A Sealed Warrioress' Diary

Sparks

Dear Jesus,

They all came inside chattering like little birds. Poor Pris balanced an overloaded paper bag in both hands as she came in. Kathy literally dragged in a small sack. Others held a bulging polythene or two.

John went to help them. I didn't budge. I wanted to warn him about what he was cooking-whatever happened to once bitten, twice shy?-but he was quick with his part-time helping business.

Portia threw my car key at me and I barely caught it with my soapy hands.

"Morning, cuz!" she greeted me with a grin as I managed to steady myself from the impact. I gave her a hard glare.

"What?" she said, shrugging, "The car is for both of us. Isn't that what Grandma said? And besides, you don't expect us to walk to the mall, do you?"

"So you guys went shopping, huh?" I said, directing my question to Gen who was whistling merrily in a corner.

I heard Trisha mutter to Kathy, "Here comes the volcanic eruption..."

Kathy simply chuckled. I whirled on my feet, crossed my hands over my chest and faked a scowl at my bestie.

"And you too... You ganged up with them to abandon me. Kathy, I'm hurt!"

Kathy shrugged and opened her mouth to begin an apology and explanation but Gen cut her to the chase.

"Wait oh. Why are you whining? Don't tell me you didn't enjoy your rest and company," Gen said, a sly grin on her lips. She had the audacity to even wiggle her eyebrows at me. I wanted to stone her.

I glanced in John's direction and noticed his face was a little flushed.

To hide my rising embarrassment, I scoffed and said in a low threatening voice to Gen, "That wasn't funny at all. Don't worry. Payback time is coming."

Gen tsked and shook her head dramatically. When she spoke, her voice bore that accent again, only this time it was laced with pseudo-distress.
"Is that what Jesus would do? Is that how to treat your guests slash friends who came on a surprise visit?"

Trisha actually laughed. It was an abrupt, off-beat laughter that made me wonder what the girls must have discussed when I wasn't with them. I highly suspected it would be about their collective and glaring effort at matchmaking me and John which Gen had no doubt masterminded.
They probably thought I'd woken up earlier and we'd had a life-defining magical moment when in actual fact I'd only been with John for around ten minutes.

Gen paused and glanced around the kitchen, looking suddenly perplexed, while the remaining girls began to offload and sort the truckload of things they'd bought.

"Breakfast isn't ready yet?" Gen whined. "Why?"

I snorted. "Serves you right. The 'company' you left me with has grown rusty in his cooking skills..."

I regretted it the moment the words left my mouth. Jesus, I'm sure I must have squashed what little was left of John's self esteem. If he was a shade of pink before, now he looked as if he was drenched in tomato sauce.

I mean, the poor boy was the only male specimen in a kitchen filled with six girls. I cannot imagine what I'd do if I was the only girl in the midst of six boys and the one who was supposed to have my back was the one who said a snide remark aimed at me. I'd probably melt into oblivion.

"I didn't mean it that way, John," I said apologetically.

He gave me a tight smile and said. "It's okay. I probably deserved that one. I blame myself for incinerating a quarter crate of eggs. All because I was distracted."