How to Liv by Megan Keith Read Free Book Online

exercise.  In fact, I rarely left the house for that matter.  I had no life and, other than a strong work ethic, I had very little going for me.
    Joel may be out of the picture but my new haircut, I’d decided, was going to give me the confidence I needed to get out there.  I was going to make more of an effort with my appearance.  I was going to start to look after myself better, do things for me.  Maybe I could even ask the next guy I met out on a date.  I was thirty years old now, that biological clock was ticking and my life wasn’t going to create itself.

    As I sat down to dinner with my family I was truly empowered… until it started to wear off.  My hair was no longer the centre of attention and it made me realise something… it was just a haircut.  It wasn’t going to alter my life.  I wasn’t going to change overnight and become someone I wasn’t.  I wasn’t going to become confident and social and exciting.  I was still plain old Libby Moore.  Had been for thirty years.  Who was I kidding?
    For my birthday, my parents had given me vouchers to be used in any store at the local shopping centre and my sister had given me a gift card for a clothing store.  At the time I’d started imagining a whole new wardrobe, for the whole new me.  By the time I got home, however, reality had set in.  I’d probably just buy something practical and boring, not life altering at all.
    I weakened yet again, fourth time this week, and had a cigarette in the driveway before entering my house.  Then I had a shower, careful not to get my new hair wet so that the style would remain for at least another day.  I brushed my hair quicker than I had ever had the pleasure of doing and again thought ‘why hadn’t I done this sooner?’  Then I plopped down on the couch in front of the TV.
    Ally had gone to her friend Rachel’s house after I’d insisted that I just wanted to go home to veg and I didn’t want to celebrate my birthday anymore.  I hid my feelings well and she had left our parents’ house thinking I was just tired, and not depressed in the slightest.
    I was just dozing off on the couch when my mobile rang.  I looked at the screen that said nine-thirty and realised that, yep, my life wasn’t going to change any time soon, falling asleep on the couch was my usual routine.  I looked at the name on the screen and jolted awake.  Joel?   I stared at it, bleary-eyed, wondering if I was seeing things, but no, it definitely said Joel.  And it was still ringing.  I cleared my throat before answering.
    “Hello.”
    “Hi, Olivia, it’s Joel.”
    “Hi.”
    “Hi.”  Wow, is he nervous?  He’d said that already.
    “How are you?” I asked cautiously.
    “I’m good.  How are you?” he responded.
    “Really well,” I exaggerated.
    “Good.  What have you been up to?”
    “Not much.”  I turned thirty.  It’s my birthday today.  I cut off all my hair.  I may be having a mid-life crisis of some sort.
    “Busy at work?”
    “Yeah, pretty busy.”  Crazy busy.  So glad there is only one day left to the week.
    “Yeah, me too,” he said after a moment.
    Well this conversation is going nowhere.  Think of something.  Speak.
    “Oh?  What is it that you do?”  Yes!  Finally - I can talk!
    “I’m an apprentice tiler.”
    “Apprentice?”  That shocked me.  Isn’t he a little bit old to be an apprentice?
    “Yeah, I kinda got a late start in life.  Change of career.”
    “Right.   What did you do before that?”
    “This and that… went from one job to another, you know how it is.”
    “No I don’t.  I’ve been working at the same company since I was seventeen.”  I was embarrassed by that, though I’m not sure why.
    “Really?   Wow.  What do you do?”
    “Wait for it, it’s very exciting… I work in a factory!” I said with fake enthusiasm.
    “Nothing wrong with that.”
    “I know.  It’s a job.  It pays the mortgage,” I said flopping against the back of the