Neighbor

5.

Houston, TX
Onika Maraj
Next Day

"Rise and fucking shine!!!" I yelled as I walked in Bey's house.

For some reason, she told me told where her spare key was so I used it this morning. It was Saturday and instead of us doing the garden, were gonna start painting the house. I'm pretty sure she's gonna do most to the work, because she told me she was, but also because she knows how to do this better than me.

It was 8 in the morning and I already told her I wanted to get a head start on painting the house because I knew it was gonna take a long time, but with her helping me I'm sure that we can get it done by the time I have to go back to work.

I heard nothing, so I closed the door, walking up the stairs to where her room was. First I knocked on the door, not getting a response. She's usually on time for everything, and when I say everything, I literally mean everything. She hasn't been late once since I've known her, even when I wanted her to be late she wasn't.

So something had to have happened for her to be late. I'm not mad tho.

Like I said, I knocked at first, but got nothing, so I opened the door and peeked my head in. She was buried under the covers with her feet hanging out, and she was snoring really loud.

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms and walking over to her. I tapped her forehead which made her eyes pop open. "Huh?"

"It's 8."

She didn't say anything for awhile. I realized that she had fallen back asleep when I saw her eyes close and she started snoring again. This time, I jumped on her "Wake uppppppppo!!!!! It's 8 and we have to start on the house!"

"Shit!" She gently scooted me off of her before hopping up and nearly tripping over the sheets. "I'm so sorry, I had a really long night last night and I know I'm late, fuck I hate being late, dammit." She said angrily, opening her closet and walking in.

I hopped off the bed, walking over to it. "I'm not even mad Bey. Don't be so hard on yourself. I thought you'd laugh." I said with a chuckle, watching as she looked through clothes. What the hell was she trying to find?

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I just really hate being late, especially when I'm gonna do something for someone. I'm really sorry Nic, I forgot to set my alarm-"

"Stop fucking apologizing. I'm not mad Bey, damn, laugh about it. I've never seen you this serious."

"Yes, very true." She said with a chuckle.

"So why were you up so late last night?"

"Oh, I was helping the lady across the street find her cat."

I creased my eye brows. "What?"

"You know, the old lady across the street? Ms. Williams. She said her cat ran out and she couldn't find it, so I searched and searched until I saw it in a tree, and I had a hard time getting it out of there."

"What'd you do? Call the fire department?"

She shook her head. "No, I climbed the tree myself and coarsed it with snacks to come to me." She said with a chuckle.

"Really? You stayed up late for that?"

"Yes, I mean you don't know what that cat could mean to her you know. Plus her husband died a few months ago and I know she must be lonely, so I made sure I found the cat. Its ok though, it was definitely worth it."

I stared at her for a few seconds before a smile spread across my face. "Your so nice."

She waved me off. "Well...I try."