Pharai
I was awaken by a knock to my door. My body rolled around in bed for a few seconds before I sat up with a gasp. I had changed out of my clothes into grey pyjama pants and a loose white shirt. My hair that I always braided or tried to force into a ponytail was down which was something I never did willingly.
How had I even gotten into bed? The last thing I remembered was standing in the hallway, but for some reason I could not fully remember why. I searched my brain frantically but not an ounce of memory came back to me. Maybe I was searching for Lobdell?
I could not remember.
With a sigh I climbed off the bed and walked to the apartment door. I looked through the peephole and saw Lobdell. I unlocked the door with a small smile.
"Were you asleep already?" he chuckled as he walked in with a small bag in his hand once I had moved out of the way for him.
"I'm not really sure," I scratched the back of my head. My kitchen was absolutely spotless and everything I had bought was neatly packed just the way I liked. I opened the fridge and to my surprise everything was packed in the new containers I had bought. They had even been labelled with expiration dates.
I had no memory of doing all of this but maybe I was so burnt out, it was just muscle memory at a point. Not sleeping well for so many days must have started taking effect.
"I made your tea blend for you," Lobdell smiled as he took the little bags out of the plastic. "I've already sectioned them off for you so all you have to do is put it in a pot."
"How do I do it?" I tilted my head to the side.
"I'll make us a batch," he grinned. It took some searching to find a small pot but eventually we did. He placed it on the four top stove and poured two cups of water inside. He added one bag to the water then let it heat up to a boil, "one bag normally makes two cups so if you don't finish it all you can reheat it later."
"What's inside it?" I asked curiously as I grabbed a small bag, opened it then sniffed it, "it smells wonderful. Sweet even."
"Has some liquorish root in it, I wrote the recipe down for you in case you run out, but I make it so much I'll drop some off," he smiled.
"Thank you," I smiled in return. I leaned against the counter and read through the ingredients. It was fairly simply but the measurements were the part that caught you.
Once he was done he took a small sieve that fit perfectly over the cups and poured the tea for us. We sat down by the living room area and chatted about work.
"How are the students?" I asked curiously.
"Behaved, very passionate about history," he smiled, "they are smart kids though and they are highly curious. Especially the group you'll be lecturing."
I nodded, "the last time I taught lectures I was an assistant professor. I'm excited to get back into the world. I'm probably their age though so that would make things interesting."
"Twenty-seven?"
"On the dot," I chuckled.
"Most of them are around twenty-five to seven so they'll be your peers. You'll have better luck understanding them then myself," he laughed, "I'm thirty-five and the gap between us feels huge sometimes." Before I could respond there was another knock on the door. My surprise seemed to amuse Lobdell as he raised his eyebrow. "Expecting someone?"
"I'm not even sure to be honest," I pouted before I stood up. When I looked through the peephole again a delivery man stood there. I opened the door and greeted him with hesitation. I thought he was lost for a second, "hello?"
"Good evening," he answered, "come in?" he pointed into my apartment. I doubtfully nodded but let him in. He opened his bag and took out three containers of food then handed me the receipt. He did not even wait for me to question him as he left just as fast as he appeared.
When I looked at the piece of paper it showed I had placed the order two hours ago and requested for it to be delivered at 6pm. I looked at the clock that hung on the kitchen wall and was surprised to find it was exactly 6pm. The food had already been paid for and from the looks of it, it was all my favorite, yet there was way too much of it.
I looked back at Lobdell with a raised eyebrow and confused expression. I did not remember ordering any food but it seemed I did not remember a lot of things these days. "Do you want to join me for dinner? I seem to have ordered too much."
"I'll never deny free food," he clapped his hands together.
We dished out the container of koshari, kebab and kofta with the beautiful dessert of umm ali. The food was heaven to my tongue as Lobdell and I continued chatting about the university. There was no possible way we could finish all the food so when we were done I packed it into containers then placed it in the fridge to eat for breakfast tomorrow.
After Lobdell had left I checked my phone, as I sat on my bed, to find I had in fact called the restaurant and asked them to deliver food, even my bank records showed I did a quick payment as well.
Clearly the exhaustion of moving was getting to me. I promised myself tomorrow I would rest and deal with settling in before anything else. I had to sort out whatever memory loss issues I was having before I started lecturing in two weeks.
With a sigh I went to the bathroom, braided my hair into three French braids, brushed my teeth and washed my face before I climbed into bed.