Blue And Yellow

I opened the door and greeted him with a warm smile, “Hola, my new neighbor.”

“As a good neighbor, I made you cupcakes!” He announced showing me a plate of, well, cupcakes.

I laughed and gestured him to come in. Everyone here seemed nice. My parents are the best for letting me live here! Speaking of which, I need to call my folks later, which I should’ve done yesterday. But hey, I was all caught up in the excitement.

“Are you trying to make me fat?” Corey asked as he saw Brendon set the cupcakes down on the counter, “You know I worked like, three fucking months to fit into my sister’s jeans.”

That was a bit ironic because he made pancakes for me and him to eat.

Brendon stuck his tongue out. “They’re not for you, you greedy pig. They’re for Cat. She’s the newbie here and I’m obliged to be a warm welcomed neighbor.”

“Thanks,” I smiled as I grabbed a cupcake, but I looked at it suspiciously. “Brendon, did you buy these from Safeway?” I asked with a giggle.

“I am offended!” he said in a fake manor, “Well, yeah. I actually did buy them from Safeway. But it’s the thought that counts!

A giggle came out of my mouth, only because he was so silly. God, I sound like some seven year-old. But anyways, Corey and Brendon talked to each other as I ate a cupcake and left to my room. I had to get ready for work. I loved working at Whole Foods and all because I get discount on expensive organic, vegetarian, and/or vegan food, but I felt underpaid. That didn’t satisfy me or my father too well.

He wants me to go to college, and so does my mother. I do too, in all honestly, but I can’t afford it. My parents could, but my father said he’d only pay if I was going to take all the classes that he’d choose for me. He planned for me to go into being a doctor. I don’t want to be a doctor though; I want to be an artist.

It sounds pretty lame, but I want to be those free artists that do whatever the fuck they wanted. Whether it was design a poster for a local band’s show or design a t-shirt for an indie clothing company, I wanted to do it.

Within twenty minutes I changed into my uniform and did my make-up. I gave myself a natural tone because it wasn’t anything special, working at a grocery store, but I still want to look nice just incase a super hot guy comes along. I also let my chestnut brown hair down. My hair and my makeup seemed to give off an earthy tone, which was what I was going for. Woohoo.

I gave a quick call to my parents and gave them every detail of how lovely my new home was, and that they didn’t need to come over and practically remodel the place (even if they weren’t allowed to).

“Bye Corey, I’m going to work!” I yelled as I was heading out the door.

“Bye, Cat!” he yelled back.

“Hey! There’s no ‘bye’ for Brendon?” Brendon poked in with fake offense in his voice.

I laughed, “Bye to you too, Brendon!”

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I came to work with ten minutes to spare, but I started my shift anyways. I wanted to get a higher raise, but my boss would probably just praise me and avoid the subject of promotions and such. I wanted to punch him in the stomach sometimes. His name was Dick. Well, it’s Richard, but if there’s a Richard, their nickname is Dick for some apparent reason. I thought he named suited him pretty well anyways.

“Cat,” He called out to me with dull tone, along with a coffee mug in his hands (familiar?), “I see you’re here early. Good job.”

“Well, since I got here early, I was wondering if-“

“Cat, you’re wasting time talking to me when you could be organizing the store or handling a cash register,” he brought up as he took a sip of his coffee.

So for the rest of the day I arranged fruit, put away whole wheat cereal boxes, take out bread from the oven and put them onto the shelves, gave out free samples, and pressed a bunch of buttons on a machine as big as a typewriter.

And then I saw a face that I was happy to see, but it felt pretty embarrassed at the same time because I don’t know who’d be proud working at a grocery store.

“Cat?” He asked as if I was a ghost, “You work here?”

I stuck my tongue out at him, “Yeah, I do.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” he said. What is he, an optimist?

I scanned the stuff he was buying one by one, “I’m not really happy working here. I’m underpaid and there’s gross stuff to clean up, meat to touch, vegetables that get bruised and gross, and it’s always so blah.”

“Why don’t you quit?” he asked softly, “Or you could go to school and all.”

“Because my father doesn’t approve of what I want to do in life.”

He cocked his head to the side, very cutely I might add. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed as I scanned his last item, “Forty-two dollars and eighty-six cents.”

He handed me a hundred dollar bill and I frowned. Why the hell does he have so much money?

“I have rich parents,” he admitted as if he was reading my mind.

I gave him the fifty-seven dollars and fourteen cents back, “Lucky bastard.”
“You shouldn’t call new friends bad names,” he informed me with a smirk.

“Blah blah blah, go take your bags and leave.”

He laughed, “Will do.”

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Driving home at 7PM, lovely. I hate work. I mean come on! 8AM to 7PM and I still get paid like, eleven bucks per hour considering the fact I’ve worked there for two years. I’ve also gotten employee of the month five times and I still haven’t gotten a raise?

To do list:
Find a new job.

I got my keys out and opened the door. “I’m home!” I called to no one in general.

No one replied, and I was disappointed because I bought Corey vegan brownies for all the food he’s given me so far. I paused for a moment. Doing these things for each other wasn’t flirting, right?

I put the brown bag of brownies on the counter and grabbed one for myself. I nibbled it for a bit and heard a guitar, singing, and… bongos?

The source came from outside, so I stepped out to the balcony to see Brendon and Corey singing and playing guitar over on Brendon’s balcony. They stopped when I came upon them though. Aw.

“Welcome home,” Corey greeted.

“Bonjour,” Brendon greeted with a smile.

I sat down on one of the tea chairs, “I got you brownies, Corey. And they’re vegan too, so less fat.”

He grinned at me, “Thanks a bunch.”

“Brownies sound good right now,” Brendon added, staring into the sky, probably spacing out.

“Oh, come over, man,” my roommate invited him, “We could all watch a movie or something, unless you’re busy, Cat.”

I shook my head, “I’m free.”

“Perfecto!” Corey yelled excitedly.