"I thought we were going to eat in the mail room." Ola mumbled as she went to sit down at the table by the large window. There was a beautiful view, of the street and people from the table, which Ola hated with all of herself.
Freda, on the other hand, liked the view and the place they were at. Yes, they were in the restaurant on the ground floor of their building, but it was a good restaurant. Plus, the pasta there was scrumptious.
"I thought we'd eat fancy. Besides, don't you get frustrated in that little office room."
Ola didn't want to answer that question or comment on that statement altogether, so she just nodded her head and then shrugged her shoulders.
Freda smiled at the other woman as a waiter came to get their orders. The red-head and the brunette, both, ended up asking for the special pasta, before they asked for a regular soda to pair it with.
"So, how do you like working here?" Freda asked up as soon as the waiter left, as she leaned herself forward with interest. It was weird how she enjoyed talking to the other woman even when the other woman hardly ever tried to keep a conversation.
"It's okay. I didn't know people still use the old ways to mail though." Freda chuckled as Ola smiled awkwardly. She was back to seeing Freda all shiny with flowers bursting from behind her head.
She rubbed her eyes a little subtly as she decided to get them checked later.
"You're clearly our most loved colleague though." Ola didn't know how she should've felt hearing that, but since she was a little pre-occupied with getting the image of a smiling Freda out of her head – she ended up shrugging again.
The silence spread out very subtly as Freda tried to find something else to talk about. Somehow, she wasn't that much affected by how she was the only one keeping a conversation with the other woman all the time.
It was just that Freda was actually interested in the other woman. Maybe, it was because of how Ola was. All mysterious but still clear as day. Ola's expressions spoke for her at most times and that made her charming.
I mean, Freda is weird for being into a weird woman, but destiny, I guess?
"So, do you have any siblings?" Ola narrowed her eyes as she looked at the red head across from her, before finally giving the woman a proper answer and not just a shrug.
"My mom only wanted one child." And she shrugged again.
Someone please tell this woman how to have a forking conversation! You got to ask the other person a question too, so that you keep talking!
"I only have an older brother." Freda spoke up, which got Ola to squint her eyes. She didn't ask her about her siblings. "My parents wanted twins, but they also only wanted two kids. So, I was the last chance."
Ola nodded her head slowly, not really understanding shit. But like, the non-existent flowers behind Freda's head were so damn distracting.
"Can you like touch the back of your head?" Freda frowned as she heard the other woman, who was frowning as well. "Why?" Freda asked slowly even though she was already doing what she was asked to do.
Her hand went to touch the back of her head as she kept frowning over at Ola. The other woman was just confused as to why her eyes were playing such games with her.
"Is there something wrong?"
Ola shook her head as she thanked God when the waiter finally appeared with their order in his hands. He came directly over to their table and began placing their food and drinks there.
"Thank you." Freda smiled at the man, and somehow Ola felt this weird feeling. It was like she disliked the woman smiling like that over to someone else. The waiter smiled back with a slight blush which was like the icing on the cake as Ola's eyes narrowed and she felt this ugly feeling rise up inside of her.
"How long have you been working at the company?" Freda's eyes snapped away from the waiter, who slowly took his leave, as she frowned. Her face literally said what she was thinking, and she was currently thinking, 'did she just ask me a question?'
And the answer to that was, yes, Freda. Yes, she did.
"Uh, it has been three years." Freda answered after a long pause, as she smiled widely at the woman. Ola nodded her head as she looked away from the flowery display and bright smiles, to her plate of pasta.
She silently began to eat as Freda took this opportunity to do the same.
There was a long silence between them, but it wasn't awkward or even uncomfortable. It was somewhat peaceful.
And between their peaceful silence, Freda forgot all about what they had agreed to do over lunch. The prime reason why they had agreed to have lunch at the restaurant in the first place.
Yep, no Mr. Ericson was discussed.
Eh, I felt damn sad about that since I don't really find silent lesbians that entertaining. But if they were having fun, who was I to complain? After all, I was just here to bring them together.
............................................................
"You look like you're in a good mood." Ola smiled sarcastically as she slipped off her jacket and made sure to hang it by the front door. "I had lunch with Freda."
Ola widened her eyes as she realized she had said something so irrelevant, and she actually didn't regret it.
