Chapter 58: Nebula's Bad Day
The holiday had passed and Nebula woke up in a cold sweat and tears due to a nightmare. She panted heavily as she looked around her room and tried to calm herself down. After she calmed down, she laid her head back onto her pillow and closed her eyes as she tried to go back to sleep. She then heard loud noises from her neighbors. She tried putting her pillow over her head, but no matter what she did, she could never drown out her neighbors.
After a dreamless sleep, she woke up and glanced over to her clock to see that she has overslept. "What?! Why didn't my alarm go off?! Oh well, I better text Rad and tell him that I'll be arriving late" she told herself as she looked over to her nightstand. Only to find that her phone was not there like it usually is. "Maybe I left it on the coffee table" she said as she went into her bathroom to start her shower. She turned the knob and after a while, she groaned when no hot water came out. "Deodorant then" she said. After she brushed her teeth, she went into her living room and she started to sweat. "Great… no heat" she groaned.
She opened the fridge again and she now smelt what she thought was spoiled milk. She checked to fridge to see that there was no power in her fridge. She checked the time and sighed. "I'll deal with this later" she said as she slammed the door shut. She quickly grabbed a special morning drink from her pantry and when shook the bottle, the contents got all over her. She ended up using the last of her roll of paper towels to get a majority of the liquid off. However, when she went to get a new roll, she saw that she had run out of paper towels. "I better look for my phone" she said trying to calm down. "Okay, I'll just do a quick load of laundry and then come back to look for my phone" she said. She then grabbed her dirty laundry and laundry soap and slipped on her boots before she walked out of her apartment. "I should get a snack for while I'm waiting" she said. She tried to open the door, only to find that it's locked… and her keys were inside the apartment along with her phone. She took a few deep breaths before she went to the small laundromat in the building.
After she put her clothes in the washing machine and inserted the laundry soap and coins, she walked away to wash her face in the small bathroom. She got out of the bathroom and she saw that one of her neighbors took out her clothes and put them on the dirty floor to wash their clothes on her money. "What are you doing?" Nebula asked. "What does it look like, I'm washing my clothes. Are you really that dumb? Clearly you are since the only job you can get is at a convenience store" the neighbor said venomously. More people started entering the laundromat and began to step all over her clothes and move them around on the dirty floor. "Oh man, someone stole my favorite shirt that was from Rad. He'll be so mad, it was one if his good shirts too" she groaned as she grabbed what clothes she could find and put them in an empty washing machine. She then realized that she used the rest if her change, detergent, and softener on the last attempt to wash her clothes, and her wallet was in her locked apartment. She then looked for her laundry basket to put her wet and dirty clothes into, only to find it stolen.
"None of these other machines are working" A janitor said as he entered the room. The janitor knocked on the machine with a wrench "Yup. It's broken. Oh well. No point in fixing it when this place is getting torn down" he said. "Is there any way I can get my money back then? That was the last of my spare change" Nebula asked. "Not my problem. You should have brought more change" the janitor said. "Since you're here, is there any way you can help me unlock my apartment?" she asked. "Again, not my problem. You should have been smarter" the janitor responded. "But you have the keys right there on your belt" she argued as she pointed to the large key ring with many different keys for the apartments. "Again lady, Not. My. Problem" he responded irritably. She grumbled and while he was distracted, she grabbed a large garbage bag from his cart and put her clothes in it. "Crap! I'm so late! I've never been late! Gar is gonna kill me" she exclaimed after she looked to the clock on the wall. She then situated the bag and ran out of the building. As she ran, it started to rain heavily. Unfortunately, one of her heels got stuck in deep mud and it broke. This caused to fall face first into a mud puddle. She got up and wiped what mud she could off her face before she took her boots off and started to run. She fell once more due to the pain in her ankle. "Oh man, I think it's sprained" she said as she clutched her ankle.
When she got there, Rad was on the forklift and Ko was helping him with the boxes. After she limped her way into the store, she dropped the large, wet bag and her friends gasped at her appearance. While she was levitating a box off of the top pile of boxes, they noticed that her hair was a mess and she was covered in bruises, scratches, and mud, and she was in her stained pajamas."Nebula! Thank goodness you're okay" they cried as they rushed to hug her. Ko and Enid pulled away while Rad continued to hug her as tears leaked from his face. He pulled away slightly and he went to kiss her. She immediately put a hand on his face. "I love you Rad, but I don't want you to see me like this. I'm not pretty. I have no makeup and I'm in my dirty pajamas" she said. "Babe, not to sound corny or anything but I think that you're always pretty" he said comfortingly. "Nebula, it's good to see that you're okay. We were all very worried about you" she heard Mr. Gar say. "Thank you. I'm sorry for making you all worry and for being so late" she said apologetically. "Is it okay if I put this somewhere?" she asked as she motioned to the garbage bag. "I'll put this away" Mr. Gar said as he picked it up. "Thank you" she said as he walked away.
