Totally Clueless or In-Denial

I sat on my bed combing my hair and thought about the dream but it freaked me out so I tried to let it go. It was quarter past nine in the morning and I realized I haven't called Tracy yet so I grabbed the phone and dialed her number hastily. After two rings, she picked up my call. "Hey Tracy! That was fast, you're really expecting my call then?"

"Hey I surely did! What happened? It's been like forever. I thought you're cancelling".

"I'll explain everything later. Meet me at Mambo Village Center"

"Okay I'm ready. See you later!" Tracy hung up.

I checked mom and asked for the grocery list just so I wouldn't forget any items.

I decided to walk since the Village Center is near our home. I'm halfway there. Walking makes me exhausted. The heat of the sun is hotter than usual. I'm getting sweaty. How annoying is that? I took a bath but then I felt that I didn't because of the annoying sweat. It is so irritating.

Finally, I reached Mambo Village Center, the most convenient place in our village where it has everything, shops, grocery, salon, restaurants and more. By the entrance door of the grocery, my annoyance went down because the irksome heat was gone. And there was Tracy, standing near a free cookie booth.

"Delicious as always!" Tracy said while munching a chocolate chip cookie with a crooked smile. "How about we buy some cookies later? I'm just so mad about cookies!" she continued.

"Okay! If you feel so, then let's buy some later."

We grabbed a cart and decided to check on Mom's grocery list first before deciding on what to buy for our sleepover. The first five in the list are herbs which are dried thyme leaves, rosemary, oregano, basil and tarragon. Herbs and Spices are my mom's favourite kitchen essentials. It's like her mood booster. Near our kitchen we have a pantry, where my mom's hoarded kitchen items were overly organized.

We walked near aisle 4 and saw the herb and spices section on the opposite side, aisle 3. It smelled aromatic in that aisle. Weird-looking herbs, which I'm not familiar with, were there too. Finally! I found the herbs on mom's list.

After getting the herbs, we went to the poultry section, dairy section and fruit and vegetable section for the rest of the items. That was it! We got everything on my mom's list.

" Let's go Tracy, let's buy some snacks for our sleepover."

" Sure! Let's not forget some more munchies and the cookies!"

" Alright Cookie Monster!"

Tracy looked at me and smiled sarcastically.

When we're done with our stuff, we headed to the counter and bumped into Rick Hernandez, a family friend. He was like an uncle to me, he's more like a family to mom and I. He was wearing a black cashmere long sleeve which revealed more of his glowing complexion. For an early forty's man, he looked younger.

" Oh Hi Penny! Rick smiled."

" Penny? Who's Penny?" Tracy asked.

I felt like I was blushing. " Hi Rick! I heard you summoned me in the depths of my despair. How many times I've told you, don't call me Penny!"

Rick laughed hard. Annoying me is his specialty.

"My apologies Pen--- I mean Stephanie. By the way I see you're done shopping, I'll give you a ride home. I was going there anyway. Wait for me in the parking lot."

I sighed and saw him smirking.

"It's not a big deal." I told Tracy. They used to call me Penny when I was a toddler. I just don't like it. Rick is such an annoyance.

" So, Steph-Penny, your annoyance eh?" Tracy laughed.

We waited for Rick in the parking lot. Rick's car was a silver Ferrari-like car but it wasn't a Ferrari. It has a sticker in the windshield, a Chinese-like character. It wasn't arduous looking for his car because it's the only luxurious one in our community.

As soon as we reached Rick's car, we saw Rick heading to where we were. Frankly if Rick wasn't my uncle or cousin of some sort, he would be the man of my dreams; I mean he's almost perfect except for the infuriating part of him.

Rick drove carefully. By the time he parked in front of our house, Tracy was asleep. "We're here Stephanie-penny! It seems like your friend got tired." He smiled and looked at Tracy.

"Not actually, Cookie Monster here just ate more than enough cookies." I chuckled as I opened the door.

"I heard that." Tracy mumbled as she got out of the car.

Tracy carried some of the items and went inside the house as if it was hers. Rick went inside too, carrying two paper bags and walked directly to the kitchen. He knew my mom was always in the kitchen. I wondered what's inside the paper bags. I bet it's Chinese food. I hurriedly carried the grocery bags that were left behind the car. When I got inside, I went directly to the kitchen. I placed the grocery bag in the kitchen counter.

"I've got to get going, I just brought this for both of you." Rick said as he handed the paper bags to my mom. Then he went away.

Mom reached over her kitchen stuff to make beverages for the three of us. She ordered Tracy and me to set the tables for lunch. The two paper bags from Rick were Chinese food, I've guessed it right. Tracy microwaved the food as I finished the table setting. After our tasks, mom asked us what beverage we would want her to do, she lifted a book and pointed out some beverage recipes.

"How about something that would match the Chinese food?" Tracy asked as she eyed a beverage called Cool Collins. I agreed with her because it really looked refreshing, but I flipped the book and saw the one called Peach Melba.

"Well peach is my thing, I love its sweetness." I insisted. How about I make Cool Collins for lunch and Peach Melba for dinner? Mom negotiated.

"Sounds great!" Tracy and I high-fived. We sat on the stool by the counter while waiting for mom to finish. It seems like mom is so used to what she's been doing, I really appreciate it.

Mom was done with the beverages. Finally I'm really starving, and I am excited to taste Rick's cookin'. It's sort of his specialty. My favourite is his version of Patatim, the original dish is made with pork, and it has a sweet but savoury sauce. His version of Patatim is made with roast beef but with the same sauce but I think it's more flavourful. His cooking is more on the east meets west thingy.

I'm so full. The moment I sat at lunch I couldn't stop bracing myself. We went to my room, Tracy connected her iPod to the speaker and she played some music then she looked at me and smiled.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked.

"How about pamper time first? I brought some stuff, and then we could watch DVDs. How about that?"

Tracy reached for her bumpy bag and pulled out another bag. She opened it and I saw face masks, moisturizers, some bath essentials and pretty much a lot of pampering stuff. She tied her hair and went to the bathroom to cleanse her face and then she put on the face mask, she also commanded me to do the same. By the time I was done with the cleansing and the face mask, Tracy stood by my door carrying a tray with a large bowl of popcorn and tall glasses of soda.

After watching the movie, Tracy began to interrogate me, she asked a lot of questions regarding my dull personality. She realized that I didn't answer her. It's probably because I can't understand it too. I really don't know what my problem is but I can feel there's something deep in me who knows, it's just self-denial.

I hugged Tracy and explained that I'm puzzled, I felt that I'm going nowhere, I always feel anxious and poignant. I don't know what I want. Tracy felt the sudden change in the frame of my mind and she started to cheer me up, I smiled although I still felt gloomy, I know she knew what I'm feeling.

" Steph? Don't you think you're overreacting a bit? I mean Life is boring if you're too predictable. I don't see any problems for you to be gloomy. You have to seize the day then you'll know what you want eventually, I mean you should go out of the box to see what's outside right? Or better yet just get rid of the box? Don't let anything hold you back. At this point, I think it's better to forget everything and I'll help you to start going out of the freaking box." Tracy smiled and swiped my tears.