Surprise visit

Zoe's POV

Mum had not been home for a week now. It was the weekend already. Andrew was at a friend's place, Regina was where she always was and Todd could go to bloody hell. It was lonely being in the house all by myself. I skimmed through the pages of my biology note. It was boring to be honest because I had read it a zillion times already.

"… the human heart is divided into four major parts…" I read out loud hoping it would reduce my boredom but I was only disappointed to find myself getting tired with each word.

"…the left auricle, right auricle, left ventricle and right auricle. They…" I pushed on, my eyelids getting dropped.

"Zoe!" I heard someone call me, jolting me awake. I heard the horn of a car too. The room I shared with my sister had no windows so I got up and went to the cramped living room. I peeked through the window to see an unfamiliar car. It looked like one of those cars whose days of vogue had passed. It had a tinted window so I could see neither the driver nor the passenger.

"Zoe, Zoe," the person was at the front door, knocking erratically. Now that the person was close enough, I could recognise the voice. It was unmistakably Sandra's.

I processed to the front door and opened it. Sandra jumped on me. Most of the time it was hard to believe she was two years older. I hugged her back. She withdrew from our embrace.

"What are doing here on a Saturday?"

"Studying." I smiled. I didn't offer for her to come in because I was kind of insecure. I always believed I wouldn't care but now that I have a friend at my doorstep I found myself using my arm to conceal the place I lived.

"Is everything alright? You seem kinda distracted," she said concerned. It seemed like she noticed something.

"Nothing, I'm fine. Sorry I spaced out," I assured her.

She studied my face closely. "You're not telling the truth. Come on, spill it." She peeked into the living room over my arm. "Are you hiding something?"

"No, no, it's nothing."

"Well, doesn't matter anyway because we are going out," She squealed.

"No... um," I stuttered. "I need to study."

She raised a red brow. "The same books you've been studying all week? Reading it is probably giving you a headache"

She caught me unawares with what she said. It felt to me like she had been watching me.

"Shit, you caught me!" I exclaimed, earning a light giggle from her.

"I've been doing the same thing that's why I came over." It felt nice to know someone you can relate to.

"How did you get my address?" I don't remember telling her where I lived. We had walked close but I never let her see my street.

"That was kinda tricky, you have weird

neighbours."

"I can only imagine." They creeped me out too.

"So are we going or are you going to keep whining?

I looked at her attire for the afternoon. She was sporting a mini blue dress that looked glamorous but casual enough. It reminded me that even the middle class had standards. I couldn't even look at the things I had on. I was wearing a grey sweatshirt with an ambiguous brown coffee stain on the collar. The shorts I matched with it also had a hole. I was embarrassed because I had barely anything that was even remotely better to wear even though the thought of going out, felt wonderful.

"Um, I don't have anything..." I was slowly lowering my head.

"I brought a dress for you," My head shot up. "It's in the car." She said pointing at the vehicle. She was also looking down.

"I hope you don't think, I am trying to look down on you."

"No, of course not." I smiled. She didn't know she had just made my day. "Let me lock up and let's go."

🌸🌸🌸🌸

"Yeah, I'll be there in about ten minutes," I promised Kyle on the phone.

"Louis," He said and knew the moment he called me like that he wanted to ask for something.

"Yeah?"

"Is Nessa coming?" The horny bastard, I cursed under my breath but then I saw her.

"Zoe?!" I said louder than intended. She was in a car with the window down. She was talking to someone. The car looked like one of dad's old cars. I needed to follow her.

"Did you just say, Zoe?" Kyle asked breaking me out of my thoughts.

"I said no, Nessa is not coming," I looked at the car again. "And neither will I." Before he could answer, I cut the call.

"Henry, follow the black car that just drove past us."

"Yes, sir." He replied and gave the steering a sharp turn to the right.

****

By the time the car came to a stop. I realise that she had brought me to the park where we had talked on that day. She took me to a particular part of the park where she had set a picnic.

"Everything is set up over there." Pointing at the set-up that looked like it had taken some time to set up. There was a picnic basket with flowers and a small cake. She had it all planned out and hI was touched.

As we got to the spot to sit, I heard someone call out.

"Sandra, Sandra," It sounded like a child. I turned around to see a little girl running our way with a doll in her clenched I'm her chubby fingers.

I heard Sandra hiss and turned back to see an irritated look on her face. She stood up before I could ask any questions.

"Didn't I tell you to stay in the playpen with the other kids?" She yelled at her.

She seemed saddened by her response. "I just wanted to ask if Carly can be a forest explorer" She sniffed tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "Like Dora the explorer."

"Carly can do whatever she wants, she can even go to..."

I stopped her before she finished her sentence. "Woah, there Sandra," I turned to the little girl again. "You are younger sister right?" I asked pointing at Sandra.

She gave a shy nod. "Why don't you stay here with us?"

She didn't answer instead she looked hesitantly at her sister before she answered. "No, I will play over there." Pointing at the playpen and just like that she scurried away as fast as her legs could carry her.

I looked back at Sandra and raised a brow.

"What?" She questioned defensively crossing her arms and looking away from me.

I decided not to mention it for the moment. Instead, I changed the topic.

"So who's Carly? Her friend." I motioned towards the area to which she ran off.

She rolled her eyes at me. "It's the name of the stupid doll."

"Oh!" I palmed my face. How did I not figure that out? I wondered

"Girl, forget about it." She said waving her hand dismissively. "So tell me about your family."

I was surprised; she knew didn't she?

"Well... I have a brother," I paused. "And an elder sister."

"You have an elder sister?" surprise was clear on her face. "You are so lucky."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. She took out two sandwiches from the picnic basket and handed me one which I reluctantly accepted. I looked nervously at her and watched her take a munch out of hers. Before I followed suit.

"I wish I had an elder sister," she said with a mouthful of food. "Younger siblings are annoying."

That was the opposite for me. Andrew was my world while Regina a royal pain in the ass.

"You can ask an elder sister about life and love," She continued.

If only she knew, I wondered. Regina's 'Love/Sex' life was an utter mess. Asking her for advice on such things would lead to disaster. I almost laughed at Sandra's naivety.

"So your mum is a sex worker," She said suddenly after finishing her sandwich.