Just when she thought that the bad part of her day was over, the day got even more worse and frustrating for her. She had to deal with extremely rude and difficult customers who left a mess where she cleaned. When Mr. Gar then told her to stock the shelves, she breathed a sigh of relief as she was finally able to to get away from the customers. Mr. Gar handed her a box of 'Pepper Man Salsa' and she happily walked off to where they go.
As she was stocking the large jars, a customer tripped her and she fell. She grabbed a shelf to help her stand up and the shelf broke and all items fell on her. She carefully went to stand up again and she ended up slipping and falling. She sat up and groaned in intense frustration. She then carefully got up and ran into the back with hot tears streaming down her face.
Rad saw her running and heard her cries, so he immediately chased after her. He found her in a dark corner bawling her eyes out as she started to break down. Rad sat next to her hand rubbed her back. "Tell me what happened" he said softly as he rubbed circles on her back. She told him everything that happened and Rad was quick to embrace her in a hug. "Tell you what, I'll go get you something from Cafe. I'll tell Gar that you're here" he said. "So your not mad that I don't have one of your good shirts?" she asked meekly. He shook his head and hugged her. "I'll be right back" He said as he then kissed her head and left.
Moment's later he came back with a hot beverage and a few pastries. "I got you a hot chocolate just the way you like it" he said as he handed her the to-go cup. She graciously took it and slowly took a sip. She then laid her head on his shoulder as he sat next to her and pet her head soothingly. "You really are the greatest" she said. Rad smiled and stroked her hair. "Here. You need to eat" He said as he handed her a pastry. While they ate, Rad used his free hand to rub her back. After they were done eating, Rad disposed of their garbage and he put and arm around her comfortingly as she started to cry. Rad then heard his name being called. He kissed Nebula's cheek and left. After a few minutes, he came back and sat next to her. "You know, Gar said that you can go home. He wants you to get better. He also said not to worry about the store, he's gonna help Enid and Ko finish up" he said. Nebula brought her knees to her chest and buried her face into her knees.
"You wanna go to my place?" he asked. Nebula nodded and Rad scooped her in his arms and carried her to his van. He then levitated the door open and placed her in the passenger's seat. He then buckled her seat belt and kissed her forehead before he closed the door. "I'll go get that bag you came in with" he said. He then left and came back with the bag. After he put it in the back of his van, he got into the driver's seat and drove off. Once they got to his home, Rad parked his van and he helped Nebula out of the van. He then grabbed the garbage bag and they walked into his home. "Mom, Dad, I'm home! Hope you don't mind that I brought Nebula" he called.
His parents emerged from a different room and were shocked at Nebula's appearance. "Oh dear, what happened?" his father asked. "Hi Mr. Ofrang, Hi Mrs. Theodosia" Nebula said meekly. Rad put an arm around her comfortingly as he told his parents what Nebula had told him. "Oh my… Why don't you go bathe while I get your clothes washed " his mother said. "And I'll prepare some snacks~ " his father said happily. "Radicles, could you get some of the old clothes that you don't wear anymore for her" his mother said as she grabbed the bag. "You guys really don't have to do all this" Nebula said. "Nonsense! We consider you a daughter. It's only a matter of time until it's official" His dad said with a wink. "Dad! We're too young to get married" Rad whined as he and Nebula went red in embarrassment.
Rad then escorted her to the bathroom and got her situated her for a shower. While she showered, Rad got an old pair of pants and a shirt for her that he thought would fit her. Theodosia retrieved Nebula's dirty pajamas and put them into the washing machine with her other clothes. After she was finally clean and in a clean change of clothes, Ofrang laid out an array of food. "I can't thank you all enough for all of this" she said. "Nonsense, we are always happy to help" Theodosia said. "As we said before, we think of you like a daughter. To be honest, we were ecstatic when we first met you. We have never seen our Radicles so happy" Ofrang said. Rad gently took Nebula's hand under the table and lightly squeezed her hand. After they ate, Rad gave her a pair of his boots to wear as he went outside to work on his van while the sun was still out.
That night, Rad's parents stopped him before he went to bed. "Radicles, we were thinking about asking her to move in with us. She is always here and she does make you very happy" Ofrang said. "Considering the day she's had, I think that would be great" Rad responded. Next morning they asked her to move in over breakfast and she happily agreed. Since the store was closed that day, Rad sent a group text to Ko, Enid, Mr. Gar, and Carol to see if they would help him and Nebula gather her things from her apartment and move them to his home.
