A chance and a choice

 What had he walked in on? Randy blinked wanting to really look at what was happening, but he knew he shouldn't. Carmen did not look comfortable, but she was asleep. Hair fanning out as her arms cushioned her face at the coffee table.

Randy titled his head. She looked comfortable sitting there, but no, he couldn't think she would be comfortable. He pressed his lips slightly thinking if he walked swiftly, to his room down the hall, Justin wouldn't even notice.

"What have you been doing?" Justin's voice made him want to jump in his skin. He felt a shiver of regret.

"Nothing." 

Randy looked at Justin over his shoulder.

"Nothing?" Justin came closer and took a good look at Randy in the hallway.

"Well, you know, I've been at Cassie's." 

He shrugged. He always wanted to see her after his day at work. She always enjoyed telling her about her day. Of course, she kept wanting him to do a craft. Actually, he was the one doing the craft and she was telling him what to do. If only, he could get her to try, but she always said she would mess it up.

"And?" Justin looked at him angrily. Randy wasn't sure what he wanted to know. He raised his hands and moved his fingers.

"What have you been doing?" Justin checked out the dry paint on Randy's fingers.

"Oh, you know," Randy squinted as if he hated to tell him what Cassie had him doing. But she had big ideas, and this was her new idea. Repainting Barbie dolls.

Yes, she thought he was great at putting makeup on her. He'd brought her a few Barbie rescues from Good Will because he remembered how she loved her dolls. But somehow, she had lost them in the moves with her mother and had forgotten her love for them. And now this.

Now his hands were tired. Maybe she was telling him to do too much. He knew he needed to think on his own, but there was that girl who came in, in the late afternoon. He found out her name was Monica and she liked to find clothes. He guessed. He still wasn't sure why she found the need to talk to him so much. 

She would wait for him to get off work and offer him a Pepsi and of course, she talked about her dreams too while he waited for his ride home.

He didn't say much to her, and Monica didn't seem to mind, but he thought one day she'd get the picture that he was not typical. He would get on the bus from the group home who would drop him off at the apartment building.

Funny, he felt like he was in two different worlds. Monica's and Cassie's. As long as he didn't say anything everything was all right. He'd have to be this way with Justin too. It was best to just listen.