adam's loud chewing can be heard in the space as he was just sitting in front of me, "for fuck's sake adam shut that loud mouth of yours" george complained as he covered adam's mouth with his hands making ross burst out of laughter who was sitting on the opposite side of them. "you chew like a goat" matty sneered as he stood up from his seat, walking towards the sink; dumping his plate and utensils. the three were wheezing as they kept on annoying each other like a bunch of kids.
"stop!" adam giggled as he tried to smack george and ross who was now teasing him, these three are literally like kids-me and matty were the only one who still had our shits tacked together. it feels like we were babysitting three big babies, "hey! quit that now, put the dishes on the sink, ross you're scheduled to wash these remember?" i said and fetched the things i used; putting it in the sink.
"yes, mother" ross answered and joked, "mother?" adam started to laugh at what ross had said, "go wash the dishes ross" george gave him a smug face and got up. "you're just lucky it's not your 'wash the dishes day'" ross rolled his eyes and got to the sink to start washing, we made a schedule of who's gonna do the dishes on a certain day, monday and wednesday's mine, tuesday is adam's, thursday is ross', friday and sunday are matty's, saturday is george's.
and it was going well, they were cooperating, as well as doing the household chores; they are pretty good at it. i went straight to the bathroom and did my business there that i couldn't hold in anymore, i had my hands under my chin as i ponder. shit, i forgot i have work later, my hands traveled to my forehead and slightly smacked it then slid down my face, "fucking hell, i don't even feel like going to work" i mumbled, then laughed in my thoughts as i was feeling like my work requires a lot of heavy doings when all i do at work is stand behind the counter, scan the items and payment transactions.
it's not really my shift today, i was gonna cover up for my co-worker-gonna ditch work for a date. fucking hell, i couldn't say no since he did the same for me when i didn't go to work and gave lots of excuses to serve as an alibi.
but it's too boring you know, i wanted to do something that will bring me fun. maybe, an artist? i know and love how to draw but i haven't done that in years, i lost passion; i lost the spark in me. so maybe a no,-for now-i should've kept and chased my dream of being a famous artist, and entered a good university.
i did not finished college, i did not even entered it as we were running out financially when my father started to get into that drastic change, mum's salary aren't enough. so i sacrificed my dream and education into working, and then the time came where my mum died and no one could support me anymore, my hopes got drained. i just finished highschool.
if my relatives were still in contact with us, they would think 'oh what a total shame', because their kids probably had graduated from university and have some exquisite jobs that could provide their needs every single day. which i envy a lot to be honest, who wouldn't? being successful and all that stuff, a reason to be envious.
after all that thoughts, i got out the bathroom and headed straight to matty's room. i sat on his desk as my eyes roamed around the area, he had been scribbling on some of the papers, some were lyrics of a song-he was composing-but was unfinished. then a paper caught my eye, it was a song he had sang on the night we were having a bit of fun. it was the song they composed, the lyrics were beautifully written and made, but i was wondering why it was called robbers?
i wonder what was the inspiration behind this beautiful piece? i continued to read and analyze every single line-hoping it'll make sense of why it was called that. oh i think they had literally robbed something, somewhere, but the two lovers were together. the last line made me smile as i remembered that piece of table napkin where i had written that exact same words in. that i took inspiration from the film we had watched together.
who is his inspiration behind this piece? i wanted to assume that it was me, or maybe it was about us. i looked at a couple of papers, he had composed some unfinished songs that had the potential, it was written so exquisitely and i was wondering what it'll sound like when matty sings it-i know it'll be good. then a certain paper caught my eye, it had something written on it but it was in another language that i couldn't speak or read.
"la poesie est dans la rue" i read under my breath not quite sure if my pronunciation was accurate, but it sounded pretty. i fetched my phone and searched what it meant, and the meaning of it was just like how it sounded; beautiful and lovely. "the poetry is in the streets" i agree, i see poetry as a form of beauty and i think that poetry is everywhere just like beauty, you get what i mean? how all people are out in the streets and places, and the feelings they experience are very pleasant, wistful and just so soothing, like a very poetic mood.
poetry is something i love, for me it is something people can use when they can't let out their feelings. it's a safe haven i can say, that form of art brings colors in people. to add, matty is a really poetic person, everything he says, every little word he spits sounds like a beautiful poem as his voice serves as a melody.
