“So? What do you think, Sabine?” Norm twirled slowly with his arms extended. His red hawaiian shirt was topped with a denim jacket while he had cargo pants for his bottoms. The mismatch was horrendous. If I was his blind date, I would prefer to be blind the whole afternoon.
“It’s okay.”
He stared for a second before shrugging. “Well, that’s better than ‘it’s revolting’, isn’t it?”
As much as people put emphasis on the value of honesty, most of them do not really wants to hear the truth. When you’re the bearer of the truth, it’s important to know which situations are deemed necessary to speak in complete honesty and which situations are socially acceptable to lie. And I learned from past mistakes that in this situation, lying is okay.
The bookstore closed early this Saturday. Norm had the last shift but we exchanged for the day so he could go on a date. Closing the store took longer than usual as the books on the shelf near the door were awfully disorganized.
By the time I’ve finished double checking, it was nearing six in the evening. The street was filled with men and women rushing about. One particular blonde in high heels almost crashed into me as her eyes stared down her phone.
Speaking of blondes, Sophie hasn’t been in the bookstore for the whole weekday. Last Wednesday she notified me through text that she was at the hospital getting treated for her headaches.
Stopping before the crosswalk that divided my way home and the way to Sophie’s, I decided to take the right turn and head towards her neighborhood. I might as well check up on her. For all I know she’s already lying dead on her wooden floor and nobody knows.
As I stood in front of the black gate, I took out my phone, about to call her when the gate opened, revealing a frowning Finn whose eyes widened when he saw me. “Oh. Good. She’s inside. Front door’s open.” Finn pressed his lips together in what seemed like one of those forced smiles. Patting my back, he headed towards his car, mumbling angrily. “So indecisive and now it’s too late.”
I didn’t wait for Finn to get in the car before I went inside. Just like Finn said, the front door was ajar.
I would’ve thought it was already late in the night if I haven’t come from the outside. Windows were covered by the curtains and not a single light was on.
The thin streaks of light that escaped the curtains helped me see enough not to bump into anything. The only sound that can be heard was the ac and the prominent sniffles by the corner of the room.
Squinting, I saw Sophie sitting in the corner, hugging her knees.
“Do you not want to sit at the couch?”
Sophie shook her head but still did not look up.
“Why?” It doesn’t look comfortable.
My question was answered with silence and I stood perhaps as uncomfortable as she was. There was something wrong and I knew I needed to do something about it but I didn’t know either. It was evident that Sophie was upset but what was the cause? I could not stop her from being upset if I did not know what was causing it.
Was it the headaches? Should I look for some medicine? But where? Perhaps the cupboard or–
A sigh made me glance down, noticing that Sophie is now looking at me with tear stained cheeks. “I’m just sad.”
“Oh.” Sad people need comfort.
Sitting down next to her, I patted her head and reassured, “It’s going to be okay.” Even if I don’t know what was going to be okay.
Sophie smiled slightly before resting her cheek on her knees while I sat still, only moving my hand for head pats just like what I do with needy stray cats.
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