Pursuit of Happiness

"I'm on the pursuit of happiness 
and I know everything that shine 
ain't always gonna be gold, hey
I'll be fine once I get it, yeah
I'll be good" Pursuit of Happiness by Kid Cudi


The morning after the party, I woke up early to bring Amber her car before her kids had to be dropped off at school. After she took them to school, she drove me back to Rocky's house. I asked Amber what she was doing today since she was off.

Amber told me she wasn't doing much, just errands and stuff around the house. I told her I would give her a call later to fill her in, before she dropped me off at Rocky's. I went inside to check on Rocky; she was getting ready for work. When I asked her how she was feeling, she said she was ok. I told her to call me if she needed anything.

When I left, I drove straight to Trevor's apartment. He should have been getting up soon to get ready for work, but my bet was that he was still in bed. Sure enough, I went into his bedroom and saw him still asleep on top of the covers. I smiled as I grabbed his phone to see if his alarm was set. It was, just on snooze.

I put the phone down and straddled his hips. He groaned when I began to grind against him. His eyes blinked open as he temporarily looked confused. When his eyes focused on me, I leaned forward and nibbled on his ear.

"You hit the snooze button one too many times..." I whispered.

"Not true. I get 1 more." He moaned, stretching underneath me. I moaned too as I felt his hardness pressing against me.

"So 5 minutes? Do you wanna go back to sleep or..." I trailed off, rocking my hips against him.

"Or!" he answered, matching my thrust.

"Great choice." I said, grinning as I sat up and pulled off my dress.

3 snooze buttons later, Trevor finally got out of bed and ready for work. We kissed at the door before we left.

"Thank you for waking me up." Trevor smiled against my lips.

"Happy to help." I said, kissing him one last time before I went home.  I needed to check on Justine. I wasn't sure if Jasmine went home since she didn't come to the party the night before.

Jasmine wasn't home, so I took Justine outside for a walk around the apartments before I got us both food. I then took a long shower, braided my damp hair in a side braid, and threw on clean clothes before pulling out my phone.

My fingers hovered over Nathaniel Stewart's, the lawyer I met, number. After a few moments, I pressed the call button.

"Good morning. Thank you for calling Nathaniel Stewart's office. This is Ashley. How can I assist you?"

"Yes, this is Lily Harris. Is Mr. Stewart available?" I asked.

"He is not. Let me take a message-"

"No, that's ok. I'll call back later. Thanks." I said, hanging up before she could respond. I flopped on the couch and sighed.

I spent a mindless hour flipping through the channels on TV. I eventually got up and started a load of clothes. While I was folding them up, Jasmine came home.

"Hey!" I greeted her, cheerfully, grateful for the company. "Are you off today?" I asked her.

"No. I go in at 2 pm." She said, putting her bag down and sitting on the chair across from me. She handed me a letter. "This was in the mail yesterday."

"Ok. We missed you yesterday. Your rice was a hit. Sammy wants the recipe.” I told her as I re-opened the letter.

"Yeah, I figured it would be best if I didn't come." Jasmine said.

Best not to come?

"Why did you think that?"

"Do you realize Jake still has feelings for you?" She cut me off, in an accusing tone.

I frowned and put the letter on my lap to look at her.

"No, did he tell you that?" I asked.

"He doesn't have to. I can tell. He hasn't dated since you-"

"Yes he has. Alexa." I corrected her.

"That wasn't serious."

"He didn't seriously date before me either, remember? That doesn’t mean he has feelings for me. If anything, he's back to doing his thing. "

"It’s different. I can tell. You don't help things by turning to him, like he's your shoulder to cry on-"

"What are you fucking talking about?"

"Monday. Jake asked me if you were ok because you were upset in his car."

"Ohmygod. It wasn't even a big deal. I wasn't crying on his shoulder." I said.

"I know my brother-" She started.

"I know my brother too but I don't insert myself in his relationships." I interrupted her.

"Ex-relationship. Considering you don’t even want to be around him, I don’t understand how you are so friendly."

"Whatever Jasmine. Until Jake says otherwise, I’m friendly because I want to and he doesn’t have a problem with it. Just because you can't hang out with your ex without fucking him, doesn't mean it's the same with Jake and me. You need to relax and stay out of his business." I finished, firmly.

She stood up, giving me an icy look. "That's a notice that our lease is up for renewal. I just wanted you to know I won't be re-signing. I already gave the office notice and found a place."

"That's great Jasmine. I'm so happy for you!” I said, sincerely.

I was happy she found a place. Yeah, I enjoyed living with her, but not when she got stupid about Jake. I understood sibling loyalty, but God, she needed to get over herself. She was making a problem when there wasn’t one.

