As we continued to drive along the roads I noticed how El Paso is really more like a city in Mexico than the States, which obviously makes sense, Juárez is quite literally down the street from us. But still, it was beautiful to see the Mexican culture shine through. From the restaurants, the street vendors, and even the Mexico flags that hung in store windows.
I hope the fact I don't speak much Spanish causes any problems, since the majority of the population here are Hispanic. I can understand the odd sentence or two but I was far from fluent. Shit, I wish I paid more attention in Spanish class in 9th grade. I'm sure I'll be fine though. Hey, I guess this summer would be a great time to learn, huh?
We drove for another 10 minutes before reaching Olive's apartment, a quaint 3 storied building with simple white stone walls and daintily-painted pastel blue doors and window frames. The outside is adorned with wild foliage, ivy coating the whole left side of the building. It looked like something straight out of a Disney movie. I have no idea how she got so lucky to find a place like this here, it fits her personality to a tee.
"Woah." I muttered in disbelief as my eyes drifted up towards her apartment from the passenger window, studying the beauty of the building. "No way you live here, it's so pretty."
"It's cute, right? I live up there." Olive explains, pointing her slender finger up towards the third story, the top floor. "It's perfect." She added, "Nice size, good neighbourhood. Only downside is the creepy cemetery down the street. I can see it in the distance on my way home from work. It freaks me out at night."
I was obviously intrigued.
"Oh really? Might have to go check it out sometime, sounds cool."
Olive glared at me for a couple moments with her brows furrowed, before rolling those large blue eyes at me, her face plastered with a smirk.
"You're a weird kid, Willow. You know that, right?." She joked. Now come on, I'm not carrying all your shit up those stairs myself."
I offered to lift my own suitcase up the stairs, dragging it's heavy load up each step, every movement followed by a groan or a breathless exhale. I'm far too unfit for this. But alas, I finally made it to the top step and into the apartment, luckily without collapsing down the stairs out of exhaustion.
The apartment was just as pretty on the inside as it was on the outside. It's small, but warm and inviting. Clean ivory walls, dark oak wood floors with matching wooden beams that hung low from the ceilings. The rooms were lit in a soft lamp-light glow, illuminating the brightly coloured furniture and the many house plants spotted around the apartment.
"Here's where you'll be staying." Olive said as she walked me over to the room at the end of a narrow hallway, passing two other doors that I assume are her bedroom and the bathroom. I opened the door and poked my head in to take a look at my new lodgings for the summer.
It's a decent sized guest room, furnished with a double bed with freshly washed crisp white sheets, a simple wooden night stand and a matching closet. The smell of a sweet vanilla candle engulfs the room, my favourite scent. Olive must've bought the candle specifically for me because I know she's more of a floral scent kind of girl. My lip curls into a gentle smile as the sugary sweet aroma hits my nostrils.
Opposite the bed is a large window, with a view of the whole street below and even the Franklin Mountains far off in the distance.
"This is perfect, Liv. Thanks again for letting me stay here with you, even though you're busy this summer." I announce as I struggle to lift up my suitcase to throw back down on the bed for me to unpack.
"It's not a problem. You know that." Olive assured me.
"Anyway, I'll let you settle in. I'll go call up my friend to ask about that Holiday Inn job for you."
"Then I'll find a movie for us both to watch, so put on your pyjamas and meet me in the living room when you're all sorted, okay?" She said before walking off back down the hallway.
I unzipped my suitcase and flung it open, revealing my neatly folded clothes. Looking at them like this made me realise just how much black I wore, but whatever, it's my favourite colour. It didn't take me long to hang my clothes up in the closet, arrange my underwear in the drawers, and trash the once tidy bathroom with all my toiletries.
After a while, as instructed, I dressed myself in the cosiest pajamas I owned and made my way out of my room to find my sister.
"Sooo, what did your friend say about the job?" I ask Olive as I find her sitting on the couch cross-legged, eyes glued to the television screen.
"Good news, you start this Saturday!" She announced in excitement, turning her head to face mine.
"He told me there's no need for an interview and he can get you started straight away. I think he said it will be you and this other boy on the night shift. He's been working there for about a year or two so he can show you the ropes a little. It's 11pm till 5am every Saturday night."
"Ah that's great!" I squealed, clapping my hands. "Thank you so much for helping me out."
"It's no problem, anything for you. Now come on, sit here and watch this movie with me!" Olive demanded while switching on her new favourite film - Grease. She was madly in love with John Travolta as Danny Zuko. I personally didn't see the appeal.
That night we just watched movies, ate popcorn and talked about anything and everything for hours on end. It was great.
Olive began to struggle to keep her eyes open around the time the clock struck midnight. She decided to head to bed, kissing me on the top of my head as she sleepily stumbled towards her room.
However I was still not even the slightest bit tired. I slept for the majority of the 12 hour bus journey from Vegas so I knew tonight was gonna be a long one until I could finally fall asleep.
YOU ARE READING
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Fanfiction"One glance of those brown eyes told of a lifetime of struggle that had never been put into words."
