Relief settled in my body. I couldn’t have afforded a dog sitter right now and I doubted my boss would be thrilled if I’d start taking Bruno to work with me again. My ears were still ringing from his lecture the last time.
“But that’s not the only reason I’m here. I thought I’d introduce you to the perfect way to start the day.” She raised the cups. I sniffed again. They definitely didn’t smell like coffee. I walked up to her and peeked into the cups. A pale green liquid was inside. “What’s that?”
“Matcha tea with agave syrup.”
I screwed up my eyebrows. The brew reminded me of the water that had come out of my faucets the first few days after I’d moved in. Landlord Olsen had merely advised me not to wash my face or brush my teeth with it, since it could be infected with something. Whatever that meant, and then the idiot had taken his sweet-ass time to fix it. But I didn’t mention any of this to Amy. “Something your boss ordered for the restaurant?”
Amy nodded enthusiastically as she swung open the folding table that perched at the edge of my kitchenette. She set the cups down on the pink coasters she’d given me a few days ago. One of her attempts to make my apartment a bit more homely. Sadly the pink looked horrible against the mustard color of my table. “It gives you an energy boost and is super healthy. It’s a super food.” Her face began to glow like it always did when she talked about healthy food. She worked in a vegan restaurant called ‘Rawmazing’ where they served mainly raw vegan cuisine and super food smoothies how Amy put it. If she knew I considered dinner a success whenever I had guacamole instead of cheese dip with my tortilla chips, she’d freak out.
I followed her toward the table, all the while holding the towel around my body. I didn't want to flash her. Though, I was pretty sure Amy wouldn’t mind. She was pretty open about such things. She and Jared loved sunbathing European style. I reached for the cup but she shook her head and tutted. “It still needs some milk. I didn’t have any at home. I need to go grocery shopping.”
I opened my tiny fridge and took the vanilla soy milk out. I’d always bought it for when Amy came over to visit since she was vegan, but I’d gotten so used to the taste that I didn’t even bother buying anything else.
“And, Nora, we really need to do something about that light bulb. There’s a lovely second hand shop with vintage furniture just around the corner of Rawmazing. I’m sure they have a lamp for little money. Everything’s better than this. Maybe we can go there before work one morning.”
I wasn't sure if I should be offended or embarrassed. I sank down on the folding chair across from her. Sometimes it felt as though everything I owned could be folded. I couldn’t help but wonder when they’d finally invent the folding boyfriend.
Amy’s eyes lingered on the white wall over my bed. It wasn’t the first time either.
“I know it needs pictures. The white walls remind me of hospitals,” I said. “Maybe we can find a nice painting in that vintage shop you mentioned.” I wasn't a shopping addict, mainly because I lacked the necessary money, but if Amy said the second hand shop wasn’t expensive, I believed her. She knew I couldn’t afford much. Not that she earned a ton as chef in training but with her and Jared’s money they got by.
Her face lit up in a smile. “I’m sure we will.” She put the soy milk in our cups and handed one to me. I took a sip and was surprised at the tart sweetness. “Not bad,” I said between sips.
“Just wait a few minutes until you get an energy boost,” she said with a smile. “To be honest, you look like you could really need one.”
I rubbed my eyes. I hadn’t looked into the mirror yet, but I bet I had dark circles the size of saucers.
“Bad day at work?” she asked, keeping her voice down like she thought I might have a hangover. But sadly only our customers were allowed to drink. And technically I had only been allowed to drink hard liquor for two weeks. That’s when I’d turned twenty-one. Not that my age had stopped me from taking a gulp before then, or work in a bar that served said liquor. Jack hadn’t given a fuck about my age when he hired me. Not that it mattered anymore.
“I can’t remember the last good day I had,” I said. I had a feeling that the Matcha was slowly kicking in. Or maybe that was just Amy’s chipper presence.
“You’re too young to be so jaded,” Amy said jokingly. I rolled my eyes at her. She didn’t get her ass touched by sweaty, beer-bellied old man every fucking day. Bruno had rolled out of bed and was trying to get her attention. He was using his charm on her, and like usually it worked. She patted his head and whispered words of adoration. And, honestly, who could resist that face? But he ignored me like he always did when Amy was around. She was his flavor of the month. Well, more like flavor of the year.
“Sometimes I worry that I’ll be stuck waiting tables all my life. I’m not sure I can survive another two years listening to stinky guys call me puppet or babe. Who came up with that name anyway? Do I look like a pig?” I couldn’t believe I’d been working at Jack’s for that long already. For the first year of my life in New York I’d worked in the kitchen of a small restaurant, washing dishes, but when they’d closed, Jack’s was the only place where I could find a new job.
Tea shot out of Amy’s nose as she succumbed to a fit of giggles. I handed her a napkin, stifling my own laughter. “That was so lady like. I bet Jared would have ravished you if he’d seen it.”
“Oh shut up,” she gasped out between bursts of laughter while wiping her chin and the table with the napkin. Eventually she turned serious. “Maybe I can ask Fiona if she needs someone else,” Amy said.
I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. You don’t have to do that. You know I’m not vegan. Don’t you have a vegans-only policy?”
“Yeah, but I’ll ask anyway. You don’t eat meat, I’m sure that counts for something.”
I didn’t mention that I would have given anything for a few scallops in that moment. By now my skin had dried and my hair was a knotted clot atop my head. “Maybe if I’m lucky I can sell a few short stories this year.”
“I’m sure you’ll snatch up a publisher with your new book.”
She was one of the few people I’d told about my writing, and she never made fun of me or didn’t take it seriously. That was what I loved about Amy. Everything was possible in her mind. She dreamed of opening her own vegan restaurant one day and she never doubted that it would happen.