The Dry Cleaner

Chapter 6

There's a picture of Malcolm.

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(Third person)

She finished cooking Mac and cheese and put the hot food on two plates and gave him one. She sat on the couch opposite him and turned the TV on. They sat in silence as they watched the news and he would occasionally glance at her.

After they were done, she washed the utensils and sat down opposite him, wrapped in a thick blanket. Her ringtone rang loudly through the room and she pulled her phone out of her pocket and it was her mother calling her.

She excused herself from the took and went to the counter.

'Hey mom.'

'Oh my dear baby! Are you okay? Where are you? Are you warm enough?'

'Mom I'm fine okay. I'm at work the snowstorm caught us here and I stuck here but don't worry I'm fine.'

'Us? Who is us?'

'Oh I'm stuck here with this man called Mr Coleman. But don't you worry. I'll be fine and I'll make sure he doesn't lay a finger on me okay.'

'I'm not worried. If anything I'm happy that you get to spend time with a man for more than two hours and you might be attracted to him.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Mom will you ever stop.'

'No not until you get married.'

'I don't see why you do this to me. Caleb isn't married and he's older than me and you don't pressure him to find a woman and settle.'

'It's different.' She said.

' No its not. Anyway I'll talk to you later. Love you.'

'Love you to my baby.'

She hang up and walked back into the lounge. She picked the blanket up and made her way to the bean bag couch and settled down.

"Why are you sitting so far away from me?" Asked Malcolm.

"I didn't realise that you wanted me to sit next to you. Anyway I want to sleep." She said.

"Sleep?"

"Yes sleep. Its eleven o'clock and I'm tired. I just want to sleep so if you just stop talking to me, I would really appreciate that."

"So where do I sleep?" He asked.

"On the couch. Okay."

" Look let me be a gentleman an let you sleep here." He said as he stood up from the long couch.

"No I'm fine here. I'd rather you sleep comfortably on the couch." She said.

"Why? Do you care about me?"

She let out a short laugh. "On don't flatter yourself. I care about myself."

"Elaborate please," he said as he sat down.

"You see if you sleep on any other couch that you won't be comfortable on, you'll wake up moody and be in a worse mood that you already are in and I don't want to have to go through the day with your moods. I can't handle that okay. So now just leave me alone and let me sleep." She said.

She covered herself and soon she started snoring. He watched her for a while, trying to figure out why she wasn't attracted to him. It wasn't normal for him to be rejected. In fact this was one of the first times that someone spoke back to him. Soon he settled down comfortably and fell asleep.

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The next morning, she woke up before he did. She stretched and went to make some coffee. It was about eight o'clock and she checked her missed calls and messages as she waited. She saw him move and soon he sat down with disheveled hair as he scratched his eyes and let out a long yawn.

"Good morning." She said as she pulled out another mug from the shelves.

He didn't reply instead he pulled out his phone and replied to messages and emails. She placed the mug in front of him and went to sit down on the couch opposite him and turned on the TV. They remained in silence for about an hour until the signal of the TV started disappearing. She cursed under her breath and turned the TV off.

He also cursed under his breathe as the signal of his phone disappeared. They both starred at each other awkwardly  until she picked her novel up and continued reading it.

"You like books don't you?" He asked.

"Yes.I love them." She replied.

"Well at least I've found out something about you now."

"Good for you." She replied sarcastically.

"Let's do something. I ask a question about you, you reply and then you ask me about myself and I'll reply. That way well be able to pass time and get to know each other."

"No thanks." She replied flatly.

"Come on."

"I'm not interested okay." She said.

"I'll stop disturbing you if we just do this okay. I promise."

She looked at him knowing he wouldn't shut up until he got what he wanted.

"Fine."

He smiled as he thought of what to ask her.

"When's your birthday and how old are you?" He asked.

"July 22nd and I'm 24.You?"

"October 7th and I'm 29. Tell me what you like to do, your hobbies?"

"I guess singing and reading. I also like sleeping and cooking." She said.

"Interesting." He said. "Your turn."

"Why are you so arrogant?" She asked and she didn't want to sound as rude as she did but it was too late.

"I'm not arrogant. In fact people assume I am although I'm not. I'm not as bad as people think I am."

"Oh." She said.

"Tell me why you work here? What did you want to be before?"

She put her head down." I always wanted to be a doctor but at that time, my family we weren't as stable financially as we are right now. Everyone was concerned about my brother, he was in rehab and he was the centre of attention. It was expensive and so no one really and any money to spare on me and I doubt they even remembered that I was done with high school. Luckily I got a scholarship and when I went to the university, I found that a girl had also received the same letter as me and so we went to the principals office and they accepted her and not me because I am black. And so I had nothing else to do and with the little money I had saved, I decided to do a year of home science and after I left I came and got a job here and I've been working here ever since I was nineteen."

"Do you like it here?"he asked

"One question at a time remember. But yes I do. I might not have liked it when I started but know I love it. Its something I'm passionate about." She said.

He smiled at her. "Your turn."