Chapter 10

Chapter 10

*"La Coune Restaurant and Bar. Pick you up at 8. Send me an address. Can’t wait to see you."*  

She blushed and handed the phone over to Sophia.  

"That is so sweet!"  

"You are putting on the red dress, no questions asked. Now get on your feet, let’s get you all dressed up."  

She fixed some of the buttons on the dress. It was one Justine had taken from her parents’ place, and it had belonged to her mother.  

Justine looked somewhat downcast. It had been years since she and her parents fought, and they had not spoken since.  

Sophia noticed this but didn’t say anything. She knew Justine didn’t like to talk about her parents. Instead, she went in for a hug.  

Justine put on the dress and checked herself out in the mirror. It suited her body perfectly, and she looked lovely in it.  

"Thank you so much, cousin. I love this."  

"You’re welcome. Now please order the pizza because I am starving," Sophia pressed.  

"I got you." Justine whipped out her phone and ordered pizza.

   She unblocked her phone and saw a message from ward 

    “ La coune restaurant and bar, pick you up at 8 send me an address can't wait to see you" 

   SheShe blushed and handed over the message to Sophia.

"That is so sweet!"

"You are putting on the red dress, no questions asked. Now, get on your feet, let's get you all dressed up."

She fixed some of the buttons on the dress. It was one Justine had taken from her parents' place, and it had belonged to her mother.

Justine looked somewhat downcast. It had been years since she and her parents fought, and they had not spoken since.

Sophia noticed this but couldn’t say anything. She knew Justine didn’t like to talk about her parents. Instead, she went in for a hug.

Justine put on the dress and checked herself out in the mirror. It suited her body perfectly, and she looked lovely in it.

"Thank you so much, cousin. I love this."

"You’re welcome. Now, please order the pizza because I am starving," Sophia pressed.

"I got you," Justine said as she whipped out her phone and ordered pizza.

"So, what address did you give Ward to come pick you up?" Sophia asked.

"I haven’t given him any yet. Surely, I don’t want him to see this is where we live. I’ll just text him an address that’s a few blocks from here."

"That sounds good then."

It was 7:45 when the pizza arrived.

Justine took a slice while Sophia and their grandmother ate the rest.

"Are you nervous to go on this date?"

"No, I am not. I have no reason to be. It’s just food and drinks, nothing more. I will be leaving now—don’t wait up for me."

"I can’t promise you that. I’ll be waiting up so I can get the juicy details from you. But alright then, have a good date."

She locked the door as her cousin left, took out the pizza boxes, then tucked her grandmother into bed.

Sophia opened her phone for the first time in a while. She saw an email notification—it was from the university, just as the professor had told her.

It was then she came to the realization...

   She had been so occupied with her cousin's day that it skipped her mind—she also had a lot of things to do. It was her first day at school tomorrow. She had to prepare her bag and clothes, get some supplies she might need for school, and pretty much everything for resumption.  

“Dang,” she cussed under her breath and quickly glanced at the time.  

The stores close by would still be open for business. She checked her savings account to see if she had enough to get a few supplies.  

Working petty jobs over the summer was how she had been able to accumulate such an amount. The pay was poor, but it was the only job accepting an 18-year-old, especially since she didn’t have any certificates.  

She grabbed her debit card and walked out of the house, scanning left and right, looking for the best store to go to.  

There was a large mart just a few steps away. There, she would be able to get everything she needed in one place and possibly get a discount.  

Sophia whipped out her mini shopping list as she got into the store and scanned through it: perfumes, body wash and lotion, bathing soap, some stationery, flashlights, dried meat, coffee, milk, bubble gum, and more things she wasn’t sure she would end up buying.  

She just hoped the money in her account was enough. As she kept picking the items, she didn’t estimate the total cost. There weren’t any price tags in this store. It was huge but still very local and backward.  

Sophia put all the things she felt she needed into the cart and took them to the counter.  

A guy with a name tag that read "Matt" was standing behind the counter. She had seen him around the area quite often, and it was possible he was a friend of Justine—who, Sophia always complained, seemed to have too many friends.  

"Hey there, what are you shopping for?" he asked her.  

*"Shopping for none of your business,"* Sophia said to herself.  

"Nothing, just randomly shopping," she replied with a weird smile.  

He collected her cart and started unloading the items, placing them on the scanner as the prices appeared on the monitor.  

Sophia swallowed hard as each price flashed across the screen. There was a huge chance the money in her savings account wouldn’t be enough.  

"Hey, I think I know you," Matt said as he placed the milk on the scanner. "You’re Justine’s sister, aren’t you? I’ve seen you around the block."  

Sophia smiled wryly. She had hoped he wouldn’t recognize her.  

"Yes, I am," she replied.

  I"I knew it! My eyes are really sharp when it comes to people. How is Justine? I haven't seen her around. It’s been a while since we hung out, and she doesn’t return my calls," he added.  

*"Come on, man, just give me my shopping bag and let me get out of here,"* Sophia groaned inwardly.  

"Oh, she is doing fine. I'm sure she has just been busy," Sophia managed to reply, hoping he wouldn’t ask any more questions.  

"She can't be too busy not to answer the phone, can she?"  

Sophia didn't reply this time, hoping he would stop talking.  

"Well, can you do something for me, please? Tell her I said I’m sorry for what happened last time, and I would like to talk about it."  

*"Oh, this is something deeper than I thought. There’s definitely something going on between them,"* Sophia realized.  

"Sure, I can do that for you then," she said to him.  

"Thank you so much. I really appreciate it," Matt said.  

Sophia nodded as she glanced at the total amount displayed on the monitor. She heaved a sigh of relief—it was within the money in her savings account. She handed over her debit card to him.  

"Also, I am going to give you a 20% discount," he leaned forward and whispered, "keep this between us.”

   She nodded, understanding that he wasn’t supposed to do such a thing but was only doing it because he wanted her to return the favor. Still, it filled her with joy, knowing it would save her some money—money she could use for other expenses.

He handed over the shopping bag and receipt to her.

"Have a nice night," he said.

"You too, Matt. And don’t worry, I’ll speak to her," Sophia reassured him.

She knew it would be easy to persuade Justine—it was the least she could do to appreciate his kindness.

When she got back home, as expected, Ju

stine wasn’t back yet. She decided it was time to pack up her bags; this was going to take a while.