The Moon Song

"I'm lying on the moon
My dear, I'll be there soon
It's a quiet, starry place
Times were swallowed up
In space we're here a million miles away
There's things I wish I knew
There's no thing I'd keep from you
It's a dark and shiny place
But with you my dear
I'm safe and we're a million miles away
We're lying on the moon
It's a perfect afternoon
Your shadow follows me all day
Making sure that I'm okay and
We're a million miles away" The Moon Song by Karen O

"You should just invite her to live with you Lily." Trevor said over the phone. I looked at my phone in disbelief.

"What?" I asked, sitting up from lying in my bed.

We were watching Her together. I had no desire to see the movie, but Trevor wanted to see it, again, so it was our little phone-movie-date night. Out of respect for our date, I didn't tell him I was looking at apartments for Jasmine while we watched. I groaned when I eliminated another prospect for Jasmine. Trevor asked me what was wrong, so I fessed up. His response that we should be roommates surprised me.

"I can tell that you want to ask her to move in. You're finding any reason to rule places out-"

"That last one had a 25% approval rating!" I protested.

"Ok... People are more likely to complain when they have a bad experience. You can't judge off that alone-"

"One person said small closets. I know how crammed for space I am with a walk in and patio storage." I argued.

"The only way she's going to get an apartment like yours, for her budget, is to have a roommate. You keep comparing all the apartments to yours for a reason: Do you want her as a roommate?" Trevor pointed out.

"Not necessarily." I replied.

"Why not? Think of how much money you would save with a roommate and a raise."

"I have my evaluation tomorrow. Don't jinx me!" I said. "Even so, I couldn't live with Jasmine. It would be... weird."

"Why? Is it weird being friends with her now?"

"Not so far."

It hadn't been. In fact, Kelly's situation brought us closer. I made sure to check in on Kelly. She was communicating, and gave herself a week before she wanted to return back to work. I warned Kelly that the smallest and strangest things could upset her and that she could give me a call no matter what if she needed me. Jasmine shared the same sentiments.

Jasmine and I were communicating daily at this point. We would give each other updates on Kelly, but we didn't just talk about Kelly. We talked about life in general. Like her break up, apartment search and new job prospects or my new relationship, my financial plan and my upcoming work evaluation. Pretty much anything and everything but Jake.

"It's not just Jasmine, but that's a big part of it. I don't know her that well. We get along, but you know I have a tendency to hold things in, get upset, then get impulsive and do stupid things-"

"Yeah, you do." Trevor butted in.

"Shut it T-Rev." I smiled.

"What? I was just agreeing with you." He chuckled.

"Whatever. Even if it was just Jasmine, I would have doubts." I continued. "But it's not. It's Jake too."

"Ok?..." Trevor trailed off.

"That's his sister. They're close knit. Like, key to each other's places, come over unannounced close knit. He hates me. Jasmine and I have an unspoken agreement not to talk about him. If I offered, Jasmine might not be ok with it anyway. Even with Kelly, Jasmine questioned my motives. It's just... messy." I explained to Trevor.

"For someone who likes contracts so much, all you would need is a spoken agreement between you two. It would only be for 5 months until your lease is up; Just enough time for you both to plan and see what y'all wanna do come the summer. Just think about it because Jasmine is not going to ask..." Trevor suggested. "You should also think about how your boyfriend has a place; which you have the key to and an open invitation to come over anytime you want."

I couldn't stop the grin that spread on my face. "I know, but Adam Levine is all the way in California and his new wife wouldn't be very happy with me if I just dropped by..."

"I know what you mean. Scarlett Johansson is always trying to drop by to see me. We have an agreement that she has to call before she comes now."

"I knew that was the only reason you wanted to watch this stupid movie!" I declared. "Your obsession is getting out of hand. It's just her fucking voice in this movie!"

"Shh, you're making me miss it." Trevor hushed me.



The next morning I had my evaluation at work. I was pretty confident I had to be getting a good review. Sandra never had any concerns or even questions about my scheduling or charts. I had no complaints with co-workers or patients. I never called in. With Derek, any and all the conversations he had with me were informal, so nothing was documented as far as my performance with him.

Even with knowing all this, I was nervous. Something about being judged just never sat right with me. I couldn't sleep when I was anxious, so I woke up early and took Justine for a walk around my apartment complex. When I came back, I took an extra long shower and made myself bacon and eggs for breakfast.

After eating, I put on my freshly pressed work polo with my favorite pair of fitted khakis: professional, but they made my butt look amazing. I applied a little make up; foundation, mascara and pink tinted chapstick, and put my hair in a side braid. This was the most I ever got 'glammed up' for work, but it gave me an extra boost of confidence.

"Someone looks ready for a raise..." Jordan greeted me with a smile when I walked into the clinic.

I grinned at her. "I couldn't decide if I should go for professional-I-deserve-this or homely-I-need-this raise look."

"You chose correctly. No one likes a beggar. Good luck." Jordan smiled.

I laughed at her. "Thanks."

