The next night, Sonia asked Lucy for a copy of her attendance sheet since her group leader (who has a major crush on her), had not given her the last one that she needed. Lucy let Priya know, in case she wanted to take a walk with Lucy and proceeded to look for a pair of long pants. After combing through her draws, she eyed the dirty laundry hamper, with a suspicious feeling that all her long pants were already dirty. She scowled at the hamper as her suspicions were confirmed. She walked over the her mirror in the bathroom and stared at her reflection. Why did she always have to change into long pants when going out? Priya was always on her case about wearing short pants, though she just always felt comfortable in long pants.
When she was at home in her country, even to go to the neighbor's house, she would wear pants this length all the time and not think twice about it. She looked at the reflection of the pants in the mirror. They were a little above her mid thigh, thick, black and loose. Plus they were extremely comfortable. So, she quickly shaved her legs, sprayed her perfume over them and went out. She had not worn short pants in so long that her legs felt so vulnerable and cold as she stepped outside. Although her legs were an ungodly pale from lack of exposure to sunlight, she felt like she could walk taller. She felt more elegant. She felt more feminine. She looked down at her legs and smiled. There were slim and long as a gazelle's. When she met Priya, she expected her to say something along the lines of "Finally!" or "First time seeing you in short pants Lucy!" Some positive affirmation from her friend.
As she approached her, Priya looked up at her, smiled and said "Let's go". Not another word. Lucy could not help but feel a bit disappointed. After constantly reprimanding Lucy about always wearing long pants, she had expected her friend to say something more. She did not.
Lucy hid her disappointment as they walked on. A middle aged man, dashing sweat off of his eye brow, passed near Lucy and did a double take.
"Excuse me!" he said, "Are you two twins?" Lucy smiled and said "Yes we are!". He returned her smile and said "You two are very beautiful!"
Lucy beamed from her heart and gave a whole hearted "Thank you!" and could not control the blush fleeting over her cheeks. Priya began talking about something, but all Lucy could hear was "Beautiful!"
They got to Sonia's apartment and they decided to sit outside in the cool breeze. They spotted a rusting round black metal table and sat around it. While they had been at the supermarket a few days ago, Sonia made Lucy put the packet of chia seeds that she already had in her hand, back on the shelf and told her that she had a full jar at home that she would give to Lucy instead. So Lucy obliged.
As they sat down, Sonia gave Lucy the jar as Lucy gave her the attendance sheet. Sonia asked Lucy how she ate the chia seeds because they tasted awful to her. She explained that she only soaked them in milk then added honey. Sonia made a face to Priya and shook in a mocking fashion "Oh, she's so..." and they began struggling to find an insult. Lucy could just see the ugly words forming in their heads.
Before they came up with something that might actually hurt Lucy, she supplied them with the weapon to use against her "Whitewashed?" she suggested. They immediately lunged for the bait and said "Ah yes! Whitewashed! Lucy is so white washed!" and they said it over and over again.
Lucy found it interesting that she could remove the knife from their hand and give them a spoon, without them even realizing it. It was similar to material girl, but not quite. Material girl had been a knife, close to a dagger, while whitewashed was a wooden spoon, handed to them by Lucy, herself. She only smiled at them although, she did not understand the point of it, yet it seemed that they got some satisfaction out of the jeering. Lucy picked up her phone and read a few lines from her life-changing book. "The Subtle art of not giving a f*ck" had literally changed her perspective on so many things. Including crap like this.
