Lonely Neighbor [H.S.]

iii. This time, I'll run.

I opened the door and was met by Mrs. Roy holding a box of toilet papers. I quickly offered to help but she refused it, saying she was not that old to still be carrying things around.

"Besides, it's toilet papers." Mrs. Roy added. She lightly pinched my cheek as she passed by. I giggled at the gesture and walked towards the box of (guess what?) tampons. Bingo! Bloody tampons. I picked it up and went around the cash register. I stopped in front of the empty shelf and started to put the boxes up.

After my morning with Patricia, I worked my night in Mr. and Mrs. Roy's convenience store. You could say that Patricia's part-time salary for me is not enough. I still need money to pay for my rent. Claire offered to help me with it but I declined. I don't want her spending even a single dime on me. My parents also tried bribing me in coming back to them but yeah right.

"Do you want some biscuits, Sam? Johnny got them while visiting North Carolina. They're really good. Not too sweet." Mrs. Roy held the tin box in front of me.

"No thanks, Mrs. Roy. I'm good." I smiled at her as I continued to mop the floor.

"Oh come on, dear. I won't take no for an answer." She insisted. I paused and took a piece.

"Thanks." I dusted off the crumbs from my fingers.

"Say, how are you, dear? How's Brian? I haven't seen him in so long."

I glanced at her. She might've noticed my discomfort so she changed the subject. I felt bad not telling her what happened. It wasn't a really bad break-up nor was it good either. We just fell apart. It was a mutual decision for the both of us.

"Actually, Brian and I broke up five months ago."

"I'm so sorry about that, Sam. Don't bother with the details. It's not my business." She shook her head and closed the tin box, putting it under the counter. The bell rang as the front door suddenly opened.

"Good evening!" Mrs. Roy and I chimed at the same time.

-

The night went by without a fuss. I even got home an hour early. I took a nice warm bath and as I was sitting down the tub, I decided to do something life changing in my life. I wouldn't say that my life is boring according to my older sister. Nu-uh.

"This time, I'll run.." I mumbled. "Yeah. I'm gonna start exercising which is running. I'm gonna wake up early and jog around the park."

Well, not really life changing but for me it is. I got out the tub and changed into my pajamas. Turning the telly on, I plopped down the couch with a bag of chips as my company. The television screen was now showing a commercial for a brand of knife so I reached for the remote. I changed the channel and came upon a cooking show. The lady was baking red velvet and as if on cue, my stomach grumbled.

"I want that." I whined as the lady finished off the cream cheese on top of the red cake. I'm gonna bake a cake this weekend. I will. Dammit, I'm gonna eat what I want one last time. It was ten o'clock when I called it a night.

-

I hurriedly picked up my phone and slid the lock without really looking at who was calling me.

"Hello?" My voice was a bit hoarse from sleep so I licked my lips.

"Samantha! Don't bother going here today. There is a university meeting for all the professors and it might take up my morning schedule." It was Patricia.

"Sure thing, Pat." I replied.

"Stop calling me Pat. It's a bit unprofessional for me. Okay, I'm in a hurry now. Just prepare my review tests for tomorrow for class N36."

"Okay." I said before she hung up. I dropped my phone beside my head and closed my eyes. I hummed a little note and smiled. Oh yes! No duty for the morning!

I rolled unto my stomach and slept some more. I woke up around 10AM. I padded down the kitchen and opened the fridge. I took my breakfast with Awkward by San Cisco playing on my phone.

Hmm.. What to do? I decided to at least get my job done with Patricia's review tests. It took me only an hour before I gave up. I was too lazy to finish it all. I still got time later to do it. I glanced around my living room, thinking of what to do next. Oh, right. I'm gonna bake a red velvet cake. Yessssss..

I started to gather up my ingredients and set them up on the kitchen counter. I booted up my laptop and typed in "how to bake red velvet cake easy version". Easy version because I'm not a Master Chef.

It turned out, baking a cake was freaking hard. For me. There was a lot to measure, not to mention I had a really hard time opening the small bottle of red food coloring and when I did, it almost spilled on my white shirt and the baking time was not up to what I expected. I wanted an instant cake, come on.

I stopped mixing the cream cheese and cringed at the taste. It needs more sugar. I took out the jar of sugar and to my luck, almost empty. Dammit. I still have another jar but it's placed at the top leftmost corner of my cupboard. Thankfully, the flavor eased up and I kinda grinned widely when I heard the timer for the oven went off. I took it out and set it on the counter to cool off. I brought out a plate to place it in later. About half an hour had gone by before I got the cream cheese filling between each layers and the top icing. I took out my phone and captured a photo of it before sending it to Claire.

Claire: I hate you so much.

I giggled at her reply. I tried a piece of the cake and it tasted good. I mean, not my best but this will work. I was about to take a bite again when I heard someone knock on my door.

-

I'm craving some red velvet right now. :(

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