I had an appointment with Dr. Lee, Sandra and the new patient Forrest referred to us: Coach Walter Green. He broke his collarbone but decided against surgery and just wanted to rehab. He still had to have a consultation with a doctor to diagnose his injury before we could start rehabbing.

Dr. Lee was very brief. We looked at the X-ray together and saw that his clavicle was already healing after 4 weeks in a sling.

"Forrest said it would heal on its own. I didn't want to take that many days off work for surgery. It's basketball session." Coach Green explained.

"Who is Forrest?" Dr. Lee asked, putting away his charts.

"He's an athletic trainer at the high school." I explained.

"Athletic trainers only assess, never diagnose. Always see a doctor." With that, Dr. Lee bid us a good day in left.

I held back my smirk at that obvious dig at Forrest's profession. Shade alert!

"Surgeries do speed up the healing process but are not always necessary." Sandra started. "Lily, why don't you go over the rehab?"

"Sure." I then went over his 12 week rehab plan. The main focus was regaining range of motion and strength. At the present, the bone was healing, but the tissues surrounding it were injured as well and we had to start working on that. I advised him that he could start cardiovascular exercise if he felt up to it.

"I know you said basketball season is starting. I've seen how crazy it gets on the football sidelines. Is it like that at basketball games?" I asked him, when I finished going over the plan.

"Not as bad, but it has it's moments. Its varsity boys." Coach Green said, proudly.

"I understand. Just take it easy. I still want you to wear the sling, especially on the sidelines, ok?" I instructed him.

"Sounds good doc." He nodded.

"Well I'll let you two work out the schedule. Lily, come find me when you are done. Pleasure meeting you Mr. Green." Sandra said, extending her hand to shake his.

"Coach Green or Walt." He corrected her, shaking her hand.

"Coach Green." She said, with a smile, before leaving.

"Now that they're gone, I have a bone to pick with you young lady." Coach Green said.

I looked up from my appointment book and asked, "Uh-Oh. It's not the broken one?" I smiled.

"You took one of my best players from me." He accused.

I thought about it. "Darren?"

"Yes."

"He is no longer under my care, so whatever decisions he makes are his own."

"He told me you said he needs to choose a sport."

I nodded. I didn't, but Christy, his first therapist, probably did. He didn't need to risk his knee any more than necessary with two competitive sports.

"He would have to pick eventually right? He can't play both in college."

"It's not college yet. He was my star forward."

"He is committed to football. His knee didn't need extra strain if he wants to play at a college level. Besides, I'm sure with you as their head coach, you will lead them to victory without him." I smiled.

"Now I see why Forrest likes to hang out with you: You're both bull shitters."

I laughed at him. We were going to get along just fine. We set up to meet Monday and Thursday evenings. It worked best with his basketball schedule. He was an algebra teacher as well, but school was over by 3pm. His basketball practice lets out around 4:30pm, and his games were on Tuesdays with tournaments on Fridays and Saturdays.

After we set up the appointments, I let him go and joined Sandra in the office. We then headed to Ann, the HR manager's, conference room.

"Good morning." Ann greeted us cheerfully, before asking us to sit in the chairs around the round table.

After telling her how my day was going so far, she dove right in.

"Well Lily, I just wanted to say that you are a wonderful asset to our team. You hit the ground running when you first joined us and took the change in management with stride. My only comment would be to continue what you're doing and you will have a long career with us." Ann told me.

"Thank you. I appreciate that." I smiled.
Ann turned to Sandra.

"I want to add to that by saying you made my transition easier. This is a team environment, but ultimately, your choices are your own. It makes my job so much easier when I have team members I trust to manage their time, patients and skills properly."

"The only thing I would ask you do is step up more. If you see something that needs to be corrected or could be done better, speak up. Team members come to me asking about techniques and ideas about managing difficult patients that I see you demonstrate regularly. I would like you to share some of that knowledge. It will only make the team better." Sandra spoke to me while I nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course." I agreed.

Sandra turned back to Ann.

Ann turned to me. "Like I said, you are an asset to our team and we want to keep you here for a long time. We acknowledge your hard work and would like to offer you an 8% raise."

I did the calculations in my head. That would be a little less than $500 extra a month. That was Sammy's portion of the rent right there! I smiled brightly.

"Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to a long career here as well." I said, before standing up and shaking both of their hands before leaving. I held back on doing my happy dance, but headed straight to Jordan before my next appointment.

"How'd it go?" Jordan asked me.

"Happy hour, first round on me!" I smiled.

"Yay!!!"

We planned to meet up at Memphis in Addison to celebrate. Q must have had a great review too, cause he offered to buy the second round.

I went home and changed into denim jeans, a navy long sleeved plum top, and black ankle boots. As I unbraided my hair, I talked to Trevor. I sent out a text to everyone, telling them I got a raise and invited everyone to celebrate. He told me congratulations and promised we would celebrate this weekend.

After I got off the phone, I headed to the bar.



"So what percentage did you get?" Derek asked me as Amber, Jordan, Steven and I found a group of tables by the bar.

