The Girl From Spain (girlxgirl)

Day 46/182: Sally

Sally opened her apartment door to let Mila in. "I'm mad," she announced.

Mila was either unimpressed or used to her behaviour. "Thank you for the warning," she said solemnly. "Not at me, I hope."

"Nope. Society."

Mila nodded. "Understandable. We are messed up." She casually peeled herself out of her coat and took off her shoes before walking through the hallway and sitting down on the sofa that luckily now had a permanent spot.

Sally raised her eyebrows but followed her to the living room and plopped down next to her. "Thank you," she groaned.

"What happened?"

"My boss. There is this guy, Coby, we started working at the office at the same time." As she didn't know in which way the British and Spanish journey to becoming a lawyer differed, she added, "We both have a two-year training contract. In college, I was at the top of my class, he was in the lower average. I don't try to be mean or narcissistic but I believe I'm better than him. Yet-"

"It is neither mean nor narcissistic to know your worth," Mila interrupted. "It would mean if you'd tell him that rudely but one of the things I admire about you is your confidence."

Sally smiled, some part of her anger already dissolving into thin air. Usually, when she would launch into a feministic rant in front of her friends, many of them would roll their eyes, sigh and the thought 'Here we go again', would be written on their faces in the most obvious way. By that time, she normally only talked about these things with Jake. Sitting on the floor of their apartment, drinking beer, listening to music, and complaining about humans was weirdly therapeutic.

"Thank you." Having lost the thread of what she wanted to say, she just summed it up with, "I'm just so sick of being underestimated. You should see the tasks he gave me today. I feel stuck."

"Has your colleague made anything different than you?"

"It's not what he does, it's what he has. A dick."

Sally grabbed a freshly baked chocolate cookie from the table and sighed. "Feel free to take some," she said parenthetically.

"No, thanks."

She swallowed and, suddenly concerned, sat up straighter. "I don't mean to overstep but I can count the times I've seen you eat on one hand. Is everything okay?"

Mila's lips curled up, clearly in amusement to Sally's relief. "I'm good. I'm vegan and I-" she pointed at the bowl "-don't think they are."

She switched the topic before Sally could reply. "What are you gonna do about work?"

Sally shrugged. "I'm gonna tell my boss off tomorrow. I'm not gonna waste my time if they don't take me seriously."

Mila seemed alarmed. Her eyes grew wide as she loudly said, "You can't do that. You'll get yourself fired and-"

"Aren't you a feminist?" Sally cut her off. "I can't let this slide. I can find work somewhere else but there enough people in worse situations that don't have these opportunities."

"Of course, but-"

"So you're a silent feminist. You believe in equity but are too afraid to speak up. What are you scared of? Being disliked? Laughed at? I assure you, I won't do that." Sally felt a little guilty to let out the long built frustrations on Mila but it wasn't enough to stop.

"Wishing that you don't let loose your job has nothing to do with the fear of being disliked, it's-"

"Why are you always hiding then?" Sally interrupted her again. Ever since Mila's outing, the question had been on her mind. "Why didn't you tell me you are bisexual then? Or why didn't you tell me you are vegan?"

Mila was quiet after her outburst.

"When I meet someone, I am honest and myself from the first second on. I don't want to waste my time with people who can't stand me. What would you do if I would make fun of you for being vegan? What would you have done if Jake or I had said something pejorative about you being bi? You can't tell me there never was someone making a comment or being discriminatory. You would have spent an entire month with people who don't appreciate you."

"I was pretty sure you wouldn't do that." Mila was out of her state of speechlessness and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Then why didn't you just say so? You've been here a dozen times and never ate the food I offered. I could have prepared something vegan."

"I didn't want to make circumstances," Mila defended herself.

"That's no circumstances. That's me trying to create an environment for you where feel comfortable. Don't underestimate the importance of people who don't treat you like shit."

Mila crooked her head, studying her carefully. Sally, as so often with her, had the feeling of having revealed too much. Something about this woman just made her stop thinking, stop paying attention to the walls she forced herself to keep up. She jumped up and walked towards the kitchen. "Want anything to dri-"

"No." Mila gently grabbed her arm, stopping her from leaving. "You don't have to be ashamed of anything you say to me. You can trust me."

Her eyes bored into Sally with so much intensity that it made her whisper, "I do."

She took a few deep breaths and slowly began to relax. "I'm sorry for being harsh. Maybe I'm more outspoken about this but I can't even talk about feelings without running away. I wasn't fair."

"I needed to hear this stuff," Mila said. She smiled at her with only understanding in her eyes. "You were right. I like that you have the guts to tell me something like that. I am a pushover, I hate stepping on anyone's toes."

She let herself fall on the couch and Sally followed suit. "What are you passionate about?" she asked after a few short moments. "What do you stand for?"

Mila thought about that for a while. "Well, there are a couple of things," she then said slowly. "I... care about the environment, for example. I mean, it's why I chose to study what I do."

Sally nodded in encouragement.

"And what would you do about that in my place?" Mila demanded. "Tell you that you don't need to take the car to work when there is a bus stop right in front of your door? Tell you that there are a lot of surprisingly easy ways to reduce your use and waste of plastic and talk about the conditions animals are kept in?"

She grinned innocently after her enumeration. After a momentary stunned pause, Sally exclaimed, "Yes!"

Mila snickered. "It kinda felt good. But I'm not that judgemental, don't worry. It's only been a couple of years since I started working on my own habits."

"Still," Sally said, jumping up again. "We're going to the supermarket and are cooking something vegan tonight. I trust you have a recipe you can show me?"

With a smile, Mila stood up. "I believe I could think of something."

The keys to Jake's car were on the dining table. While Sally walked to get them, Mila spoke up again. "The supermarket isn't far away, why don't we walk?"

Sally almost facepalmed. "Yes. Let's do that!"

Double update time! The next chapter is out too <3

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