Chapter 7: 7
I don’t know how to react.
I looked at Olivia and she’s gesturing for me to hug her sister back. As best as I can, I gulped and slowly raise my hand to slowly wrap at her back, I slowly raise my right hand for a bit as I pat her back. Olivia facepalmed at the sight.
I hear a soft chuckle next to me and I feel her letting go, I instinctively rubbed my nose and I looked at Olivia, she’s looking at me with a huge grin and she’s giving me two thumbs up while slightly holding back her laughter.
“What does that mean?!” I said in my head.
“That was so awkward Sky!” Olivia finally busted out laughing as she points at me.
“You changed a lot but you’re still the same.” Kaley said.
I give both a smile and confused look at the two and I said, “A-Anyway, I’ll leave you two here, I’m going to clean up a bit.”
I opened the door to my room, grabbed a towel and a few clothes then headed upstairs. The 3rd floor is a gym. It has a bit of equipment for training one’s body and half of the room hangs two large mirrors facing each other with a mat below. I headed for the shower here. I undress as I look at myself in the mirror.
I have black hair, short and spiky, though a few strands are starting to invade my ear and the back of my neck. I have a scar in my left eyebrow and a few isolated scars in my right arm covered splendidly by a tattoo sleeve of a dragon that starts from the shoulder and slowly overlaps to my neck and to my right hand.
I turned the shower on and steam started to fog the mirrors and the glass partitions as I stood face down, hands on the wall. I quickly finished my shower, I preferred to use the tub on the 2nd floor but I offered the ladies to use it instead. I headed to my room after and I put on my camouflaged cargo pants and white shirt. I strapped to my torso a holster that could hold pistols left and right. I wore a gray, unzipped jacket over to hide it.
I overhear the sisters laughing in the bathroom, I proceeded to let them have their own fun then I went to my aunt’s place to ask her to include us with lunch.
I looked for Lois to accompany me to Puregold and Mercury Drug to stock up on supplies and spend money as long as it is still able to buy something, I took one of the cars and we drove off.
Its past 10:00 AM now, driving on the highway, I am noticing that the security around is starting to increase and the ambulances that are driving around is getting more frequent. We first stopped by Mercury Drug.
“What do I grab first?” asked Lois.
“I’ll take care of the medicine counter, I’ll buy whatever vitamins, supplements and other OTC drugs that they have available. You take care of the hygiene products grab tissues, deodorants, wipes, baby powder, napkins-” he cuts me off.
“Wait, napkins? As in what the girls use? Eww!” I jabbed his stomach as I give a menacing smile, “Yeah, napkins. Also tampons, panty liners, razors, band aids, bandages, lotion, sunblock and also that insect repellent kind…”
I saw his face red as a tomato but he said, “Alright I’ll do it! But let me grab some things too! You’re paying right?” he starts to bargain with me.
“Yeah, yeah, of course I will.” I said.
“Great!” he grabbed a pushcart and headed for one of the aisles.
I head into the medicine counter and requested a lot of each medicine available either for fevers, colds, sore throat etc. I even bought some eye drops, lip balm and different vitamin supplements. The person stationed there and some other staff are eyeing me suspiciously and the lady serving me decided to ask me, “What are you doing with all of these?”
“Oh! Hahaha… Is it too much? I’m going around the Philippines this year, I’m going to be with some friends and I’m the one in charge on some of the supplies that we need.” I say very smoothly.
“Really? That sounds nice, where are you going first?” the lady at the counter now became very interested and now her mind is off the suspicion that I’m starting to hoard medicine.
One box at the counter caught my eye and now I’m contemplating on buying it, a struggle started in my mind whether to do it or not.
“Well, people back at home would definitely need this considering on what’s coming…” I said to myself.
The lady on the counter followed my eyes and her eyes also landed on the box. She raised her eyebrows when she looked at me again, giving me this suggestive smile. “Well, that thing, you might need a lot of it. Hmm?” she said to me.
I’m starting to sweat as she stares at me and I need to remain this air of confidence around me and I placed my hand up, “G-give me five.”
“Really? Just five?” she starts to twirl her hair as she said it. My mind is now in shambles and I blurted out, “B-boxes.”
“What? Say that again?” she looks visibly surprised.
“Give me f-five… boxes.” I said with a tremble in my lip.
“Wow.” she mouthed while both her eyebrows are raised. I saw her turn around and grab one. She starts to look at the bottom of the box and she starts to walk back to me with a single box in her hand. What happened next is possibly is in the top 10 of the most terrified I got.
She places her hand on the mic and she said as loud as the speaker could get. “Can we get four more boxes of Trust Condoms at the front, I repeat, can we get four more boxes of Trust Condoms at the front, thank you.”
As she said that, almost every staff and customer have their eyes on me. The guard at the front gave a small yell and he started to clap slowly, I saw Lois on the floor, clutching his stomach dying of laughter.
I’m now stuck in a stare down with the lady in the counter, my left lip is now twitching and she’s just staring at me straight in the eye as she computes my total. I gave her my card and swiped it on the POS system while still having eye-contact. I noticed her slipping a paper underneath with her number on it and I just smiled.
“Not gonna happen.” I said in my head. However, I still took the piece of paper.
I also paid for the items in Lois’s cart and I walk outside while the guard pats me in the back. Lois is still laughing as we drive to Puregold’s parking area. The trunk of the car is filled with large plastic bags and I would surely be buying more items here than the last one.
I stepped out of the vehicle and I went straight to their customer help desk. Walking towards the desk, there is a few more people in front of me, either complaining about their service or returning an item. I am taking a quick look around and nothing seems out of the ordinary.
As it was now my turn. I asked for the catalog for some of the products that can be ordered in bulk.
The lady in front handed me the list of the items available, “Here you go sir.” she gave me a courteous smile. I made a quick glance and some items I need are available.
“Can you deliver in my house? I’m gonna buy quite a lot and I think it won’t fit in my car.” I said to her as I also gave her my address to compute the necessary costs.
“We have two closed trucks here and they are both available, what items do you have in mind sir?” she asked politely.
“I would like 20 of these 6-gallon dried beans please give me five different kinds, 10 sacks of these oatmeal… wait, are they the ones ready to eat where you just put hot water or is it the one where you cook it for a while?” I asked.
“We have both sir, what would you like?” she answered quickly.
“Oh, give me the ready to eat ones, also I’ll have 20 boxes of those baked beans and baked spaghetti-o’s. I’d like 10 sacks of your Pedigree dried dog food and 10 boxes of the canned ones and kindly have the boxes have different flavors. Also, can you add 40 boxes each of your Bees Home natural honey, Kopiko black coffee, Kopiko white coffee, and Ricoa cocoa. Hmm, add 10 more boxes worth of the canned evaporated and condensed milk that you have. And a moment, Lois! Pick a few boxes of sweets and don’t forget to get a few boxes of protein bars.”
The lady in the counter splendidly listed everything I said and it made me think deep in contemplation. “Do I invite her? Probably won’t work since I’ve just met her and I will sound crazy to her.” I said to myself.