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Decorating the flat the first time had been entirely Penny’s doing. Miranda had been working on the shop opening and had barely positioned the furniture. She could get a cup of tea, watch telly and go to sleep, it was all she needed.
Then Miranda’s father had sprained, something. Miranda couldn’t quite remember as she had repressed the whole story into the deepest darkest part of her psyche. The short version was that Penny would be ‘frustrated’ for 6-8 weeks. As with most situations when Penny had nothing to do, she proceeded to interfere in Miranda’s life.
There were mood boards and swatches and drapery samples scattered everywhere. There was a lot of talk about what was ‘appropriate’ for a woman of ‘her age’. Penny did let her have a little leeway in the bedroom because of insinuations that no one was going to see it anyways. Rude!
When Gary properly came over after the whole baby gear debacle she showed him around. He nodded along before plopping down on the couch. “ So did you decorate yourself?”
“I did. Well, not entirely, Mum had a hand in it, and a foot, and pretty much did the whole thing.” Miranda finally admitted. She passed him the tea as he smiled knowingly.
“I sort of figured.” He glanced around while taking a sip. “I mean it’s nice but it’s not really you is it?”
“I’ve thought about getting a few new things now that I’m more settled. Maybe some new pictures?” She suggested.
“Why don’t you come to the market with me one of these weekends? Boss always sends me to look for new ingredients but there’s a lot of artists there too.” Miranda’s brain froze. Wasn’t farmers markets a couple thing? Was he thinking of her that way?
“Yeah! That be fun to do together. I mean, not Together but as two people who go to the same place and leave at the same time.”
“Great!” He did that thing with his face that always made her stomach turn to jelly before they both remembered they were supposed to be watching a movie.
The problem when two people both want to hang out but don’t work regular Monday to Friday jobs is plans get cancelled, a lot. It was part of the reason, other than the food, that Miranda hung out at the restaurant so much. It was a guaranteed way to see Gary. They kept trying to make the market trip happen but luck was against them.
When Gary left for Hong Kong the project fell to the wayside. the talk of artisan markets and new decor didn’t hold its allure anymore. After all who was going to see it, Stevie?
Tilly suddenly got enamoured with the ‘Buy Local’ movement and decided that she needed to do all her shopping at non-chain stores. She also decided that she needed to do all this shopping with someone to prove that she didn’t give in and end up trying to pass off Tesco as farmers markers. That someone ended up being Miranda.
Miranda walked through the stalls and tried to stay present for Tilly’s running commentary on the difference between organic and non organic vegetables. It was fun, she found a few neat things to hang on the walls of the flat to make it more ‘Miranda’. But as lovely as a sunny day out with one of her oldest friends was, Miranda couldn’t help the feeling that she should be there with someone else. With Gary.
After her attempt at hosting Christmas, Miranda felt like it was time for another change up. having that many people in her home at the same time made her realize everything she didn’t particularly enjoy about it at the moment.
She rearrange all the pictures, the furniture, moved her fruit friends to different homes, and yet something still felt off.
The wallpaper, she decided it had to be the wallpaper.
Purchasing wallpaper solo was not nearly as difficult as she thought it would be. There was a small, minuscule chance however that Miranda became overconfident with her independence. If buying the wallpaper hadn’t been difficult then surely putting it on the wall would be no problem right?
It started going downhill when she dropped the straight edge. She bent down to pick it up and the apparently insufficiently glued strip of wallpaper fell over her, making it quite difficult to see. Once Miranda realized what had happened, she slowly began to push the paper back up the wall. Since it was still half adhering to the surface, She thought she might be able to simply dab a little more paste behind the floppy bits and continue on the way. This worked in theory, however in practice it led to Miranda leaning against the wall to make sure things were even, and glueing her head to the wall as well.
As the glue began to set, Miranda panicked. She couldn’t reach her mobile and there was no one down at the shop or expected to visit. was she going to be stuck there all day? all week? Her phone rang. “I can’t answer you!” She yelled at it in frustration. After a couple minutes she heard feet on the stairs and a knock at the door.
“Hello? Anybody home?”
“GARY!” She yelled. “Gary help I’ve- well I can’t move.” He opened the door quickly and scanned towards the couch before swinging around to where Miranda was squished against the wall between her kitchen and hallway. He relaxed visibly when he saw it wasn’t anything medically urgent. He folded his arms.
“ That’s it, I’m taking away your HGTV.”
“If you do that I’m not letting you come over to watch bake-off any more.” The pair stared at each other for a moment before Gary sighed sympathetically and rolled up his sleeves.
“You could have called me to help you know.” Gary admonished as he stepped up to assess the damage. He grabbed the paste container and started collecting the necessary things needed to detach her from the wall.
“I thought I could handle it. It’s my flat I should be able to look after it myself.” She grumbled. “Guess not.”
“Some jobs are not meant to be done alone. And even if you can doesn’t mean you have to.” He slowly worked a cloth with soap and water between the layers of wallpaper, hair and paste. They were literally cheek to cheek and Miranda found herself holding her breath to keep from saying anything that might make him move away. as he rescued the last strands of hair he turned to her and noticed exactly how close they were. His eyes lingered on her face before he caught himself and straightened up. “There we are, right as rain.” He moved back bumped into the remaining rolls of paper. “Now, why don’t I help you with this so that you don’t go ruining all my hard work by getting stuck again Hmm?”
Miranda brushed her still slightly sticky hair our of her eyes. “Probably for the best.” She agreed.
It took the rest of the weekend between dance breaks and work shifts but eventually the wallpaper was up, the pictures hung. The flat was fully Miranda-chic.
“Now this, looks like your home” Gary said recalling the first time he’d visited her. He gave Miranda a kiss on the forehead before making his way back to his own abode. As time passes he noticed it was feeling less and less like home to him and more like just a place to sleep.
Something, or someone, was missing.
Miranda stayed happy with her decor for another year or so. She added a small touch here and there but didn’t really feel the need for a massive overhaul. That was until Gary moved in, then it felt incomplete.
So they found new art, together. They chose which furniture stayed and what went to the curb together. They rearranged and reorganized until the whole place was a perfect mix of both their lives. No matter what else changed there was one thing they both agreed on:
The wallpaper stayed.