Spiraled ⚪⭐⚪⭐ (A Brollins Novel)✔

EPISODE ELEVEN

Lopez's House. Los Angeles, California.

"When is the coffee going to be done? It has been boiling for almost thirty minutes now."

Mercedes cranes her neck to check the coffee boiling on the stove, finding steams already puffing out through the small hole in the lid while the lid clinks madly against the pot. Engrossed in mopping the coffee she'd mistakenly spilled on the floor earlier, she hadn't realized the coffee has completely boiled over. She spares a second to glance back at Pamela, flashing her friend an apologetic smile before quickly snatching a napkin nearby. Carefully, she takes the pot of coffee off the stove, realizing a moment too late when the heat of the stove's flame flared across the back of her hand, that she should've put off the stove first. The ache of the burn sears through her arm, causing her to hastily and clumsily, set the pot of coffee at the edge of the kitchen counter. Before Pamela can even take a step towards the counter, the pot tilts and falls, hot, black coffee splashing all over the kitchen floor.

Mercedes yelps and jumps back, her legs fortunately avoiding the liquid burn of the coffee. Somewhere in her mind, she hears Pamela, who is standing at the entrance of the kitchen with empty trays, assuring the guests everything is fine. Mercedes doubts Holly is still awake and for that, she's glad. It would've been embarrassing for her if Holly were to see the kitchen like this; the counter stained with coffee, crusts of bread and donuts lying messily on the table, a chair knocked over and black coffee splashed all over the tile floor of the kitchen.

"This kitchen is a mess," Pamela cries, cautiously sidestepping the coffee and the bucket of water to set the trays she's holding on the counter. "What do I do with you Mercedes?" She bemoans with a shake of her head, a frustrated look on her face.

Exasperated, Mercedes throws her hands up in the air. "Well, you shouldn't have left me here all alone. I can't handle these things on my own, you know that Pam." She looks away from her friend's severe expression and blows air on the back of her hand, trying to soothe the ache of the burn but to no avail; the ache only increases. Relenting, she strides over to the fridge and retrieves a pack of ice. While she attends to her aching hand, Pamela starts mopping the coffee off the floor.

"You should learn these basic things Mercedes," Pamela scolds, working ferociously. Mercedes doesn't say it but she has always admired her friend's enthusiasm and energy whenever she does household chores or when she's working at the hospital. Witnessing her friend helping a pregnant woman give birth is something she'll never forget but unlike her friend who takes joy in doing these minor things, Mercedes prefers to use her energy to do something much more productive and beneficial. 'Time is money,' as they say and cleaning or cooking doesn't exactly fill your pockets with money. "When you get married and have a family, no one is going to be there to cook for your husband or your children. House maintenance is important in every marriage," Pam pauses briefly to swipe a tendril of hair from her sweaty face to the back of her ear. "I'm not going to be there to serve you for the rest of my life."

"I'll keep that in mind," Mercedes grumbles, rolling her eyes. She knows her friend is saying these things for when she does get married in the future and in her friend's mind, that's means marrying Colby. But Colby has never complained about her lack of house management skills. He once told her he'll be content with eating burnt food everyday as long as he has her in his life. "Seriously Pam, I tried. But you know household chores aren't exactly my specialty. I can't be in the kitchen for even ten minutes without burning something or in this case, spilling coffee onto the floor. I'm just not good at that. You're the expert in these things, not me."

Although they've been living together for almost five years now, Mercedes has rarely even lifted a broom to sweep her room or Pamela's. Even when she was living with her mother and sister, she never partook in household chores. It isn't something her mother enforced on her. Her mother was a hardworking woman who preferred her children to be studying for their exams rather than cleaning or cooking. For like her mother always says; 'she won't allow her daughter's lives to be as miserable as hers.' Although Mercedes herself--and her mother to some extent--knows their lives wouldn't have been as hard as it was if only her father hadn't abandoned them, she still held her mother's words to her heart and studied hard to top every subject in her class, determined to not go through the hardships her mother went through and relieve her family off their burdens.