The Lonely Girl

Chapter 2 - Branching out

As I walked through the busy wait room I was greeted by Alana, the receptionist who’s the only tolerable person there. She’s always friendly and trying to invite me out socially, I’ve never said yes but she keeps on trying. “Hey Sahara, good morning, ready for another busy day” as she hands me a stack of files. I rolled my eyes, “same s**t everyday hey”. Alana laughed, “hey we should get coffee after work, celebrate surviving another day”. “ I don’t know”, I replied, “it’s happening “, she said and walked away. Now I just had to avoid her at the end of my shift and sneak out.

The day was of course horrendous, but then again what do expect at a free clinic, at least no one tried to punch me today so I’ll take the win. Walking out exhausted I ran in to Alana who had a big smile on her face. “Great your here, theres a good coffee shop a few blocks away”. Dammit I cursed internally, I’d completely forgotten about this. I put a fake smile on my face, “sure let’s go”. I didn’t have to say much on the walk there, Alana had the ability to talk incessantly and not seem to mind that I didn’t contribute. We settled into a booth and ordered our coffees. “So I don’t know much about you, have you always lived locally?” Alana said, “No, I’ve moved around a bit, been in the city for a few years now though. “Oh, where did you grow up?” “I moved a lot, never really settled in one place”. “So …”. Before she could continue I interrupted, “ what about you, where do you live?”. That was enough for Alana to talk about how she grew up a few hours away in a small town and how she had a big extended family and they were all very close. “ I moved here to meet new people and explore a little, the community was fairly small so you knew everyone “. Alana’s community sounded like a dream, I couldn’t help but smile as she talked animatedly about her family. We finished our coffees and I was surprised how much I enjoyed her company. We made plans to have a drink at a local bar on the weekend. Not something I’m too keen on but Alana seemed like a good person and it might be time to branch out a little bit.

Opening the door to my apartment I was greeted by a loud meow from cat Jenna. She was the first thing I bought when I had a stable place to stay. I love her to bits however I’m sure she only puts up with me because I feed her! Although she always lays close to me at night, not sure what I’d do without her. After giving her a generous amount of food I started cooking my own dinner. One of the other things I discovered when I finally got my own space is my love for cooking. I don’t tend to eat out as it feels too awkward on my own but there’s no reason I can’t cook good food. After years of eating whatever I could get my hands on, it feels so good to cook what I want. I’m happy with my own company, if I described my life to someone they’d probably think I’m lonely, but I like the peace, I definitely never feel lonely. I wouldn’t say I’m antisocial, ok maybe I am, I just can’t be bothered with everyone’s bullshit. It would be nice to have a friend though, Alana seems like a genuinely good person, I’ve never really had a lasting friendship. After my dinner was cooked I settled on the couch to watch my regular dose of reality tv. It’s good for a laugh and you don’t exactly have to concentrate!