Cliché Novelty

Chapter 5

Touché.

I don’t think I’ve ever looked so rough in my life. I soaked my face towel in hot water before repeatedly rubbing my face in circular motions to be sure to get rid of my worn out makeup. I opened the cabinet for a finished tube of Colgate to hit me smack in the face. Prick. Micah always had the tendency to always put finished things back where he picked it up from instead of putting them in the bin. We were running thin on toothpaste anyways and I knew I had to make my long awaited trip to Asda and pick up a few things.

Asda wasn’t exactly Westfield but knowing how rough I looked and how my luck was set up I would probably bump into my whole college there, I trudged the trolley through the aisles, a pair of sunnies sat on my face.

Feel like pure shit. Look like pure shit. Great.

The lady at the till gave me a smile before scanning my items through, she looked like she was in her mid-twenties and had a warm smile that made it seem as if you had been friends for a long time

“Rough one last night?” She said not looking up from the till

“I don’t know, I don’t remember much how can you tell?” I laughed

“The sunglasses always give it away especially at 10” She laughed “A big breakfast and plenty of water is the way to go for one of these mornings” She scanned the last item and placed it in a bag for me.

“Thankyou”

“No problem hun”

I made my way out of Asda, the sharp February wind sending shivers throughout my body, I decided to walk the 15 minute journey home instead of taking the bus as I wasn’t planning on hearing a baby bawl their eyes out any time soon and plus a bit of fresh air is exactly what I needed.

It wasn’t long until I reached the doorstep of my home; I stumbled into the kitchen and crashed all the bags on the countertop before pouring myself a drink of water, the icy liquid soothing down my dry throat. Just as I thought I could come and crash on the sofa I saw my mum comfortably sitting down a cup of tea in her hands, my eyes bulged as they scanned over to the finished bottle of Smirnoff lying on the table. I know she had seen it too; it wasn’t that hard to miss.

“That boy does not respect, whenever I go he uses that as an opportunity to do nothing and bring that his nonsense friends to drink... am I renting a bar? He thinks I do not know” My mum said referring to my brother

I stayed quiet, not wanting to own up. See here’s the thing my mum still viewed me as a twelve year old girl and as much as I loved her I didn’t want her to think I was getting ahead of myself whilst she was gone and abusing the so-called ‘freedom’ I had (which was ironic because I did nothing but sit in my room all day), it was nice to have her around and as much as I missed her everyday homemade meals I preferred her not being here every day, we wasn’t exactly the best of friends and it wouldn’t take long for us to spark up an argument therefore me owning up that the drink was actually mine well Ameeka’s, would allow her imagination to roam free to all sort of extents and make her contemplate going away for so long.

“What time did you get back?” I said changing the subject

“Not too long ago, where did you go?”

“Asda” I walked over to the table and picked up the finished bottle “Want anything to eat?” I called out now in the kitchen taking the groceries out the bag

“I’m okay; I’m going back out soon”

*

“What I don’t understand is how you secured that buff ting and got her into that hotel room with you” Olu reached over and grabbed a handful of Ameeka’s plantain crisps.