"Pal, how'd ya even know where she lives?" Heron suddenly asks me this question.
"I asked the receptionist." and that was again my reply.
We are currently waiting inside the elevator, with bags full of food on our hands. And also a backpack, in my case. After a while, the elevator reaches its destination and opens the door. We exit and a large hall full of apartments greet us. We turn to the left and I start counting the numbers engraved on top of each door, until we find the one we are looking for. Strange is the word to describe what we are seeing. The door is covered in egg yolk and the floor is full of smashed eggshells.
"Is dis some kind o' weird decoration, Caesar?" asks me Heron while scanning the door with his eyes.
"It looks more like a mischievous act." I respond to him with a casual tone.
I walk around to avoid stepping on the liquid and the shells and knock on the door. I wait for a few seconds. There is no response. I knock once more. Again silence.
"Lorraine, it is us, Caesar and Heron." I raise my voice a little higher than natural.
We wait for a response that never came.
"Is dis her room? 'r ya sure?"
"Do you take me for a fool?" I knock again, but stronger this time, "Lorraine, open us the door. We have food."
Heron takes out his phone, "Maybe she wen' out."
"She does not look like the type of girl to hang out with."
He laughs wildly while hiding his phone, "So cruel, pal! So, we leavin'?"
"Seems the best option."
"Let's go t' ya room. I'm hungry."
We turn around and walk towards the elevator. After several steps, we hear the door slide behind us. We both instantly turn around to see what is happening. A sleepy Lorraine shows up behind the door. Her eyes are red, her hair is messy and she is still wearing her sport suit from our training.
"Sorry... I was... sleeping..." she releases a yawn.
"'r ya okay, Lorra? Ya look.... Funny... Sort'o speak."
I glare at him. Is this really the word you were looking for?
"I'm still alive..." she shrugs.
"We have brought you food." I lift up one of the bags.
"Yeah, I've heard that." she steps aside, making the path clear,
I guide Heron to move forward with my head, which he understands immediately. The two of us enter the room while avoiding stepping on the once eggs. Although this is the second time I am here, this place still seems...
"So dull. There's nothin' here." comments unnecessarily Heron while looking around.
"Are you picking a fight, you brat?" responds somewhat aggressively Lorraine.
"Have manners. Both of you."
I cannot help but look at the kitchen sink. There are still some dishes, but nothing that exaggerated like the last time. And the bowl is no longer on the floor, which is refreshing. The bed is also a mess, although she just woke up, so there is nothing that can be done about it.
"Let's eat, pals! I'm hungry!"
Heron immediately leaves the food bags on top of the dining table and starts taking out the food. He grabs the Xtreme Bubble Waffle and stares at it. We can see him gulp. But then, he then looks at Lorraine.
"Do ya like swe't things?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Here, for ya! ya'll love it!" he hands her the waffle with a grin.
Lorraine looks hesitant about accepting the offer. But she finally takes it and unwraps the meal, revealing a massive waffle filled with strawberries, bananas, and cryo ice creams, covered by a mixture of three chocolates and sprinkled with cookies. She opens her eyes wide upon seeing such monstrosity and also gulps.
"I am surprised that you are giving her your waffle."
"What'ya talking 'bout? Mine's dis one." Heron pulls out another Xtreme Bubble Waffle from the bag and sits on the chair.
"This is so delicious..." Lorraine murmured to herself. She also looks shocked.
"RIGHT!? DIS SHIT IS THE BEST!" Heron screams like a fanatic.
Lorraine blushes after realizing that her words were heard and avoids looking at us. However, she nonetheless takes another bite and smiles. Looks like she is having fun.
I also leave the bags I am carrying on top of the table and the backpack near the bedside, and then take out some sodas. I hand one to Heron, and another one to Lorraine, which she accepts shyly. I open one for myself and have a sip. So refreshing.
"We also bought dinner. I hope you like spicy food."