i put the paper back to where it was and flopped myself on the bed; staring at the blank ceiling, feeling very vacant. matty and the boys are outside, probably doing something, i was too lazy to go and check on them so i stayed here. then the memory of that one particular time where matty had opened himself at me crossed my mind, he was himself, matty was true and vulnerable that time he was telling me the story of his life.
matty's life and himself was a monochromatic shade of black, it was just so dull and he was devoid of color. but matty began to see kaleidoscope of changing hues, and that was always alluding to the fact that he will one day break out into color and see what the world has for him; leaving all that monochrome past behind him. entering a new realm full of vibrancy and colors.
i went out and behind the house, then sat on the ground, my hand traveling to my behind and pulled a cigarette out of the box i had on my pocket. i puffed the smoke out slowly, closed my eyes as i felt the sense of calmness through inhaling and exhaling of cigarette. i looked around the surroundings, it was sunny and was so vibrant unlike the other days that had passed; gloomy and extremely dull looking.
the clouds floating up in the sky, sitting there and doing nothing but it still looked so effortlessly pretty. "what are you doing here alone?" ross suddenly popped out of nowhere making me startled and dropped my loosey down the ground, "fucking christ ross, geez-shit, i dropped it" i said and tilted my head up at him-sending him a death glare, "chill, just get another one" he wheezed as he sat beside me.
i was about to pull another one but decided to just not hit another, "the sun decided to show up again huh, that's great" ross squinted his eye as he looked above, "by the way, me and george will go out to a party later, do you wanna come?" he looked at me, waiting for my response to his question. "is matty gonna go?" i questioned and looked back at him, ross paused for a moment before proceeding.
"he declined, said he has some business later. don't know what that is but okay." ross shrugged his shoulders and looked away, hmm, business? what could it be? "how about adam? isn't he gonna tag along?" i asked once again. "yeah he is, but he'll go later and catch up. he has an agenda to run firstly" he responded, and i gave him a slight nod as a reply.
"i'm afraid i can't go, i have my shift at the store later on. ugh fucking work day." i complained as i rolled my eyes, making ross laugh at me. "aight then, you have to get that bread. but if ever you get off early, i'm gonna text you the address if you wanna catch up." ross said as he clicked his tongue then got up, his hands traveling towards me; tousled my hair. i pinched his skin with my two fingers and stuck my tongue out, "ma'am why are you so aggressive?" he laughed, "i'm gonna head in now, you can continue your smoking session" ross gave me a slight wave before going back in.
i looked up the sky and laughed, ross is really an approachable person even though it seems like he's not. but i'm telling you, that lad is a total sweetheart, and i think that's really cute. i returned to matty's room and got ready when i saw it was already eleven in the morning, i'll have a three hour shift today as my co-worker would come and replace me by three in the afternoon.
"i'm gonna go to work, and you guys better behave. don't make a mess jesus fucking christ, if you're gonna smoke weed or sniff your coke-it's alright, just throw those used things after. overall, just keep this place tidy and clean." i reminded those four guys who were sitting on the couch, they were playing games on their phones-they do that a lot of times. "yes mommy" ross gave me a thumbs up, assuring me they'll obey my daily reminders, "you better do that" i rolled my eyes and bid goodbyes before heading out.
"thank you so much liv, i promise i'll come back later" kevin--my co-worker--held my hand and squeezed it lightly, "alright, alright. have fun on your so called date, you better return or i'll smack your fucking ass" i jokingly threatened him, kevin nodded his head assuring me he'll return before i know it. "yes, oh--i have to go now, i don't wanna be late. that'll be a bad start." he rolled his eyes and laughed after, i motioned my hand for him to go away. "geez olivia, you look more excited than me" kevin slightly slapped my arms as i shoved him outside, "no, i just don't want to see your face, now go away" i scoffed at him and crossed my arms on top of my chest, kevin held his chest as if his heart got hurt. "ouch that's fucking rude" he pretended to wipe a tears, after bugging me for what feels like a long time; he finally left, leaving me peaceful in my own company.
there was surprisingly loads of people who came by to purchase goods, some of them were traveling somewhere and stopped by to load gasoline and buy snacks to eat on the way. "hello, motherfucker" rachel barged in the store, "oh christ, i thought kevin's gonna be here" she was puzzled to see me standing behind the counter instead of kevin who chose to go on a date instead of attending his shift that he passed over to me. what a fucking great guy, yeah? "as he should be, but he decided to squeeze in a date on his hand and dragged me to take over" i rolled my eyes as i rested my chin on my hand, "wow, a date huh?" she replied as she went in between the aisles.