Jasmine just nodded and went to her room. I finished my clothes and called Amber. I talked her into taking a break from chores to have lunch with me. Over salads, I told her what was going on with Rocky and Brandon.

"They haven't even told anyone, besides what Brandon said last night. So right now, it stays between us." I finished.

Amber exhaled deeply. "Ok. Why didn't she just let it go and not say anything?" Amber questioned.

"She didn't want their marriage to start off on a lie. She had to come clean. She said she couldn't live with herself." I explained.

"So her guilt was more important than his feelings." Amber stated.

I gave her a side eyed glance. "So are you saying you wouldn't want to know what Will did?"

"Don't even start with me about Will. Men think differently about women and cheating. It's not the same." Amber corrected me.

"So women should get over it and men can't?" I asked her, incredulously.

"No, I'm just saying it's different for men when a woman cheats. It's crossing a huge boundary for guys. It's hard to get to the real issue because they can't look past the fact that someone had sex with their girlfriend."

"I guess Trevor is different because he would want to know the truth. He couldn't get over being lied to. I feel the same way." I said.

"If you say so. I just think sometimes it’s better not to know." Amber shrugged.

"Ok...what did you do today?" I asked, changing the subject.

Her reaction really surprised me, considering how she snooped through Will's phone and followed him around to catch him cheating when we worked together at Dave and Buster's.
I could have brought it up, but I left it alone. Maybe that's how she found her peace with everything; by sticking her head in the sand. It was just hard for me to understand. One of the things I loved so much about Trevor was that I could be completely open with him. Whatever makes her happy, I guess.

She told me she got caught up with housework and got a work out in. She then asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her for mother's day gifts the next day. I really didn't want to, but I agreed. I let her go when she had to run to pick up her kids from school. I headed over to my place to pick up Justine before going to Trevor’s place. I was pleasantly surprised when my brother called.

“Hey bro. How’s married life treating you?”

“It’s great. Doesn't really feel like married life cause we're still settling in, but so far so good. How are you?”

“The same. How was the honeymoon?” I asked, excitedly.

“It was alright.”

“Just alright?” I said, outraged.

“Yeah, I didn't get what Jenna was so excited about, but it was nice. I'll send you pictures.”

“That attitude is why people hate Americans.” I informed him.

 “Speaking of hate, Dad’s not very happy with you.’

I gasped, feigning shock. “What? Dad not happy? With me? No! Never. Hell has frozen over; pigs are flying; bears are no longer shitting in the woods.”

Cam laughed. “I’m guessing he voiced his concerns?”

“Yes, about my hair, my job, Trevor-“

“Trevor?”

“Yes Trevor. He told Trevor he wasn’t right for me.”

“Hmm, he left that part out.”

“Really? What did he say?” I asked.

"Basically, you're ruining your career.”

I groaned. “It’s not even that serious.”

“It sounded pretty serious to me.”

“I'm handling it. I'm in touch with a lawyer right now."

"Ok. Don't make me come down there."

"And do what?" I replied.

"Yank that blue hair out to start." Cam threatened.

I laughed. "Did you knock up Jenna up yet so you have something other than me to worry about?"

"Mind your business." Cam chuckled.

We caught up on the phone for over an hour. He told me about Italy, the house, and the new job he started. As much as I hated not being close, he sounded so happy, it was infectious.

Unfortunately, he killed the happiness by asking what the lawyer said about my job. I filled him in. He was telling me about a wrongful termination that happened at his job when Trevor came home.

I passed the phone over so Trevor could say hi. They talked briefly while I raided the refrigerator. I pulled out left over steak we didn't cook the night before and a carton of eggs when Trevor handed the phone back over to me.

"Hey sis. I gotta get going, but keep me updated with what's going on with your job. I'll let dad know too." Cam told me.

"Ok. I love you bro. Tell Jenna I said hello."

"I will. Love you too."

I put my phone down and smiled at Trevor. "Steak and eggs? Breakfast for dinner?"

"That sounds great." Trevor nodded.

"Good. I'll make the steak, you get the eggs."

While we cooked, I asked Trevor about his day. He said it was long and asked what I did. I told him about my conversation with Jasmine.

"Wait, why were you upset with Jake?" Trevor asked me.

"I wasn't. It's just a stupid song. It always makes me cry. I don't know why." I shrugged. "But she's so sensitivity about Jake. It's kinda creepy. The only disagreements we had were over him. I just don't get her."

"Everything happens for a reason. At least she decided to move out before y'all had a major blowout." Trevor said.

"I know right? Now I gotta figure out what I'm going to do with my lease." I sighed, dramatically.

