Cloud nine (Romance)

Chapter 16: Shopping Spree in Birchwood Mall

(POV: Naomi, the next day)

I hear a ringing, loud and cheery. I pick up my phone as it reads Saturday at 8:10. My eyes widen to see a calm Tyler without his shirt. To my left, there is a "sunflower pollen" scented candle still lit from last night. The silly little romcom that we were watching probably ended after we fell asleep because a new show was illuminated across the screen. I look over to kiss his chubby little cheeks but notice that he has slobber all over his pillow. I let out a slight giggle as I got up slowly so as to not alert him from his sleep. After getting up, I get into a beige skirt along with an Earl Grey crop top.

After doing that, I Tie my hair into two space buns which bunches up my hair very cutely and comfortably. I quickly make some sunny-side-up eggs and a few bits of bacon. I then placed it on a paper plate with a fork and let it in on our nightstand. I then pick up my rose pink bag with all of the essentials as I write a goodbye note on the door whilst going out. Once sitting down and opening up my phone, my eyes just to see that Minh had already sent a message. "Not shocking considering she usually always has to wake up early," I say quietly to myself. Almost as if it were right on cue, once touching the message she stated that she woke up late and would need extra time. I responded by saying that she could take as long as she needed and to not worry. She said that it would take about an hour for her to get ready. I gave her a big ol' thumbs up to give her the okay.

Entering the house and ripping off my goodbye note, my hand grazed across the laptop placed on my living room counter. I reluctantly decided to try this again. I opened up the forsaken document of all my characters that have been made for a story in my mind for a long time. "Why are you taking so long to make this if you cared so much about it." oh my god, this stupid voice is coming back. My brain starts splitting, almost as if it will fully dissociate as thoughts start spilling into my head. My dream is to be a writer. The number of times I have created a vast story and setting is many. Whenever it is time to write down the first rough draft my hands start to freeze. This same stupid thing happens every time where I condescend my own belief and confidence which causes me to never fully start a project.

Once there was a new bookstore in town I knew that it was right up my alley. Since I never had the confidence to write my books, I could share the power and meaning that other books have. For some reason, this story is different though. This is the only time where I couldn't stop thinking of them despite not working immensely. It is like this was designed to be for me and my story to tell. And although that's what my body thinks, my brain decides to shut it down and close the computer.

What a demeaning thing. The only person in your life who actively doesn't trust your talent is you and yourself alone.

To brush it off, My fingertips press against my bookshelf as I pick up some science fiction books and start reading them. The way this author just writes like the words flow off with ease is truly admirable. It hurts that the only roadblock is something as semantic as what it is but I ignore that though and just keep reading it to let the time pass. After what felt like five minutes passing, my phone buzzes with a message saying that Minh is ready to go. Running over to my bedroom, I still see Tyler still sleeping just as soundly as before. I click my tongue and write a message on the door yet again since I tore up the last one. Yet again, going into my car but this time driving to Minh's house since she can't drive. According to the maps, we only live about fifteen minutes apart which is shockingly convenient.

After about some time, My eyes lock onto an apartment complex in which I see her in full glam. I usually never see her wear such a cute outfit like that but it looks good on her. We both wave each other as she gets in. Our arms interlock to give each other a big warm hug. I gave her the aux and told her that she could play anything she wanted. As soon as she played some upbeat song I instantly knew that was not what she wanted to play. "C'mon Minh, I know this isn't your music." She blushed in response and tapped on her phone again. Some super twangy music started playing which isn't my style but I started head-bopping to make her more comfortable. We started jammin' to the music as we drove over to Birchwood Mall. After some positive small talk, we were in the parking lot of a shopping complex.