And you might reconsider becoming too friendly, if you’d notice I keep mostly to myself, there’s no point in mingling with the others since you probably won’t be there that long anyway right?”
“Oh, okay that makes sense I guess.” I felt a little deflated after that, not quite sure what she meant by me not being there that long. She went back to ignoring me until the car pulled up outside the apartment and we headed up.
The sickening feeling hit me again as soon as we reached the door, and I started plotting my escape to my room as soon as it closed behind us. I realized then that I was a little afraid of momma’s friend.
I bit my lip and fumbled around a bit like the ninny that I am trying to come up with the right words to say goodnight at five thirty in the evening.
“Uh, I guess I’ll be going to my room now.”
“Do as you like, I might be having company tonight so I’d appreciate it if you stayed out of the way.” My stomach chose that moment to make itself heard and my face went up in flames.
All I’d had all day was half an apple and a half-cup of coffee. The sneer on her face had me taking a hasty step back as she turned back to me.
“Please do something about that horrendous noise; I hope your body hasn’t been making those obnoxious sounds all day.” I could only shake my head at her as I made my way towards the kitchen.
In the refrigerator all that was on offer was more water and a banana that had seen better days and I was too nervous to open the cupboards and see what was on offer there.
Making my way to my room I reminded myself to get something more to eat tomorrow. I didn’t let myself think about the way she’d smirked at me when she mentioned company.
Did that mean that ‘he’ was coming over? I got weak kneed at the thought, but then realized that he would be coming to see her and not me.
I pushed those hurtful thoughts aside as I gave more thought to my more immediate problem. If I had too many more days like this I’d starve myself to death inside of a week.
Taking out the money I had hidden in a sock, I added up how much I could safely spend each day before it was all gone. I’d done some research on how much classes were going to cost, and with my pay, I should barely be able to make it.
If I was really careful, I could afford to buy lunch for the rest of the week until I get paid without putting too much of a dent in it. Momma and daddy weren’t expecting aunt Marion to pay my way, but neither had they been expecting her to starve me after all.
Chapter 5
For the whole of that first week I didn’t see him at all, and it was depressing. Aunt Marion seemed to be in a better mood too, which was good. She still ordered me around and made snide comments about my clothing and my hair and stuff, but I noticed that pinched look on her face was gone, or at least less pronounced.
The other girls had seemed to notice my food dilemma and started sneaking me food and snacks to take home with me, which was a whole lot embarrassing. But I wasn’t too proud to accept their kindness even though I promised to repay them at my earliest convenience.
Robyn seemed really upset by the situation no matter how much I told her I was okay, and took to asking me everything about my time alone at home with aunt Marion.
It wasn’t like me to share such intimate details, but somehow she had a way of getting things out of me, though I kept the worst of it to myself.
My nights were spent alone in my room trying to remember every feature of his face and battling the melancholy blues that assailed me whenever I had a moment to think, which usually revolved around him. He’d taken up so much of my time for someone I barely knew.
I’d looked into classes but aunt Marion for some odd reason kept finding fault with all the instructors I’d mention.
Since I was sure as she said, she knew more about these things than I did, that I should let her handle it, and besides it had only been a week so there was no real rush.
Still, I felt a sense of urgency, especially every evening when the apartment door closed and I shuffled off to my lonely room to stare at the four walls until the next morning.
She had bought food for the house, well, salad makings and fruit, but it was so uncomfortable sitting at the table across from her, that I chose to forego that.
Which meant that every morning I woke up starved and my tummy would make that unruly noise which more often than not would set her off.
The weekend was the worst and I almost, almost tucked tail and ran. I’d awakened Saturday morning fresh from a wonderful dream where Callan had been holding me in his arms.
The dream had been so real that I’d actually expected him to be there when I opened my eyes.