It was a cold day. June hated cold days, her skin would prickle up, the tips of her fingers would be hard to move, and she wouldn’t be able to think as well.
But it was a Monday, and she had work. She knew that her alarm would wake her up soon. June was trying to bury her face in her pillow when the door opened and her curtains were pulled to reveal the cold sun.
June cried out in protest, but was only met with a laugh and the smell of coffee.
She quickly opened her eyes and moved herself into a sitting position.
“You are my least favorite roommate.” She pointedly told the girl in front of her.
She was met with a cup of coffee shoved in her hand.
“I’m your only roommate.” Mara answered, as she moved closer to June’s closet.
“Well,” June said after hesitating for a moment, “Maybe there is a reason for that.”
She drank the coffee, and immediately regretted it. It was way too hot for her, and now her tongue was burned. She yelled out in pain, causing Mara to abruptly turn her head.
“Are you okay?” She half shouted, panicked. She was met with a very angry June.
“WHY WOULD YOU MAKE THE COFFEE SO HOT!”
“Be quiet, we have neighbors!” Mara shouted back.
“If you want me to be quiet, then don’t give me boiling coffee!” Mara stared at her for a second, then sighed.
“Okay, I’m sorry.” She said, then turned her head back to the closet and began to look through June’s myriad of sweaters, and knitwear.
“It’s fine.” June returned to her coffee, taking small sips this time.
She did this until her mind had somewhat cleared. And turned back to look at Mara, she was holding two sweaters, and seemed to be debating something.
June stared at her until she finally turned around.
“Which one is warmer?” She asked. Holding up an olive green sweater that her grandma had knitted for her, and a blue one she had gotten from someone she didn’t quite remember.
“The green one,” Mara nodded and rolled up the sweater in her hand.
“Well then, what are you waiting for, get dressed.” She said, throwing the rolled up sweater onto June’s lap. It slightly bumped into her cup and disturbed the liquid inside, spilling a drop of coffee onto the sheets beneath her.
“Watch it!”
“What?” Mara responded, she was folding the blue sweater.
“You nearly spilled my coffee.” June said, cradling the cup to her chest.
“Just get dressed.” Mara sighed, moving to get out of the room.
June groaned.
“Fine.” She moved her legs out from under her layers of blankets, and flinched when the cold air hit her legs. She shivered.
Mara leaned back into the room.
“Your fuzzy socks are on top of the drawer.”
June looked next to her to see a pair of socks. They had watermelons on them. She put them on, as quickly as she could, and began to change.
It was still cold, and now her fingertips felt blue. They weren’t, but they felt like stone.
She dragged her feet across the hardwood floors, and walked into the kitchen to see Mara absolutely ruining a simple soup. She could have stopped her, but she was too tired to do that. So she just sat on the table and buried her face into her arms.
The soup was soon ready, and surprisingly, it didn’t taste awful. But Mara seemed to think otherwise. When she tried it she had scrunched up her nose as if it was sour.
“What do you think?” She asked, in a way that sounded like she was expecting June to say that it was awful.
“It’s surprisingly good.” She responded. Mara rolled her eyes.
“Sure it is.” June didn’t protest. She knew that Mara wouldn’t believe her until when she would ask, a few years later, completely unprompted.
“Did you actually like that soup?” And June would say,
“What soup?” And then Mara would reply,
“The sour one I made on that cold morning.” And then June would stop to think for a minute until she remembered and say,
“Yes, it wasn’t that sour.” And the Mara would say for the final time,
“Huh,” And that would be the end of it.
“You are going to be late for work.” June was snapped out of her trance and panic filled up her stomach. She quickly turned her head at the clock that always hung above Mara’s head.
It was seven-thirty.
Work started at nine.
“No, I’m not.” June said, “It’s only seven-thirty, I have plenty of time.”
“You have time now, but it will take you forever to actually get out of the house.” June just scoffed at her.
She took her time getting ready, then watched something meaningless. She tried to do her makeup but messed up with her eyeliner. So she wiped it off, began over and made Mara do it.
Before she knew it, around one hour and twenty minutes had passed.
And now she was going to be late.
“I told you so!” Mara called out from her room, she went to work from home, so she was just getting her workspace ready.
“Shut up!” June called back, looking for her keys. And just in time Mara called out again.
“Your keys are on top of the white table!” She yelled, and when June looked at the tiny white table near the balcony. Her giant keychain was on there. There was a cloud on it. Mara said that she liked it, so she kept it on.
“I’ll be back at six!” June called out. Mara responded.
“Don’t do anything stupid!”
“I won’t!”
“Bye!”
“Bye!”
And June left.
She was late to work that day. Mara was right.
