Apples and Tim Tams

Chapter 5

A/N  Credits go to Nadine, Wendy and Margie for their help with this chapter! Thanks for the reads and votes, you have all made this so great for me.

Sunday morning came and went with minimal interaction with anyone. I used the time to sleep and make a list of all the things I needed to do. First up in the morning I needed to contact my manager at the supermarket and see if I could get lots more hours. I couldn't make a decision about school until I had my work sorted out. I also had to go by the real estate and see if they could help me find somewhere to rent that was affordable and still close to everywhere I needed to get to. Maybe if I got full time work I could drop my cleaning clients which would free up time and also open up more possibilities for where I could live.

I checked my phone and saw that I had a text message from my Mum.

Mum: Emma I've put the rest of your crap in the front yard. You need to get it out of my sight before this afternoon.

Ahh Mum, always so caring.

I quickly got dressed and headed out to see what was left of all my belongings and what kind of state they'd be in. The sun warmed my face as I strolled along not in any real hurry to face up to the wreckage of my life. As I approached my old home I saw that the front lawn was literally covered in clothes and books and everything else that had been in my room. I stopped dead in my tracks and just stared at the devastation in front of me. What the hell was I supposed to do with it all? I couldn't carry it back to the motel and she hadn't been nice enough to leave any kind of bags for me to load it all into.

I finally pulled my phone out and rang Evan.

"Hey, Ev. You busy right now?" I asked after she answered.

"Nah, just a bit of study. What's up?"

I explained what was happening and she told me she'd be there in five minutes with her mums car. I started getting my stuff together into tidy piles when I thought I'd go into the house and see what was left in my room. I unlocked the door and crept inside looking around to make sure no one was home. I ran to my room and glanced around to see that it had been stripped bare of everything. I opened the cupboards and drawers to see that they were empty too. The only thing left was my bed and I unfortunately couldn't take it with me but I did grab my pillows. Turning I left the room and as I shut the front door behind me for the last time I said a silent goodbye to the life I used to have and resolutely turned to a future I couldn't even see. Two days ago my biggest worries were what to wear to a party and would Travis ever notice me. Now I hadn't thought of Travis since Friday night and nearly everything I could wear was piled up in front of me on the grass. Good times. Evan pulled in the driveway and so I pushed those thoughts away and stepped into my new reality.

Three Months later.

I walked into my tiny little unit and bent down to pat the cat that was immediately winding it's way around my legs. Her miaows and grumbles were growing louder as I headed into the kitchen to get her food for her. In the first few weeks of living on my own my loneliness was at all all time high and I just wanted to have some company when I would get home from work. So I contacted a cat rescue and met the cat of my dreams. I remember walking in and looking down at this round ball of tangled ginger fur and bright blue eyes. She pushed up against her cage and miaowed until I leant down and scratched her behind her ears. I've never owned a cat so I wasn't even sure what I supposed to do but one look at those eyes and I was sold! After going through all the proper checks I was the proud owner of a cat with no name. Weeks went by and I still didn't have a name so I decided to put a poll out on Facebook and see what names people came up with. Worst. Decision. Ever. I ended up with a choice of about 80 names to choose from. This was meant to make my choice easier not harder. 

Anyway, I got the cat food out and fed a very vocal Catnip Catling. I think she likes her name! Life was definitely better now but I was still lonely. Through all the changes I had been going through I had stopped seeing so much of my friends and I missed the easy comfort I had always had with them. They still kept in constant contact but I felt separated from them as they continued with school and parties. I was always invited so I only had myself to blame for my hermit like existence. All I ever seemed to do was work and sleep, but money was still tight, and I filled my days with as much work as I could physically fit in. I sat on the cheap second-hand lounge I had bought and snuggled with Catnip feeling too tired to even get up to make dinner. I was just starting to doze when my phone chimed with an incoming message. I lazily looked at the screen and froze at what I read.

Travis: Hey, can we talk?

Sorry, this is a short one! Thanks for reading.