Cupid's Soldier

Chapter 2

I've got a new message from someone on my website.

'My best friend is in love with my sister. He turns into a pile of sap when she's around, and I want my sister to be happy. My sister's had feelings for him before, but now she's somewhat moved on, or at least it seems like she has. What should I do?'

The question makes me think, it's a hard one. If you know two people like each other and they're being stubborn. Maybe putting them in situations where they're together more often would help. Also, maybe the sister isn't sure that their sibling would approve, so letting them know that the sibling would approve of their relationship could help as well. I type out my answer slowly.

'If they like each other, like you say that they do, then you need to make it known to both of them that you approve of them. If you want them to be together, make sure that you can give them opportunities for them to have time alone with each other. Don't push them towards each other, though. If you insist, one or both of them could end up resenting each other. Don't worry, if they like each other it will happen.'

Happy with my response, I click the send button. The poor person must've felt so conflicted. I'm just an outsider looking in and the situation feels a bit confusing. I'm sitting on my bean bag chair, in the corner of my room, with my laptop sitting in my lap, like I do every Tuesday night. Sometimes, it starts to feel repetitive, but I don't know what else to do; I could just let people ask me in person, but I hate doing that and it's mostly because on the internet I know that the person only wants relationship advice and they don't actually want to be my friend, which is fine, I'm glad to help. But in person, people will act nice and treat me like I'm their friend for a couple of minutes, only to ask me for relationship advice once those two minutes are up. When people ask me for relationship advice in person, I end up feeling used...

A sudden rush of loneliness courses through my body and suffocates me. Everyday is always the same, I always end up sitting on this beanbag. I always end up wondering why my life is the way it is. Why do I have to be this way? Why can't he just come back? Why do I have to hide?

I sigh, I'm sick of doing the same thing every day: sitting here on my beanbag, feeling sorry for myself. Standing up, I decide to go out and do something. I slip some shoes on, grab my wallet, and make my way out my bedroom door. The hallway floor creaks underneath my feet, and I wince. It's 10:00 at night, and I don't want to wake her up. She deserves to have a good sleep.

Tiptoeing down the steps and into the living room is a bit harder than I thought it was going to be: the steps are creaky and the living room floor is really squeaky, but I soldier on through it.

Outside is dark and quiet. The moon is out and the trees are swaying in the breeze. It's so peaceful and quiet. The stars are shining and flickering, and the crickets are singing. I can see the reflection of the moon in our neighbors bird bath and it makes their whole yard look so ethereal.

Walking on the concrete path, I'm heading nowhere in particular. Just like my life. My grades are perfect and my passion for helping people has given me something to do, but I just don't know what college I should go to, or what I would even study in college. I have no idea what I even want to be, and I don't have friends or anybody to help me with my decision. I'm never going to see my dad again, I hope, and he's one of the only people in the world who's ever understood me.

The street is empty, and for a couple of minutes, I watch the stop light change from green to red to yellow. Sighing, I press the crosswalk button, nothing is going to happen if I just stand here in the cold. Gasping, I realized that I walked all the way to Kroger's. The house needs some food anyway and I don't mind picking some food up from the store, but it's so late, and Kroger's is a pretty far walk from my house.

The red Krogers' sign blinks obnoxiously in the night. As I wait, the Kroger sign is burning my eyes, and I start to see those annoying little spots you get after looking at the sun for too long.

There are no cars around and the cross walk finally changed to the little picture of the man walking. Slowly, I walk straight into the Kroger's parking lot. The lot had a couple of cars in it, and there's a guy leaning on the stop sign next to the exit of Kroger's, smoking.

This whole atmosphere is like something out of a horror movie, it's kind of creepy: the dark sky, the empty parking lot, the blinking lights of a convenience store. Regardless, I continue on and make my way to the automatic sliding doors. A gust of cold air hits me as I make my way inside, and I shiver, goosebumps crawling up my arm. I don't understand why stores always think it's okay to blast their air conditioning and make everything so uncomfortable.

The store is quiet, cold, and there aren't a lot of people inside. It's actually kind of nice. Grabbing a cart, I make my way to the frozen food aisle. I open the refrigerators, ignoring the blasts of cold air;and grab bags of carrots, peas, green beans, broccoli, and corn, putting them into the cart.

The cart's squeaking against the floor as I drag it into the canned foods aisle. The aisle was packed with canned everything, but our family never had an appreciation for anything canned besides Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup and sardines. So, I grab a couple cans of the soup and a couple cans of sardines, put them in the cart, and head for the checkout aisle.

My footsteps softly tap along the hard floor, the cart squeaking as I push into the checkout. I can't help but feel awkward as the checkout lady openly glares at me while I place things on the conveyor belt. Every time I place something new on the belt, I notice the woman's glare getting harsher. A scowl's plastered on her gorgeous face, and it makes me feel like I've done something wrong. The lady's really pretty, though, even when she's scowling. She has strawberry red hair and a heart shaped face, hazel eyes, and she's pretty tall. What's a woman like that doing working at a Kroger's? Why isn't she a model or something?

"Is that all for you today?" She asks politely, even though she's obviously angry.

"Yes, thank you."

"That'll be $45. 63."

I sigh, and take out the fifty from my wallet. Sadly, that was the last of my money, and I'm not getting paid again till Saturday.

Giving the last bit of money I had to her, I shake my head, my brown hair falling in my face. Waiting for her to finish bagging my stuff, I smile politely. She passes me my receipt, along with my change.