then i heard a dropping noise, "goddamn rachel that's five times already!" i yelled over at her, she laughed loudly and replied, "i'll fix it don't worry!" i rolled my eyes at her even though she couldn't see me. i swear i'm gonna whoop this woman's ass out of the store, "as you fucking should" i sat on my stool and tapped my fingernails on the counter while i was impatiently waiting for other people to come and purchase. rachel came back with a lot of items in hand, i started to scan each one by one. "total of $34.50" i said with a lazy voice, rachel fished out the cash out of her wallet and passed it to me, completing her payment after i returned the cash change, i thought she'll go out after but no--she stayed. "your job must be pretty boring--from what i imagine and observed" she was not wrong about it, it's pretty lame for me, same stuff all over again; lack of enjoyment and fun.
"pretty shit" i giggled as i sighed, "when customers don't pass by, you're here all by yourself?" she asked, rachel's eyes meeting mine. "yeah, most of the the time" i ran a hand through my wavy tangled hair, "that's fucking boring, just imagining myself standing there or scanning all day makes me want to just go and bang my head" rachel laughed, that was an exaggeration but i'd do the same--kinda, "well, it was nice chatting with you. have fun standing there." she said and started to walk away, but came to an abrupt stop and turned around, walking towards me. she decided not to go home for now and chat with me, so that i'll have some company and i think that was nice of her.
rachel probably spent thirty minutes here with me--she was obviously keeping me entertained as she had an idea how shitty working here is, and i was thankful for her for it. it kept me really occupied and good, "well, i'm gonna head out now. mum's probably wondering where i went off to." she got her paper bag that contained what she had purchased earlier, i gave her one stiff nod as i watched her walk away; gave me a goodbye wave before heading out the store. i never knew she was that talkative to be honest, she was a nice one also, why does my impression of people turns out to be the exact opposite most of the time? was i being too judgemental? maybe yes, maybe no or both.
i spent the next two hours of my life scanning items, receiving payments, handing out changes--which was utter shit. especially when there's rude ass people, which i had encountered earlier, there were two of them and i swear i wanted to punch them on the fucking face, they deserved it.
"ugh could you do your job better? i need your manager." the rude woman scoffed at me and demanded, she was asking me to give her a big discount when in fact i could not just give her that. "sorry ma'am, the manager is not currently here, please understand that i could not just give you a major discount just because you asked me to." i was trying my best to be patient and professional but this woman was pushing me on the edge, i'm on the verge of having my fist travel to her face.
i got annoyed by the event earlier, "disrespectful people who can't even treat others who serve them with respect" i murmured as i fix and returned the items that one customer had threw on the floor--he got angry at me and accused me of overpricing the goods. what the actual fuck? it was three minutes before kevin will return, i was already aching to go home and eat, kevin was taking too long and when i say too long i mean, their fucking date took four hours instead of three. i was overtiming, i should be out by now but look where i am, still here fixing shits.
i warily put the items in their respective places and looked around in surveillance to see if others were arranged perfectly as it was earlier before rachel decided to knock it off again. my head immediately tilted towards the door when i heard it opened, "what's up" kevin greeted with a beaming face-his date must have went really good because of that expression he had on his silly face.
"a lot, now replace me-i'm exhausted" i fished my hairtie that was on my wrist and began to tie my hair up. "i'm sorry i was late by an hour, this guy was just feeling a little fun and wanted to be with me for another hour" kevin looked worried that i might've been infuriated at him for not showing up at the desired time, i was riled but it's fine, i understand.
"it's fine i guess, i'm gonna go ahead." i grabbed my purse and let it hang on my shoulder, "thank you liv, be safe" he waved at me as i stepped a foot outside.
i walked through the dark and eerie alley of calvin street, i was still a few long minutes away from the guys' place. i didn't wanna take a cab as i wanted to walk, feel the cold breeze touch my skin, like a therapeutic walk. and it appeased me in a way that i enjoyed every step i was taking, the alley was timid and filled with silence. the lamp post serving as a light source, making it a little creepy but it was still fine.
eerie and serene vibes lumped into each other, if you're gonna stay here for a longer period of time, it'll surely bring you inevitable desolation. just by walking here alone for a few minutes now makes me feel melancholic, the vibe of the alley was a big factor. but as i was getting nearer and nearer to home-to matty, the corner of my lips lifted up, forming a smile. i just know he'll be there to have his open arms ready for me to wrap myself around it. matty was a warm hug after an exhausting day.