Ola's mother gave her a confused glance before she went back to cutting up potatoes in the lounge. "She's such a sweetheart. If you had a brother, I'd have asked her to marry him."
The older woman had met the redhead when she was out grocery shopping one day, and the redhead had been kind enough to help carry the heavy bags with her. While Ola was at the apartment lazing around as usual.
The brunette rolled her eyes at her mother's sentence as she walked over to her before plopping down beside her without a care in the world.
"Ola, change your clothes first." But cares were given as her mother spoke up without even looking up from her task at hand.
Ola groaned loudly before she got up from the sofa, and after throwing a glare at her mother, made her way to her room. She just wanted to eat something or just laze around somewhere without anyone interrupting her.
It wasn't unknown that Ola liked all the quiet moments she could get. Well, mostly the ones that she got when she had come back to her home. At her work, Freda was always there.
Ola didn't even mind sharing her workspace with Howard, who was just there to play video games all day. The woman wondered what his story even was, but since she didn't care for long about him, she let it go.
Inside of her room, Ola had made sure to discard her scarf on that one chair she stacked all of her clothes on. Well, mostly the clothing pieces she wasn't going to be wearing again for the week.
Yes, she had a chair. Her work desk chair. It was the second most useless object in their apartment. The first most useless object was – as Ola claimed – none other than herself.
Ola made sure to change into comfortable clothes, since she had been dressing herself very well for work for the past week. It was like she had already used up all of her good clothing.
"Mama! We need to buy new clothes for me on Saturday!" The woman had suddenly shouted out to her mother from the confines of her room as she frowned at her closet, which was now open in front of her.
Grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a long shirt, she was just about to make her way to the hallway bathroom, when her attention was diverted to the front door as she heard the doorbell ring.
"Get that Ola!"
The mentioned woman groaned as she made her way over to the front door but not before throwing a glare at her mother who was now in the kitchen simply cooking up dinner.
Ola had opened the front door and was immediately greeted with a smile from her father.
And here comes in Mr. Shafi. The man who was the real MVP of the family. But really, he was also the peacekeeper and the glue of their tiny little family.
He stood there in the doorway with a wide smile on his aging face as one of his hands came up to swipe on his balding head. "My child!"
"Is it your father?!" Ola didn't know who to really reply first as she was engulfed in a hug from her father, who had wrapped his strong arms around her. "Yes!" Ola had replied, feeling a little grateful that it could easily be seen as a reply for both of her parents.
"How was your day today?" Her father's energy only had a level 100, there was no in-between or a lower setting. Well, it was either 100 or 99 which was rarely a setting since we could only witness that when he was sick. And he was never sick to begin with.
He was a healthy man with a bulging potbelly and yet still had biceps which could easily be seen as goals. Well, at least for Ola, who had useless fat on her arms which jiggled needlessly.
Who doesn't though?
Ola slapped her ear suddenly as she frowned at the little mumble she had heard before she closed the front door. Her father had walked in easily as he had sent a smile to his wife in the kitchen and then placed his suitcase down on the living room coffee table.
"It was alright." Ola finally answered the question that her father had asked after crushing her in an embrace. The man smiled once again which made Ola smile as well. It was a contagious smile for sure since it was comforting as well as attractive.
There were several days when Ola was certain that her mother must've definitely fallen for her father's smile.
"Well, my day was alright as well then." Mr. Shafi chuckled heartily since he knew how his daughter was practically incapable of holding a conversation.
As if Ola had suddenly remembered that she was going to do something before her father had arrived at their apartment, she excused herself from her father to go to the bathroom. Her clothes were still in her arms as she had watched her father throw another smile over to her and then sit down at the sofa to take off his shoes.
It was a routine for her father, who would come back from work and then take his shoes off in the living room before walking off to his room with them in hand.
Ola had suddenly – out of nowhere – wondered what type of routine Freda did after coming back home. It was a thought that had weirded the woman out as she shivered and then got into the hallway bathroom.
One thing was for sure though, Ola wasn't the only one wondering about strange things – Freda had also wondered as she sat on the sofa in her living room just in the apartment next to Ola's. Her dog had his head laid on her lap as she slowly caressed his fur with a wondering smile on her face.
We could easily say that Freda was definitely more than a little smitten with the brunette living just next door to her. Now, to just have Ola reciprocate even a little of that feeling.
Ugh.
***************
Comments (0)
See all