Housemate

CHAPTER 7

El have to go to work the next day. She didn't get to see Jay at all after their breakfast together yesterday morning. She hasn't been able to discuss with him about some rules. She actually forgot about that.

She took off her rain coat and hung it on the hanger at the corner of the office. The weather is quite cold from the heavy rain since dawn. It is indeed a dull day. El walked pass Laura's desk. Her computer is switched off, Laura should be in the office by now.

"Where's Laura?" El asked.

"She took emergency leaves since last Tuesday,"

"Why? Did something happened to her?" The employee just shrugged before leaving.

El dialled Laura's number during her lunch. She sat at the place where they usually have their lunch together. The chairs are wet from the rain. It is still raining and no hint of sunlight anytime soon. She wiped the chair with her palm and sat on it anyway. As she waited for Laura to pick up her call the wind blows. She shivered from the sudden coldness. She didn't bring her blazer with her, think it wasn't that necessary.

The call is directed to voicemail. Laura didn't pick up the call so she called again. She rubbed her palm on her thigh to fight the cold. When the air gets colder she figured that she should go inside or she'll get sick.

"Hello?" Just then Laura answered.

She sounded tired on the other line. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good, just a little tired that's all. My sister is now in the hospital so i have to accompany her." Laura told her.

"Oh"

"How's it going?" Laura asked after seconds of silent between them.

"Nothing much, I feel better that I have a housemate now."

"That's good!"

"Thank you Laura."

"For?" Laura chuckles.

"Huh?-" before El get to continue, it seems that someone else is talking to Laura.

"Um El, we'll talk some other time? I have to go now. I'm sorry." Laura apologized.

"That's fine, go ahead."

"Sorry! I'll make it up to you! I promise! Let's have lunch together when I get back okay?" Laura apologized again the hung up.

El can't help but feel disappointed. She wished to tell Laura about her encounter with Jay. She did told Angie about it and as expected Angie's reaction is over the top.

"I told you so!" She remembered how dramatic Angie was when she called her.

But El understands that Laura must have important things to be settled. She figured that she will wait for Laura to come back to work then she will tell her everything from the beginning.

After coming home from work that day, once again El didn't see Jay all day. His car was gone when she reached home. She took her shower and proceed to make herself a nice dinner. She hesitated at first whether or not she should make one for Jay too but decided to make him dinner anyway while preparing the ingredients to macaroni and cheese. She adds generous amount of minced beef in the recipe. She thinks that would enhance the taste a little bit more.

It is pretty quiet that evening. The only thing that can be heard are the sounds of pans and cooking utensils colliding as El cooks. The house smells delicious as the meat sizzles in the pan.

Just as El was washing her dishes, the metal rubbish bin outside crashed, making a loud clank. It seems like somebody had accidentally tripped over it. Then she heard the ground scrunched as if someone is stepping on it hurriedly. El tried to look at the window and at that moment the front door slammed and a person ran upstairs. She's confused but thinks that it could be Jay just came back home from work.

"Hey Jay! Dinner's ready! You might want to come down?" El called him from the bottom of the stairs making sure he heard her clearly.

El sat down in the kitchen alone, waiting for Jay to come down but he never came. So El wrapped the quarterly eaten macaroni and cheese in the yellow glossy square pan with a plastic wrapper and put them in the fridge.

'I made mac and cheese. It's in the fridge. Just microwave it if you want to eat.'

El stick a note on the fridge to let Jay know.