"As long as it is food, I'm fine." then, she scoffs at me, "Finally you brought me the promised food."
"Hm? Ah, yes. I always keep my promises." I forgot about that.
In that short span of time, Heron has already engulfed his waffle. It will never cease to amaze me how a skinny guy can eat that monstrosity that quick, and also not get fat. While Heron is cleaning his hands, he looks around once more.
"Ya don' even have a TV? How can ya live like dis?"
"I wouldn't use it anyways. The phone already has everything I need." Lorraine takes another bite.
"What 'bout video games?"
"The phone."
"F'real? Ya 'r a strange one, pal." and now he suddenly opens his eyes wide, "If ya excuse me, I'll use the bathroom."
Heron rushes quickly towards the bathroom and locks the door behind him. After following him with our gaze, we look at each other and she then shy away. She takes another bite. The Sun is setting, and his light taints the place in bright orange.
"Delicious?" I ask her.
She nods and takes yet another bite. We remain in silence for a while, broken occasionally with the wrapper's noises and the chewing. And also with the sip of my soda. Lorraine seems very focused with her waffle, as she does not stop staring at it.
"Why are you still helping me?" she keeps looking at the waffle. "In fact, why are you still here?"
"I promised you that I would help you. And I intend to keep doing so."
"Even after what happened?" she seems a bit sad now.
"You should have controlled yourself, true. But they also provoked you first."
"Yeah... Well, not that it really matters now." she bites the waffle again, "I won't be able to use the facility."
"We will come with a solution. For now, we keep using them until you can't. I promise."
She chuckles weakly and resumes eating the waffle. I cannot help but smile too after looking at her. Wait, is that a tear falling through her cheek? She seems to realize what is happening to her, and hurriedly tries to wipe the tears off with one of her hands.
"Fuck my life..."
"Are you ok?" I approached her and put my hand on her arm.
"Yeah, it's nothing."
Heron emerges from the bathroom stretching his arms. He looks refreshed and also relieved. His gaze falls upon us as he contemplates what is going on.
"'m I interrupting s'mething?" Heron looks worried.
"She just got a little emotional. Nothing serious."
"Aw... I know da solution f'r these situations: food. Let's eat da dinner now." Heron starts to take out the food from the bags.
"Is it not too early to eat dinner?" I ask him. It is not even past 19:00pm.
"It is never too late to eat." the two of them synchronized.
They look instantly at each other. Heron burst out a loud wild laughter and high fives her. It took her for a while to realize what was going on, but she high fives him back. An attempt to, to be more precise. Heron resumes pulling out the food, but he suddenly realizes something and looks at me.
"By da wat, did ya give her da hom'works?"
"The what?" she seems thunderstruck.
"True. I forgot about it." Lorraine shifts her attention onto me, "Shortly after you left the training field, Mrs. Aelard showed up to give you your homework. Seeing that you were not there already, she tasked me to deliver them to you instead."
I reach to grab my backpack and unzip it to take out several workbooks, and hand them to Lorraine. She looks at them shocked and then pissed, but accepts them nonetheless.
"Isn't this too much?" she clicks her tongue.
"She said it was for your own sake."
"Yeah... Sure..." she is not buying it.
"Anyway', let's eat!"
Heron starts handing each of us a tupperware and utensils. Inside of them are rice with sliced beef meat and vegetables filled with a red spicy sauce. I open my tapper and start eating it. Heron and Lorraine also do the same.
"S'DELICIOUS!" screams Heron so excited.
"Yeah... It is..." Lorraine seems delighted too.
"I agree. So tasteful."
"B' da way, Lorra. 'r those egg splashes some kin' o' we'rd decoration?"
"Are you stupid?" the two of us synchronized this time.
In the end, we spent the afternoon having dinner and small talk. There were some laughs, which we welcomed. Lorraine seemed a little bit happier afterwards. I am glad that everything is going well. Let us hope it keeps this way for a long time.