fully charged in order to deal with the idiots that flocked to the greasy eatery.

She was deep asleep when Lucien returned home, he was dirty and sweaty. Smelled like shit, felt like shit, but the sight of his girl sleeping soundly hugging his frayed pillow made him smile. It was almost time for her to wake up for work, and so he planted a sloppy kiss on her full lips. “Angel face, wake up.” He was a man of few words, and the truth was his girl talked more than enough for the both of them combined.

“Hey baby.” She whispered sleepily, eyes half open. “How was work?”

“Shit.” He grunted, shoving his bag to the side and removing his boots. “I’m gonna shower.”

She nodded tiredly, giving his hand a squeeze before rolling back into her slumber.

Lucien washed off the grime of the nights work with a heavy sigh, the water was freezing cold. And it wasn’t like they could afford electricity wasted on a heater. Everything I’m their apartment was falling apart, the roof in the kitchen was leaking constantly, the bed was uncomfortable and creaky, and the microwave barely worked. They had no television, no sofa, just a mattress on the ground and a few small knick knacks.

He wished he could give her better, she deserved to stay somewhere with a beautiful scene or a marble floor. But all he could afford was rotting floorboards and dollar popcorn.

He would make things good for them, he vowed. One day in the future gone would be the days of them scraping by on leftovers and marked down food. Lucien would buy her whatever she asked, jewellery, bags, even a dog if she wanted one. He would give her the world if he could, and all she asked for was him.

Goergina joined him in the shower, hands wrapping around his trimmed torso to press her soft body against his. Lucien grunted, hands going over her smaller ones. They didn’t speak as he washed her body, she was still sleepy and barely awake. But each time he bent down she pressed a sweet kiss to his cheek causing his heart to flutter.

“Go sleep baby.” She cooed, rubbing her thumb over the bags under his eyes. “I’ll see you tonight?”

He sighed in disappointment when he remember he had another night shift, “I have a night shift again.”

She bit her lip in sadness, stroking his face gently. “That’s okay, I’ll bring back something from the diner so you can have dinner. Just microwave it.” Lucien was a hard worker, and it hurt Georginas heart that it was at the expense of his health.

The two parted, Georgina going to the diner for a long day of orders and unnecessarily rude customers. And Lucien to sleep, well deserved after a twelve hour night shift. A relationship like theirs was hard, but the two were so happy and content with one another that it was difficult not to look past the flaws. Sure he couldn’t provide her a perfect house and good food, but he tried his best to show her that he loved her and listened to her. He gave her memories, feelings and played her body so well during sex that it was easy to stay with him.

Her man was himself, he wasn’t perfect or always sweet. But he was truly and wholly himself, and that’s what she loved about him.