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Normani
I wake up in the middle of the night with an insatiable craving for something sweet. It's so strong I can't even play it off or ignore it, so I get up and peel the covers away from my body.
I make my way out my bedroom, quietly, mindful of the fact that Megan could be sleeping.
My cats begin to stretch and a grey goofball rubs against my ankle.
"Hi, kitty kitty." I coo as I begin to move downstairs stealthily.
I pass the guest room and note light from the slit under the door.
There's no way in hell Megan could be awake at 3 in the morning. I think to myself.
I head to the kitchen and I begin to pull out my phone to google some easy quick recipes since i'm not in the mood to spend 2 hours cooking. At least not at these hours of the night. When I was younger and would stay holidays and school breaks at my grandma's house, she'd take it so personally if she ever caught us rummaging her fridge at night. Saying that if we just ate her food we wouldn't feel hungry at these hours. However indulging occasionally isn't a shitty thing, is it?
I hear loud ass meowing down the hall and assume it must be the cats.
I began to click my tongue and call them over.
I then see the door t the guest room open and Megan's arm. The light from the room lets me see her silhouette. She scratches Cookie's head and coos at her. She then turns and we both hold eye contact for a good moment.
"Hey."
"Hey."
Something in my chest tightens. It's almost as if I've lost the ability to speak. Next thing you know, I'm motioning for her to come to the kitchen. She hesitantly listens. I don't even fully process my gesture until she's in front of me.
"You okay?" She smiles. "Scared of the dark?"
Her low chuckle sends a shiver down my spine. It's like a rush of cold and my stomach almost sinks to my ass. The lights in the kitchen are slightly dim since that's the setting I keep it on for visibility at night. She passes behind me to lean on the other side of the countertop.
What the fuck is going on? With me I mean. Megan is just existing.
"I just got hungry."
"Hmm, you know what you want?"
I shake my head negatively and look down to hide my smile.
Cookie gets on the countertop and rustles against my cheek almost as if she's trying to turn my head back around to look at Megan. Damn cat.
"Cookies?"
"yeah, but don't that take a shit ton of time?"
"I know a cheat recipe."
My brows go up.
"Let's try it." I say with a huge smile.
____________
"Normani..." Megan playfully rolls her eyes as im sat on my countertop catching eye contact with her and laughing uncontrollably.
I don't even know what's possessing me.
I see her chuckle a bit and dip her head down. I honestly can't read her expression much. For a second she looks to collect herself and I straighten up my posture, correcting my laugh. She looks up at me with a big ass smile then looks the other way.
Damn.
The cookies are baking so as the kitchen is warming up and the whole house is filling up with the smell of fresh baked cookies. Megan has a hand for cooking that I was totally not expecting.
The oven timer goes off and she is quick to grab the oven mitts, "Where you learn to make these quick ass cookies?"
"Um... " she goes a bit quiet. "A friend."
I can tell she looks sad. Considering that Megan is pushing 2 months of staying living here I can only assume how much of home she misses. And especially her people. That's how it was for me as I started growing apart from family. A part of me misses my people too.
"Hmmm..."
Considering her expression I don't get any more pushy with the questions. Why sour the mood out when she's the only other person here?
In a flash her expression changes to a happier one when the cookies are laid on the stovetop with carefulness.
"Thanks for the cooking."
"No problem, you need help with anything you can ask anytime. I even know a think or two about electricity."
I raise my brow and nod. I want so badly to dive into the tray of cookies but I know I have to wait. I guess some habits never do leave as you age.
Megan fanns the cookies a little bit. They smell absolutely delicious.
Im kinda hating myself as I realize how in the back of my mind I sort of avoided this woman when she's actually very kind and caring. She's done nothing but make sure I'm okay. I was so quick to overthink so many scenarios about her. I was so wrong.
About a few weeks ago, Megan told me the entire detailed story on how she got to my garage.
How she was working at a humble pharmacy job and slowly everyone working for the establishment began to have police wanting to question them at their front doors, she dashed out of fear, ended up in the woods somewhere then walked here.
I know she isn't a shitty person, or a criminal. As I've gotten to know her, I understand why she ran. Not only does Megan watch out for others but things got to a point where she had to watch out for herself. I'm sure many others in her situation would've done the same. Who wants to be questioned and shit for things they didn't do and had no idea were happening right under their noses while they just wanted to round up some money for rent and college?
Cookie begins to scratch at Megan's leg. the taller woman chuckles and picks her up.
"Hey kitty."
I smile.
She truly is the kindest and sweetest. She'd never hurt anyone and I have no doubts or uncertainty about that.
She'd told me that she would like to have a dog someday. And then something about how she had a big fluffy one that was a family pet but he lived to be 13ish and then passed on. She's never had one since but she's so sweet and kind to my cats I truly hope to see her with her puppy and a secret home someday. I feel like she deserves it and then some.
"Lemme touch this one." She says and pulls her hand back quickly after she touches the top of a cookie. "nah this shit fuckin' gave me a fuckin' third fuckin' degree fuckin' burn!"
I worry a little.
She just shakes it off like nothing and keeps petting cookie and cooing at her.
"You sure you don't want some ice for that?"
"Nah, Mani. I'm good. Thank you."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely positive." she says with a smile and a thumbs up, "Alright, Mani. you got your phone on you? You might need to set a timer for about 5 minutes or so. Or one of them itty bitty grandma timers."
I laugh.
"Grandma timers?"
She scoffs at me playfully, "YES! grandma timers or whatever you call 'em." She laughs hard as hell.
I laugh hard into her. For a mere second we're just inches apart, me looking up at her.
