✮Ｓｔｅｐｈａｎｉｅ✮

CH.5 :STREET CHASE

I arrived home and took a long shower, washing away all of my worries and when I was done, I locked myself up in my room and made a pact to myself to never get out.

I also poured out my heart to God and I felt he listened; I felt much better afterwards.

I sat at my desk, face leaning on my fist, foot raised on the chair and was attending to my homework. The phone on the table beeped and disrupted my thoughts, not the homework I thought I was doing. I peeked into the phone and it was a text from Arthur saying, "Hey, Steph," with thousands of smileys.

I turned a blind eye at the text. I returned to my book and the phone beeped again. I took another turn to read another text from Emlyn, "Hey, sunshine." This had no smileys, I was the smiley; my face lit up in thousands of smiles.

I thought I could be disciplined enough to have my phone beside me while studying but...

"Girl, you bailed on me at school today. What happened? I'm assuming we still have that deal by 5:00pm, yeah?" Yet another text from Arthur, "just give me one reply."

"So, today, I won't be walking the dogs around the streets, I'll be walking you around the city. Say I pick you up by 5:00pm?" Emlyn texted again.

"Yeah sure," I swiftly replied and gave in.

Oh my gosh! It was only few minutes to five and I was still seated behind that boring desk!

I rescued my foot from where it was stuck underneath the desk and raced to my wardrobe, sorting out the right clothes. That took me fifteen minutes. Pull yourself together, Stephanie, it's not a date! I kept reminding myself. 

At last, I got the perfect sundress of lavender and I found the perfect leather jacket to match with it and boots. I wore the clothes and posed for the mirror, making sure the dress wasn't skimpy, attention-seeking—degrading my moral standards.

Then I visited my dressing table and wore a light makeup with a glistening lipgloss.

I sought for some advice from the mirror and the last thing I wore was some confidence.

I grabbed my purse and flew out to meet Emlyn.

                      ***

"Your mood, it's gloomy."

"Like the weather," I looked up at the clouds.

"You're the Sunshine, make it brighter, make it happen," he smiled.

My look was flinty and my arms, folded.

"Man, I'm starving. Let's go get something to eat. Ever eaten Donnie's Doughnuts while walking before?"

"No? Why would I want to eat and walk?—table manners."

Emlyn took me to a doughnut shop called Donnie's Doughnuts and we argued for about five minutes on whose pockets the money for payment would come out from.

The guy behind the counter watched us bicker and shook his head and sighed in tiredness. "When you two are done arguing, please consider paying my salary too."

"I'll pay!" I said.

"My salary?"

"No!"

"Fine," he said blandly and I eventually payed for the doughnuts, drinks and fries.

I and Emlyn walked the streets eating and drinking voraciously while people stared at us and made comments.

"This actually makes sense."

"I know right!"

Few minutes later, I was back to being moody.

"What's up?"