I paced around the house.
The time said it was some minutes past three. What exactly was she doing that it had to take her up to two hours to complete?
I sighed and slumped on the bed.
But whatever she was doing to him, he deserved it.
I stared at myself in the mirror.
I looked drained. My eyes lacked life as dried tears lined down my face.
"Scott'll be here soon," I said and got up, heading for the bathroom.
After a nice bath of warm water, I prepped up. I was supposed to thinking of work and not Scott. He was not even going to show up until I had closed from the Cafe.
I sat in front of the darned mirror.
"You better not show up again, you stinking ass," I retorted.
"Why? Are you scared of me?" The little voice whispered in my ears.
"I'm not. I just don't want you to mess up my day. It's already bad enough."
I watched myself in the mirror as I styled my hair with a little claw clip. I wore a beaded necklace and added some light accessories to my hair and my hands.
The keyhole suddenly began to jiggle and soft clicking sounds emitted from the door.
Samantha stepped into the apartment as soon as the door flew open. Her face shone with anger and disgust. She stared at me, knowing fully well that I had something to say.
"What the hell did you do?" I asked, facing her.
She remained silent, instead, she flung a bag towards me.
I caught the bag. It was medium-sized and shone like a gloss in black. In gold, 'Chanel' was boldly embroidered on the front while the back of the bag was matte, unlike the other shiny parts of the bag.
If I could recall, it was the same one I got for Thomas. How did she get her hands on it? I thought he had given it to the other girl.
"How did you get this?" I asked her as she sat on the bed, taking off her shirt.
"Just shut up and keep it. Take it like it's a gift from me."
"It's not a gift from you. This was the same bag I gave Thomas!"
"And I got it back for you as a gift."
"What were you doing outside for almost three hours?"
"I went to pay your friend a little visit," she smiled.
"What did you do?" I frowned at her.
"Oh, nothing much. I just had some difficulty finding his place. Since someone wouldn't tell me," she gave me the side eye.
"But when I finally got to him, I slammed that bad boy's head on the table and had him frog jump for about twenty minutes in front of his friends."
My eyes widened.
"Then I had him take me to that chick's house and got back what belongs to my sister. I would have probably been in jail if I had gone any further. So like I said, nothing much," she shrugged.
"You're making it seem more subtle than it looks, aren't you?"
"You know I've never been good with words. You'll see for yourself," she smiled as she scanned my attire, noting my jewellery, "You look so nice right now. What's going on? Got a date?"
I rolled my eyes before facing the mirror once more. I focused my gaze on my face and put on a smile.
"Scott said he's coming to see me, remember?"
"What's going on between you too? Seems like a lot for you to be doing all this for him."
I stared at Samantha through the mirror, "Nothing, Sam. He's a friend, a close friend."
"You sure it's not more than that?" she smugged.
"Shut up, man. He's just someone that's there for me at my lowest and I appreciate him. If you consider that being more than friends, then sure."
She smirked, "Hmm, okay."
I rolled my eyes. I hate this girl.
"Do you know when he's going to show up?" Samantha popped up.
"He comes around about when I close from work."
"I don't even know why you started a part-time in the first place," she spoke under her breath.
"I'd like to stand on my own two feet, thank you very much."
"You can do that after school, Wendy. You've got school, you've started a fashion business, you sell paintings and you're still pushing yourself into working at a cafe again. Take it easy on yourself."
"You talk like these things are huge stuff."
"They may not completely be, but I've seen the amount of effort you put into them. Just take a look at your work table," she pointed at the corner of the room where one of the windows was fixated.
The wooden table was filled to the brim with design papers, pencils, notebooks, scraps of fabric, thread and other fashion-related materials. Just beside the table was a mannequin pinned with pieces of fabric for my latest design.
That which I wished to model.
"So?" I retorted.
Samantha exhaled, "Just take it easy. You're still young to be venturing into all at once."
"Whatever."
"You're not going to the workplace today?"
I got up and picked up my handbag, "I am. I was just about to leave."
"Promise me you're going to quit this job soon," she bounced her back on the bed.
"I can't promise that."
I walked out of the house and shut the door behind me. Hailing a cab and settling in, the vehicle zoomed down to the cafe.
.
"And we're off the clock!" Clara smiled as she flipped the sign to 'closed'.
I smiled.
I wanted to get home so quickly.
We three walked into the back room, taking off the company's attire.
"Bye," Adrian said, not looking at either of us.
He dashed out in a flash, stomping all the way.
"What happened between you two? Don't think I'm dense, I can smell the enmity," Clara spoke up from her side of the locker.
"Nothing," I focused my gaze inside my locker, staring at nothing in particular.
"Really? You want to hide this one from me too?"
"It's not like I want to hide anything from you."
"Then it's what?"
"I-I just—"
I sighed and finally turned her way.
"—Adrian caused my break up."
I didn't hear a word from her, so I shifted my gaze to the left where she stood. Her mouth was wide open and her eyes were just about to fall out of their sockets.
"What? How?" She yelled as soon as she gained herself.
I scanned around, making sure no one was eavesdropping on our conversation.
"Adrian is not 'done with college'. He attends Boxford, just like me. He was sent here by my boyfriend to keep an eye on me."
"What the— are you fucking serious right now?"
"I wish I wasn't, but it's the truth. My boyfriend broke up with me because Adrian lied to him that Devin and I had something going on between us."
"Why would he do that?" Clara whispered.
I stared at her, unsure of whether to speak up.
"Well, he confessed to me."
"That?" Her eyes began to widen again.
"He likes me, and he wanted Thomas and I to break up."
Clara's mouth widened again, "So, you're the girl! You're the girl he likes! Shit! I miss work for one day and all this happens."
"I'd like to keep this on a low, Clara."
"Sure. My lips are sealed, trust me."
"I've gotta' go now," I said as I wore on some perfume.
I drew my awfully tight skirt down and adjusted my shirt.
"Alright, bye."
I rushed out of the cafe. Carrying my legs as fast as they could, I began to run. I seemed to have forgotten that I could have just hailed a cab.
The breeze fell on my face. It wasn't like the previous night. I didn't understand the happiness brewing in me but I knew I was glad to have someone waiting.
Waiting to listen to me.
I slowed down into a speedy walk as I neared the alley and drew my skirt down.
I hope I haven't kept him waiting so long.
He was right there, scrolling through his phone as I walked in. He tilted his head in my direction as soon as he felt the presence of another person in the alley.
I smiled, "Hey!"
He turned his whole body to face me completely, tucking his phone in his ash coat pocket "Hello!"
I scrambled up to him and looked into his blue-ish eyes. The more I took note, his eyes weren't like Thomas's, they were peculiar. Like sea-green.
"Did I keep you waiting?"
"No," he adjusted his cap, trying to shield his eyes from me.
I held onto his hand that was adjusting the cap and drew it down, "I want to see your eyes."
With his index finger, he swooped the little curl resting on my forehead to the back of my ear.
"Alright."
"Can we take a stroll?" I asked.
I didn't just want him to leave so soon.
"Aren't you tired?"
"No," I looked away from his gaze, tugging at my shirt.
I could feel his ferocious eyes on me.
"You're not comfortable in that attire, are you?—"
I stared at him with a surprised look written all over my face.
"—Go change. I'll wait."