This Then and Now This
Strolling along the hospital's parking, I realised Gloria was waiting near my car.
« You're already there?
— Mom needed to rest. »
I opened the passenger's door. She got in without a word.
« We don't have much space at home as you could see. Let's buy something for today and tomorrow. »
She nodded, yet her voice couldn't be heard over the rumbling of the car. Let's get into one of the noisy markets, there she won't be afraid of talking.
... Or so I thought. Well, she's unafraid of asking for whatever I like or not. I asked her if she'd like meat tonight, she didn't feel like it, and that rolls for me. I haven't eaten this kind of thing since what... Four years? Don't even remember how you're supposed to cook it.
« That reminds me, I glanced at her, you were always cooking up something back then. Still an excentric cook?
— I calmed down. You want me to cook something tonight?
— Only if you don't mind. You see, I am used to these cheap meals you only have to reheat. I never had company at home.
— If that helps paying my rent, then I will do it. »
She opened her purse, trying to come up with a budget for two. I decided to let it slide.
We took our time selecting whatever we needed. Gloria seemed to relax easily when window shopping. With her baggy green clothes, her black shorts exposing most of her legs and the black mask she wore, she didn't struck anyone as Galar's champion. She kinda looked like someone free spirited you'd enjoy to talk to, because they won't judge you. Because you can see their emotions in their eyes. You can definitely see she's not only thinking about her mother, but also herself and maybe how she's enjoying herself. Showing very little restraint.
When we were paying, she was slouching on the shopping cart, almost forgetting she offered to pay for everything she'd buy. She's thinking about spending the week, I guess. I should arrange the cupboard when we get at home. The mess I threw there won't fit with food. I don't think I used the fridge in two weeks, too.
Back at my place, things quickly did themselves. We managed to sort both the food and my own stuff within my closet. Gloria told me I can leave dinner to her. I told her not to do anything big, and went taking a shower. Somehow, my own apartment is so isolated I couldn't hear anything she was doing. Only the shower, my feet clanging in the water, the way water was siphoned with little noise.
This girl I had a crush on when I was still a kid. This girl I was jealous of because she had so much I couldn't even have. Yeah, this Gloria... Why was it that I was in love with her? Wasn't it only me being jealous, seeing her as a perfect myself, maybe? Today, we only look like a husk of our former self, and everything seem so easy between us. I feel really at ease, even though we weren't honest with our feelings back then. I'm not hiding a thing; she doesn't look like she's even able to do so.
Two plain girls with a grand past, and now parallels could be moving.
... Or remain as parallels. I guess if they were to cross, it would be pretty destructive. Not that I mind change, but I don't want my past to become my future. Like within the shower. I am close to her, who's in the main room, yet no one can see the other one.
I guess she's not some kind of goal I have to set myself either. She's already in contact with Hop, maybe even Travis or those Circhester Gym leaders. Maybe she's in touch with my brother, who's still a close acquaintance to everyone I once knew. If I don't set myself a clear goal, I'll have all that. I'll just become my past self, with my current mind.
« Wew. You sure take your showers quickly, Rosemary. »
... Teachers kind of have to. You don't have to smell. Neither good or bad.
She was still slicing some lettuce, sprinkling the cut leaves around a broth of rice and ketchup. Maybe it's a kind of ratatouille. I noticed she was in fact not that unbothered by the way the lettuce leaves were arranged.
« You're still trying things out in the end, right?
— I'm sure the lettuce can help conserve both the heath, the spices and the taste! I really wanted to try it, and you don't eat salads for their taste anyway.
— If you were talking to some gourmet, they would say otherwise. My sense of taste died years ago, so don't go overboard.
— Died? Weren't you saying you didn't like pancakes the other day?
— Figure of speech. I can't imagine how horrible it is to have ageusia. Let's say I don't get excited by food. I don't consider food as an important thing, and only something necessary to survive. Even something I like is not much.
— Yeah... I guess that works like that, maybe. Okay then. Just tell me if you'd like something else. »
Once warmed up, the lettuce-crater completely erupted. The rice was boiling, too. She created some kind of veggi-cano, with some zuchinni slices, maybe ketchuptic stones. It didn't taste bad. We simply had to wait in order to eat it, and it was a mess to clean the plates afterward. Well, that's how it usually goes with ratatouille, you just don't have scrapped lettuce here and there.
Oh well, I don't mind cleaning messes up. Gloria had faith in her experiment, and at least it wasn't so bad. She cooled down on the spices, too. Or maybe my tongue got deaf back then, when she used way too much of it during our wild camping trips. Those are definitely not memories I'm going to forget.
Afterwards, we stayed up until late night because Gloria wanted to watch the seasonal anime she had started not so long ago. We spent some extra time watching our favourite anime's first episode. Just so we can talk to each other about it. We were lucky; we liked each other's. I told her I used to watch these a lot while studying to become a teacher, but that I could barely find time for them now. That I only watch those because movies are wearing me out. It's kinda strange how I can find time for four to six thirty minutes-long videos when I am free, but a two-hours long video seems to take way longer.
Well. I have to work tomorrow. We both took a mat and hurled them on the ground, covering ourselves with a thick blanket. Maybe too thick. But anyway. We wished each other good night. And that's all there's to it. Somehow, it felt awkward.
Author Notes : Hello again! You see, I'm posting fanfics on this site for a while now, but I never talked this much with my reader. Maybe I feel lonely? Who knows. As such, I want to leave an author note for you as much as I can... Unless it is ancticlimatic. I would NEVER dare put an author note breaking the intensity I want to give to my stories. By the way. There is something I can't quite grasp for this fanfic. I realised, while writing the end of the story that I neve thought of how the characters were talking. Like... Do they all talk the same? I feel like it's too late now, as I am re-writing these notes before I post the last chapter. What do you think? I'll be more careful the next time you'll see me... I guess? It's seems I will have very little occasion to write anything in english next year...