New neighbour part I

"Wake up, little sister!" said an annoying, condescending voice that could've roused a corpse. "It's after seven and you're officially late."

"Ugh! Damn it, Ray. It's Saturday," groaned Sarah Jones as she held a pillow over her head to block out the morning sun.

"I don't care. I've got work. You've got errands. So long as you're living in your generous, loving sister's condo, you're going to stick to a schedule."

Sarah closed her eyes and buried her face in the arm of the couch, which also happened to be her de-facto bed. She tried willing her hard-ass older sister out of existence, but it was no use. She offered no mercy, pulling the blanket off her and ripping the pillow out of her grip. It was mornings like this where she hated that she'd inherited her mother's looks while her Rachel got Dad's strength.

Hit with a faceful of sun and an older sister's penetrating gaze, Sarah groaned as she pulled herself up from the couch. Wearing a dirty T-shirt, old sweat pants, and the same underwear she'd worn to work for the past three days, she felt about as rested as a hung-over hobo. In some respects, it was a fitting metaphor for her life at this point.

"You must really hate me, Ray," Sarah said as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "I know I suck as a sister, having to crash at your place after fucking my life up in ways that are entirely my fault."

"Enough with the guilt trip, Sarah. You know I don't hate you," Rachel replied, rolling her eyes at her, "but even you have to admit you need a kick in the ass these days. It's bad enough you dropped out of college to hook up with that high school crush of yours. But between staying with the guy after he cheated on you and letting him burn through your college fund on that failed video game company of his, you've got no high ground to stand on."

"For your information, it was a software company," Sarah muttered, as though that much it hurt any less.

"Doesn't matter what it was. The point is now you're waiting tables, your credit is shit, and you wasted mom and dad's charity when you tried to get a payday loan on their car."

"Which I apologized for a million times, by the way," said Sarah.

"Too late for that. Mom and Dad gave you leeway and it burned them. I've worked hard and exercised infinitely better judgment than you so I'll give you none. You want my help getting your life back together, this is the price you pay."

Sarah felt inclined to cuss her sister out until next Christmas, but that only would've made her more smug and she couldn't have that. She'd done enough to screw herself over these past few years.

Avoiding eye-contact with Rachel, Sarah pulled herself up from the couch and did her best to wake up. She tried fixing her messy hair and wrinkled clothes, but at this point in her life, she could only do so much to feel presentable. Having once been the hottest girl in school who had every opportunity given to her, all her bad decisions just made her feel ugly, by default.

As Sarah did what she could to look somewhat less pathetic, Rachel retrieved her purse and keys from the kitchen table. She was already dressed in her overpriced pantsuit, ready to pull some overtime at the law firm she'd been working at for the past five years. Between her makeup and more professional demeanor, it was painfully obvious which one of them had made the better life choices.

"I've left a list of errands on the fridge next to the wine where I know you'll see it," Rachel said as she checked herself in the mirror near the door. "I need you to go to the DMV to pick up the license plate for my new Mazda, swing by the farmer's market to pick up supplies for the firm's annual meeting, coordinate with the building manager open house in the unit across the hall, and take care of that big stack of laundry that's still sitting in my bedroom."

"That all sounds like very important work," Sarah said dryly. "Want me to learn Mandarin and do your taxes while I'm at it?"

"Whatever you can do that'll keep you on schedule and not making dumb decisions is fine by me," her older sister replied. "Just do what I ask and I'll have no reason to kick you out. It's that simple."

"Simple…right," Sarah scoffed.

She'd heard that before. Those three words in that particular order might have been her least favorite words of all time. That was what her ex-boyfriend told her when he told her about some get-rich-quick scheme he'd conjured. That was what she told herself when she dropped out of college to pursue what she thought would be a less complicated life. Every time she heard or said those words, it led to another poor decision that she came to regret.

Rather than risk hearing those words again, Sarah dragged herself to the kitchen in search of something to wake her up. As annoyingly regimented as her sister was, Sarah couldn't afford to push her buttons. If her sister kicked her out, then she would have nowhere left to go.

"Well, if I'm going to run off and be your personal errand girl, I'm going to need some coffee," she said.

"Sorry, but this is the last batch," said Rachel, holding up her travel mug as though it were a trophy.

"Please tell me you're joking," Sarah groaned. "Please tell me you're just trying to kick my ass into gear again. I promise I won't get mad this time."

"Sorry, but when you're busy and have a functional career, certain things slip your mind. Guess you'll have to get some from the new neighbor across the hall and hope he's a morning person."

"Are you ever going to get tired of punishing me for being such a bitch in high school?"

"If I do, I'll let you know if I do," Rachel replied smugly. "Have a great day, little sis!"

Sarah shot her older sister a harsh scold, but she barely saw it. She was already out the door, on her way to drive her nice new Mazda to her well-paying job while her broke sister relied on public transportation to do all the menial chores she'd been given. It used to be so much easier to hate her sister, but Sarah just made it harder on herself with every bad decision, it seemed.

With Rachel gone, Sarah buried her tired face in her arms and muttered a string of curses that would've gotten her arrested if she'd said them in public. She would've loved to just crawl back on the couch, fall asleep, and try to regain whatever strength she could for her next shift at the restaurant. Unfortunately, her uptight older sister had given her a lot to do. If she wanted to even have a couch to sleep on, she had to get to work and pretend she wasn't too miserable.

To do that, however, she needed coffee. There was no way she could be that alert on a Saturday morning without it. Not having the extra money for a latte, she decided to take her sister's advice and check with the new neighbor across the hall of her sister's condo. If she were lucky, he or she wouldn't ask her to flagellate herself for extra creamer.

Not bothering to put on less scruffy clothes, she walked out the front door and to the condo across the hall. Still too tired to give too many damns about waking someone up, she knocked on the door.

to be continued....