Forever Enigmatic

Chapter 15

"DO I WANT TO know what's in the bag, Oshiro?" Sierra crossed her arms and blocked the entrance to her apartment.

"You're gonna be mad." He raised an eyebrow. "Were you crying?"

She looked down at his shoes, and, instead of giving him an answer, let him in. He placed the bag on her lopsided dining table, taking out two sealed plates of food. Her mind started thinking of sarcastic remarks, but she was too tired to say anything. Her stomach was too empty for her to fight him. Her breakfast consisted of one cracker she managed to salvage.

"You didn't answer my question," he said gently. She sighed and shook her head. She didn't think he believed her, but he dropped the subject. He pushed one of the plates to her, and turned around to her cabinets to fish for her silverware.

"What did you eat today?" He asked after a mouthful of salad.

She hated that question. Ever since he realized she was as poor as a college student could be, he started asking her that question. When he came over the first time, he almost had a heart attack at her empty cabinets. She couldn't blame him. She felt the same when she saw her bank account.

But every time her check came in, she managed accordingly. There was a reason she wasn't living out in the streets. Her rent was the first thing off of her shoulders. There was no way she'd allow herself to be kicked out knowing she could pay it off with enough hard work. She managed to pay off her monthly bills, and even pay for Kyle's service as a trainer twice a month, but her issue came with how fast food disappeared.

She always made an effort to buy a decent amount of food, enough for a month, she believed. She even tried to buy the healthy food, so she could meal prep and be set for a while. It was like the food knew her financial situation and wanted to spite her. They'd get spoiled two seconds after being in her apartment. Once she got to do two nice salads for herself; and, by God, she loved them. By the third day, there was fungus growing on the vegetables. She even tried Googling how to make everything last longer, but nothing seemed to work. In the end, she had to throw most of it away.

She mostly blamed it on her crappy apartment. Maybe there was something in the air, in the refrigerator, or somewhere that caused her food to spoil.

Although, sometimes, it was her fault. She was too busy with everything that she forgot to eat. By the time she remembered how important it was for her body to receive nutrients, her fruits and vegetables had soggy and fuzzy spots all over.

It was so depressing.

"Sierra?"

"A cracker," she mumbled after remembering his initial question.

"Sierra," he sighed. "You know you can't keep doing this. Health is so important. Please don't throw it all away because you're stressed. I know you care about your body, there's a reason why you go to the gym, but this has to stop if you want to get better."

"A cracker was all I had."

He stopped eating, staring into her eyes. He did that a lot more with her. He'd drop whatever he was doing to stare into her eyes, which felt like he was trying to reach her soul. And reach he did. She was convinced he saw through every layer of her.

"You know you could've called me," he said after a minute of silence. "Or Scarlet, or Zilla, or Gwenn, or Aura. Hell, even Isabela or Nick. You're so convinced that there's no one out here to help you because your parents don't help you out. Well, you're not the only one with unsupportive parents, okay, and a lot of people can succeed without them. You're not alone, Sierra. You have friends that love and care about you, that'd drop a check on your hands to see you move forward."