𝐼 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝐴𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 [𝑬𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈]

chapter four

Nine in the morning is when I woke up, it was early but my body wouldn't let me sleep any longer. Feeling the spot next to me it's empty and my eyes flutter open, to find Alejandro missing. Sitting up groggily I wipe my eyes, clearing my vision to hear the shower running. He couldn't sleep any longer than me, we both had trouble sleeping which was a good thing and yet a painful experience.

My phone suddenly vibrates and I see it's carol calling me. I quickly grab my phone, answering her.

"Hello?" I try to sound like I didn't just wake up.

"Hey! Okay so, I'm on my way to your house. We've got a week before I leave and we aren't wasting anytime. Also I wanna check out your house. So... you'd better be ready In ten minutes!" She yells and I cringe, my ears pounding.

"Okay! Let me get changed " I tell her and hang up, scurrying out of bed. She was always early and if I didn't hurry up she would drag me out of bed.

Literally.

I dig through my drawers and throw on sweats and a hoodie, going for the baggy lazy look. It was indeed comfortable and I wasn't changing. I throw my hair into a loose bun and throw on slides by the bedroom door, hoping my breath wasn't too bad. Alejandro was in the bathroom and he needed his space.

I head out the bedroom door, making my way downstairs as the strong smell of bacon fills my nose.

By the time I reach the bottom I see my dad cooking in the kitchen, Helen sitting at the table with a cup in her hand.

"Morning Anna" she speaks as she sees me and I nod, making my way towards the plate of bacon, my stomach grumbling.

"Sleep okay?" My dad smiles at me and I shrug, stuffing my mouth with a piece of bacon.

"Some sleep is better than nothing" I tell him and he nods, going back to cooking his bacon. Whenever my father cooked he was always in his own zone I didn't mind it.

There's a sudden rapid knocking at the door and I know without opening it it's carol, she's always knocking like she's in a hurry.

I open the door and come face to face with Carol, a smile on her flushed face. Cold air blasts from behind her and I groan, realizing it's going to be extremely colder than I thought.

"Let's go! Ah you picked the bummy look" she groans and I lightly shove her.

"Shut up and and let's go you bully" I roll my eyes .

"We will be back later! Bye Mr. Carsow" carol yells towards my dad and he nods, waving us off.

"And so apparently their getting a divorce" I tell Carol inside the car, repeating the words from last night.

I tell her everything, she was my sister.

"Shit. I'm really sorry...is your dad okay...are you okay?" She asked me, a genuine concern in her voice.

"I'll be okay but I'm more worried about my dad. You know how hard he takes things like this" I tell her and she nods, understanding immediately.

"It will be hard I'm sure but your dad is strong alright? As long as your there to lift him up he will be okay".

I nod and take a sip of my coffee, realizing her words are right as always. My dad is strong, but I'll always be there to lift him up.

No matter what.

"Okay so...don't get mad...but I got you something.." she slowly speaks and I raise an eyebrow at her, hoping it's nothing too expensive. I hate when people buy me things expensive, makes me feel like I have to buy them something even more expensive.

"What did you buy?" I ask her, and she steps out the car, motioning for me to follow. We head towards the trunk where she unlocks it, revealing a large square first wrapped in a bow....

"Is that a TV?" I ask her and she sequels, jumping up and down.

"Carol...what the fuc-"

"Okay! Hear me out...I know you'll be working soon..okay? But I wanna help you with your house! Make it look fancy and shit" she brushes her shoulder and I punch her, hard enough for her to squeal.

"I told you....ugh!....how much was it?".

She doesn't answer, instead she smiles at me warmly and if only I didn't love her so much I smile back.

"I love you Anna. Seriously...I wanna help as much as I can before I leave okay? You're not just my best friend your my sister okay? I wanna help as much as I can okay? So..please just accept the gift...well....this and other things" she laughs awkwardly and I eye her once again.

"What..do..you...mean?".

"Okay so look you have some money right?".

I nod, my dad occasionally gives me money for random things just because he could and I never complained. I had a few hundred left over I just wanted to save it for something....not expensive.

"There's a thrift store I heard about, it's got alot of cheap stuff so I figured we could pick stuff up for your house. Furniture and whatnot".

"That's after we clean! We've got a lot of work to do" I tell her and she nods.

"Let's go then! I'll help..that okay?".

"Of course it's okay, why wouldn't it be?".

She closes the trunk and nods.

"Okay then let's clean that shit" she yells and I laugh uncontrollably and soon she's laughing too.

After taking out the bomb for the house, me and Carol get there before Alejandro just to clean out any animals before he sees. He's squeamish when it comes to dead animals or insects, I don't ask why or how I just don't want him to be uncomfortable. Checking the house we find a few dead roaches but nothing too crazy, I guess that rat from yesterday was gone. We do scan everything twice and make sure to spray raid around every corner, every open space anywhere in walls or anything. Within two hours all the cobwebs are dusted, holes in the walls are filled in with paint, mold is scrubbed from every corner and wall, everything is wiped down with bleach and cleaner, just to give it that brand new smell. Of course the house needed a good sweeping and a vacuum which will be handled eventually.

It's now four pm, and me and Carol stare at the house out of breath, proud of our success. The house was empty but it was clean..and that was better than nothing.

"We...fucking did it" she huffs out and I nod, giving her a high-five, my arms sore from scrubbing. Alejandro still hadn't shown up but I didn't mind, we got a lot of stuff done and I was proud.

"...wanna get food?" She asks and I nod, taking off my gloves and throwing it in the trash, putting the cleaning supplies in a bin and setting them under the bathroom sink.

Already put something in the new house...and I felt better than expected.