Normally, I wouldn't tell anyone how much I was getting paid, but Derek, being my former boss, already knew, so I leaned in close and told him.

"Nice." He said, nodding his head. "They keep it around 5%-6% the first year. They really want you to stay."

I beamed as Q and Denise joined us at the table. I didn't know when I first moved to Dallas if I wanted a career at a sports clinic, but I was enjoying it so far and I was good at it. I really was content in all aspects of my life. It was an amazing feeling.

"Where are Kendall and Heather?" I asked them as we looked over the shots menu with Amber. I wanted to wait until all my coworkers got there before we ordered.

"Kendall's not coming. Obviously, he didn't get a raise." Q smiled.

"He shouldn't-" Robert started, while everyone laughed. "Not like that. I was told I wasn't eligible for a raise until after 6 months." He stated.

"They told me the same thing." I nodded in agreement.

"That's right." Derek confirmed. "They want to see your work ethic."

"I'm guessing he heard something he didn't want to hear." Jordan smiled.

We ordered shots and Rocky, Jasmine, and Sammy joined us when they got off work,

"So how much are y'all getting paid?" Sammy asked with a smile once she had a drink.

I laughed. "None of your business. But when I heard it, I was *this* close to doing the Shmoney dance in front of them."

Q burst out laughing. "What do you know about the Shmoney dance?" He asked me.

"Everything." I smiled.

"I still haven't figured out how to do it." Amber laughed. "I've seen Vines of it every day since the video came out."

"Wasn't that Diddy's dance first?" Robert asked.

"Naw son. That dance has been around forever. This new rapper brought it back and it went viral." Q explained, his east coast accent coming out. I laughed at him

"I wanna see it!" Jasmine laughed too.

"Lily knows everything about it. I wanna see her do it." Q replied.

"No one is even dancing yet. Besides, I can't do it to this song." I declined.

"If you knew what you were doing you could do it to any song." Q challenged me.

"Shut up!" I exclaimed.

"I know if you tip big enough, they take request." Sammy grinned.

"No Sammy." I said, downing the rest of my shot. "Let's go Q! I'm not dancing alone."

He stood up and we went out to the empty dance floor. We did the Shmoney for a while before everyone else joined us. I was laughing and having a good time til I noticed Rocky frowning at her phone. She was still seated at the table. She had been on it all night. I left the dance floor to join her.

"What's up?" I asked her, sitting beside her, trying to peak at her phone.

"Nothing." She said, putting her phone away. "Why did you tell Bilal I wanted him to commit in college?" She asked me.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "He told you that?"

"Yes." She said simply, crossing her arms while studying me.

"He was talking about Noorie trying to change him, and how it didn't work out with you for that same reason. I told him that wasn't what happened. I really just told him that so he would talk openly with Noorie, not talk to you about it." I explained.

"Well, he did." Rocky grumbled.

"Be right back!" I said, before leaving her.

I stepped outside with my phone to call Bilal. That was another unspoken agreement: Don't tell Rocky what I told you in confidence! I was surprised Rocky didn't go off on me. I wasn't giving him the same courtesy.

He didn't answer so I called Trevor. I figured if he wasn't home with Bilal to hand over the phone, I should give Trevor fair warning before I asked his roommate what the fuck was his problem.

"Hey sugar momma." Trevor answered the phone.

I laughed. "Such a sweet talker. You know how to romance a woman." He laughed and I heard a lot of wind in the background.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, curiously.

"Just sitting on the balcony. Looking at the moon." Trevor answered, quickly.

"Why?" I asked him. There sure was a lot of wind...

"Because it's nice. Can you see it?" He asked after it quieted down.

I looked up towards the sky. I stepped away from the building and finally I got sight of it.

"I do..."

"Even though we're apart, we're staring at the same moon. Kinda sweet." Trevor commented.

I smiled. "Yeah, sweet and a little creepy."

"See what happens when I try to get romantic with you? You kill it." Trevor laughed.

I laughed too. "I'm sorry. I loooove the moon. And I love you."

"I love you too. What's up? Are you still out?" He asked me.

"Yes. In fact, I'll give you a call when I get home." I didn't want to disturb his moon gazing with my complaining. Besides, I was taking his advice and looking on the bright side. Hopefully Bilal got his closure and would stop sabotaging relationships.

"Ok. Take care."

I got off the phone and joined my friends back in the bar. I forced Rocky to put away her phone and dragged her out to the dance floor. We joined Amber and Q as he taught her the Shmoney dance. We had a blast.

First thing when I got home, I called Trevor. I was on the phone with him when I heard a knock at my door.

"One second. There's someone at my door." I said.

"Were you expecting someone?" Trevor asked.

"No..." I said, smiling. I automatically thought it was Trevor. That was just like him to try to surprise me.

I looked through the peephole then stepped away from the door. I unlocked the door as I said simultaneously on the phone, "T-Rev, I'll call you right back."

"Who is it?" He asked, concerned as I opened the door.

"Jake." I said, as my eyes met Jake's.