Everyone happily agreed and they all made a plan to meet at her apartment. Once they all arrived, they went to her door and saw a note stating that the apartment building was going to be torn down and she was being evicted. "Mr. Gar, could you go with Nebs and I to get the spare key from the janitor?" Rad asked. Mr. Gar nodded and followed them to where they last saw the janitor. "Hi again. I was wondering if I could get the spare key for my apartment from your key ring" Nebula said sweetly. "As I said yesterday. Not! My! Problem!" the janitor yelled. Nebula smirked and Mr. Gar approached the janitor.
"Let me rephrase. We're here to get the spare key and since you seem to care so much we thought we would bring our boss to say a few words of wisdom" Rad said sarcastically as he levitated the key off of the key ring as Mr. Gar stared at the janitor menacingly. They then unlocked her apartment and Mr. Gar brought up some spare boxes. They all helped her pack up her belongings and put all of the boxes except for a small box that Nebula was going to load into Rad's van. Nebula went outside onto the small balcony and was surprised to see the stolen shirt that once belonged to Rad on someone's balcony. Nebula used her powers to levitate it to her and clutch it close to her chest. "Hey guys, do you wanna go scare the janitor one last time with me?" Enid suggested. All but Rad and Nebula followed her. Nebula retreated to what was her room and put on some makeup. "Finally, I look like me again" she said once she was done. "Hey babe, I found your phone" Rad called.
Nebula rushed into the living room to see him holding one end of the couch up with one hand and holding her phone in the other. She gasped happily and after Rad handed her phone to her, she peppered his face with kisses. "Babe" he half whined as he put the couch down. She tried to turn her phone on and she groaned when she saw that the battery was almost dead. She grabbed her phone's cord from a table nearby and tried to charge it. "And it's broken" she groaned as she tossed the broken cord in the nearby trash. "Don't worry, I have a cord in my van that you can use" he said. He then left to get the cord.
While he was gone, Nebula pulled out her hairbrush from the small box she was packing. Rad entered the apartment to see her trying to brush her long hair. He put the cord in the outlet near Nebula and plugged in her phone. He then took the hairbrush from her and he began to brush her long hair. Nebula happily turned on her phone and checked her notifications. She began to delete all of the unneeded notifications such as junk emails and unneeded game notifications. She also responded to all of her missed texts and she went through her voicemails. She listened to each one and she came upon one from Rad from the day before. She played the voicemail.
"Hey Nebula, babe, it's me Rad… again. We are all really worried about you. Please call me back. Please! I can't think straight not knowing that you're not here with me safe and sound and I'm really freaking out! Please call me!" his voice begged. She could hear the concern in his voice and she could hear him crying. She then heard Rad put the brush back in the box and grab the box. Nebula started to tear up and she looked at him. "What's wrong babe?" he asked as he noticed her tears. He then noticed that she was listening to his voicemail. He was surprised to see her wrap her arms around him in a large hug. He smiled softly and wrapped his free arm around her. "We were all really worried… Let's go join the others. Don't you wanna see the janitor's scared face one last time?" he asked. She nodded and grabbed her phone and charger before they walked out hand in hand. Nebula stopped to glance around her soon to be old apartment. Rad squeezed her hand and she looked at him with a smile. She glanced over to the large window and she remembered when Rad attempted to win her back. She took a deep breath and closed the door for one last time.
They then joined their friends who were enjoying the look on the janitor's face due to Mr. Gar's intimidating presence. "Thank you all for your help! As a thank you, I wanna treat everyone here to Beardo's Burritos!" Nebula said. They all then took off in their respective cars.
They arrived at Beardo's Burritos and ordered their food. "Thank you all again for everything. I'm really sorry if I've been so troublesome lately" Nebula apologized. "Nonsense. We're always happy to help you. You're like family to us" Carol said. "So Rad, that's kinda cool that she's moving in with you" Enid said. Rad nodded and he bit into his burrito. "Hey Rad, how to you and Nebula both fit on your hammock bed?" Ko asked. "Easy! She sleeps on top of me. She's really light and she's a quiet sleeper" Rad said. "And he's not only super strong, but he's super comfy too" Nebula said and everyone laughed. The sun was starting to set and Mr. Gar took Carol and Ko home. Rad and Nebula then took Enid home before they drove back to his place. Rad put in a movie and Nebula cuddled up with him on the couch. She ran a hand over his chest and she spoke.
"I was thinking about getting my hair cut"