LUXURE

1. GETTING STARTED

The continuous obnoxious beeping of my alarm clock woke me up from an exhausted sleep. I tried to ignore the stupid beeping to get as much sleep as I possibly could. I pulled the blankets over my head, pretending the transfer to a different world. But the beeping continued and I eventually caved and rolled over to aggressively hit the "stop" button on the bottom of the screen.

"UGH" I groaned as I rubbed my face in an early attempt to wipe the tired right off my face. I threw my sheets off myself and forced myself to climb out of bed. I kicked some of the dirty clothes from the night before out of my way before making my way to the bathroom.

I took a quick shower and successfully blow dried my hair to achieve a blow-out look, which is something that has taken me ages to finally master. I usually just let my hair fall in waves naturally, but I need to look "presentable" at work, according to when my boss sat me down and told me I looked unprofessional. I applied some light makeup and put on my usual work outfit. A white blouse and a black pencil skirt that landed just above my knees. Business attire has never been my style, but unfortunately it comes with the job. I grabbed my basic ass business heels out of my closet before I grabbed my bag off the handle of the door and walked out of my room.

The smell of eggs and toast filled the small living room. Mom was making breakfast, as usual. "Smells good mom." I said, even though she couldn't see me from the kitchen, I knew she could hear me. This apartment is so incredibly small that it doesn't take much to talk to each other from one side of the apartment to the other.

I opened the door to the only other bedroom across the hall, the one my 7 year old brother Jordie sleeps in.

"Jordie, it's time to get up, time for school." I said soothingly as I tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. I caressed his cheek to help slowly wake him up.

"I don't wanna." He groaned, pulling the covers over his face. So relatable, that's literally me every morning.

"I know, but you have to. Come on, let's go eat breakfast. It smells really good." I said as I pulled the cover off of him which caused him to pout his plump cheeks.

I walked out of his bedroom and into the living room where Jordie's school supplies were scattered across the floor. First, I grabbed his backpack, then I reached for the folder lying next to it with scribbled on papers falling out, I gathered the papers and placed them in the folder while collecting the scattered pens and pencils to put them in his pencil pouch.

Every morning, I organize Jordie's backpack before he goes to school, it's something my mom did for me and I want to continue that tradition for Jordie since mom lost that motivation when she got sick. It was something that always made me feel like someone was looking out for me.

After I put his backpack by the door, I walked into the kitchen where mom was putting the food she cooked on mismatched plates.

"Good morning, momma." I said as I leaned down to kiss the top of her head. Ever since she got sick she's been so weak. She has to sit on a barstool when she cooks because she can't stand for long periods of time anymore.

"Good morning, sweetie. Here, go set these on the table." She said handing me the plates full of eggs and toast. "We're almost out of eggs again." She said with a frown. I took the plates from her and set them on the table before I walked back to where she was sitting in the kitchen.

"I'll pick some groceries up after I get off work. Write down a list of what you need." I said as I handed her a sticky note and pen. "Okay, thank you sweetie." She said as I helped her over to her seat at the small dinning table that sits right next to the window overlooking other run-down apartment buildings. The sound of sirens from streets below hummed through the apartment like soothing background music we all were accustomed to.