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“Morning.” Adeline says as she offers me a cup of coffee.
She smiles at me over the rim of her cup as I thank her and take a sip. I watch her over my own rim and I don’t miss the wince or the flash of pain that shows in her eyes before she tries to hide it.I need to figure out a way for her to get that surgery, I think for the millionth time in the last year.
I watch as she moves around the room, opening our frayed curtains to let some light in and turning on the junky television that we pulled from the trash. She adjusts the rabbit ear antenna until the cartoon channel comes on.
“Did you take your medicine already?” I ask as I make my way over to her pillbox.
When she doesn’t answer, I turn and look at her over my shoulder. She’s staring at the ground and my stomach sinks as I turn back to the pillbox, opening the lid for today. It’s empty and I try the rest of the week to see that they’re all empty too.
“Addy, where are your pills?” I ask as I turn around to face her.
“We wouldn’t have enough for rent if I got them this week. I was going to wait until I got paid on Friday and then go get them.” She says quietly.
I blink, trying to clear the tears from my eyes.
“You need your medicine, Addy.”
“I know, but it’s just a couple of days. I’ll be fine.” She says as she puts her cup in the sink and goes to get dressed.
I want to argue with her but she interrupts me before I can.
“You need to get in the shower or you’ll be late!” She calls from over her shoulder.
My phone alarm goes off as soon as she says that and she laughs as I chug the rest of my coffee and head for the bathroom. I have to step in and turn around in order to close the door and I grumble as I bang my elbow off the wall, trying to get my shirt off. I hear Adeline laugh as I curse and wiggle, finally freeing myself from the shirt and sleep shorts. We do this every morning and once I get into the shower, I reach over and open the door so that Adeline can get in to brush her teeth and do her makeup.
I shower quickly and wrap a towel around my body and another around my hair before squeezing past Adeline and over to the little dresser in the corner of the room. Like everything else in this apartment, we found this dresser and pulled it off of the curb and hauled it home. One of the drawers is broken but even with that, it’s still probably the nicest thing we own.
Our income means that we never quite get enough to eat and with Adeline’s illness, we both have pretty slim frames. Adeline and I are both small, with her standing at only 5’2” and me at 5’4”. Our similar sizes have one good outcome though and that’s that we can wear the same clothes. Our limited income thanks us for that and it comes in handy when I don’t have time to do laundry one week.
I tug on a pair of her black skinny jeans, black t-shirt with the coffee shop logo, and my black Chuck Taylors before I head back to the kitchen. I put two slices of bread into the toaster and pour myself another cup of coffee as I wait for it to pop.
Adeline comes out of the bathroom, smoothing out her brown hair. She smiles up at me with her pretty purple eyes as she sits down on the mattress to tug her shoes on. Other than our similar size, Addy and I both look a little alike too. We both have brown hair and round faces with high cheekbones, but where she has the most amazing purple eyes, I have the palest blue.
I smile back at her as I butter the toast and add some sugar and cinnamon to them, taking a big bite of mine before I hand her hers. She takes it and my coffee cup, finishing the last of it before grinning at me. I just laugh as I head to the bathroom to tie my hair up and brush my teeth.
We meet at the front door and I wait as Adeline checks her purse to make sure she has everything she needs. I shove my phone into my back pocket and grab my keys as we walk out into the hallway. I turn and lock the door before we walk down the four flights of stairs and out onto the sidewalk.
“I wonder if Bella had her babies yet.” Adeline says we walk towards the animal shelter.
Luckily, the shelter is only two blocks from our apartment and the coffee shop is only a block and a half past that. Adeline has the morning shift at the shelter and is in charge of cleaning out all of the cages so she goes in early like me. I get to walk Adeline to work every morning and I get done before her every day so I head home to make a late lunch for us. We eat and hang out for an hour or so before we either go to doctor appointments or run errands. Sometimes we just hang out in the apartment all day or go for a walk before I have to head to the Upper East Side to clean office buildings.
“Send me a picture if she did.” I say as we get to the shelter door.
“Will do!” She chirps. “Have a good day, dear.” She says cheekily as she disappears inside.
I chuckle as I continue on to work. I open the coffee shop every day and I unlock the front doors before turning on all of the lights and taking the chairs off the tables. I make sure the fridge has been stocked and then pull out all of the pastries and put them in the display case on the counter. I’m just finishing turning on all of the coffee machines when my coworker comes in.
“Hey, Bianca.” I call as she sleepily makes her way behind the counter and grabs her apron off the hook.
She mumbles her response and I smile at her as I hand her a caramel latte. My smile grows as I watch her eyes perk up at the sight of the whipped cream swirled on top.
“Have I told you how much I love you recently?” She asks as she takes the cup from me and downs half of it.
“Not today.” I tease back.
I turn the open sign on and we lean back against the counter, enjoying these minutes of calm before customers start pouring in demanding their caffeine fix.
“How’s Adeline?” Bianca asks carefully.