When Trevor just started whistling, I turned from the steaks and glared at him.

"What?" He smiled, cracking eggs into a pan. "Did you want your eggs fried, not scrambled?"

"I don't care." I huffed, pissed that he didn't even offer moving in together. It's been a possibility of mine for a while now. "That's not how you scramble eggs."

"No?" He questioned, cocking an eyebrow at me.

"No! You have to beat them in a bowl first. That's why your eggs are always separated and have white parts in them." I told him.

"And that's why when you move in, you'll be in charge of the cooking." He winked at me.

I bit my lip to hide my grin. "My place is bigger. You should move in with me." I argued.

"Your place has bad roommate mojo. It always ends badly." Trevor taunted me.  I kicked at him, but he dodged me, laughing.

As we finished cooking, I told him I reached out to the lawyer.

"So you're going to go through with the defamation suit?" He asked.

"I don't know. I was talking to Cam. I might not have to. We'll see." I said, turning off the stove.

I made toast to go with our steak and eggs and we sat at the table to eat.

"That has to stop if you move in with me." I told him as he fed Justine pieces of steak off his plate. "That's why she always hangs around looking pathetic while everyone is eating."

"Justine has a seat at the table at my place." Trevor smiled, continuing to feed her.

"Justine stays at my place. My place, my rules!" I smiled.

As we finished eating, I told him about my lunch and talk with Amber.

"That's perfect." He exclaimed when he found out I was going shopping with her. "I was dreading having to go Saturday. Do you think you can pick up something for my mom and granny?"

I made a face. "No! I have no idea what they want!"

"I always get them the same thing: A cardigan for my granny who's always complaining how cold it is and jewelry for my mom. If you picked them out, you can put your name on the gifts when we give it to them." Trevor smiled.

"We?" I shook my head. "I'm not going with you." I said, picking up my plate and heading to the kitchen.

"What? Why not?" Trevor asked, following me.

"Because, that's your family time. They just want to see you." I said.

"We do the same thing every year. We all go out to Cracker Barrel for brunch. Then, me and my mom watch movies and I take her out to dinner. You being there will make things entertaining."

I grinned. "So I'm your entertainment now?"

Trevor smiled. "Not just that; It'll be a start of a new tradition. 3 generations of mothers."

I blushed, ferociously. "Trevor! I'm not a mother."

"Not yet." He beamed, holding me around my waist. "But you will be." He nibbled on my neck. "C'mon, what do you say?"

I giggled and placed my hands on his face to pull his lips away. "Would it make you happy if I came?" I asked him, seriously.

"I would be over the moon with happiness." He replied.

"Then I'll come." I agreed.

"Good. Now let's go practice making kids." He said, walking me to his bedroom.

"No, the dishes-"

"Can wait. My place, my rules, remember?" He said as we stumbled into his room.

I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck. "How bout our new place, our new rules?"

I squealed when he pushed me on the bed. I held onto him, so he fell with me.

"If that makes you happy. I feel like since I'm working-" He started to tease. I kissed him passionately on the lips to shut him up. I pulled back and we were both breathing heavily.

"I'm working on working. You work on making me happy." I hinted, seductively.

"Yes darling." He breathed, before removing our clothes.

After one long, happy evening, we both passed out, forgetting the dishes. After Trevor left the next morning, I cleaned the kitchen.

When I was done, I dialed Nathaniel's number. There was no hesitation this time. His receptionist patched me through to him.

"Nathaniel speaking."

"Hi Nathaniel. This is Lily. Lilian Harris."

"Yes, of course. How is everything? Did you need more advice?"

"No. I need a lawyer. I'm ready to take legal action."

"You decided to sue for defamation?"

"No. I still don't want to sue a 17 year old girl."

"Mrs. Harris, you don't have any other options."

"I think I do." I then explained to him what I found out from Forrest.

"My brother said I might not have to sue the girl." I said, hopefully.

"He's right. If that's why you got suspended, you have a personal grievance against your job. That has nothing to do with the girl." He said. "Do you have a contact or an employee handbook?"

"I have a handbook." I told him.

"I need it. The sooner I get it, the sooner I can draft an outline for you."

"I'll drop it off today." I said, confidently.

As I headed to my apartment, part of me felt like going after the clinic was the lesser of two evils, but I had no choice. I couldn't just wait around and do nothing. Lauren was a kid who didn't know any better. She didn't owe me anything. At the very least, Sandra could have come and talked to me, especially since her "source" was her boyfriend/ex-patient. Ann could have discussed the rumors with me. They both had choices; they chose to suspend me. I had to do what was best for me now.

So no, bringing legal action against my job didn't make me happy. Unfortunately, it was the first step to getting there.