Humanity is often something taken for granted. 

Daily life never stops – time is something people can’t get back, and wasted time lying in bed crying over late assignments and unreasonably small paychecks never ceases to add up. Stress never stops. Stress doesn’t wait for anyone to catch up. People can dodge stress by sleeping though, and sleep can sometimes be more therapeutic than people realize.  

When Angel woke up in Jen’s apartment at 5 p.m., Jen was laying down on the honey-colored bed sheets and smoking. Not the most earth-shattering thing to wake up to, but for Angel, the image held nostalgia and deeper feelings than just an edgy blonde woman smoking and listening to Lana Del Rey. Angel captured it in her mind for a moment longer, taking in the warm sun on her back and the soft cotton comforter on her arms, and reminisced about when Jen and she had first started hanging out. Jen still smoked back then, too, despite Angel’s consistent crying and worrying about her, and Angel still always fell asleep while they were listening to music. Go figure that things wouldn’t have changed nine years later. 

Reluctantly sitting up and stretching, Angel shot a final glance over at Jen before pulling the comforter off herself and shuffling over to the kitchen. Jen didn’t have much food, because as anyone knows, unreasonably small paychecks don’t exactly pay the bills and buy a four-course meal, but Angel shrugged it off with a displeasured sigh. She figured she’d get takeout later, maybe, or stop at the store on her way home. Either way, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like she’d have time to eat when she got home. 

“You alright?” Jen called to Angel, snapping the brunette out of her thoughts. “You’re staring at my fridge like it just told you your cat died.” 

Angel nodded, muttering an apology as she closed the fridge and shuffled back to Jen’s bedroom. The yellow walls of the studio apartment matched the ochre of Angel’s T-shirt and the sun filtering through the blinds. Angel had never been a fan of the color yellow really, but the familiarity of being in Jen’s sleepy apartment and away from the stress of her own life was comforting to her in ways she couldn’t describe.  

Angel ran a hand through her caramel-colored hair while she yanked her mustard bookbag closer to her, leaning it against the edge of the bed and pulling out various overdue work she should have done weeks ago. She felt her stomach lurch when she saw a due date of a week prior and began thinking to herself that maybe it was a good thing Jen lacked food, because if Angel had eaten, it would likely be all over Jen’s bed right about then. She had overdue bills to pay, too, she realized, and had to work closing hours the upcoming weekend. Daily life didn’t wait for her, but she’d never admit to the nauseating number of hours she’d spent lying in bed, in the dark, listening to music and contemplating life. 

Jen’s soft footsteps against cream-colored carpet brought Angel back to reality, her head traveling up to observe Jen walking to the balcony and propping herself against it. Jen looked comfortable; despite it being way colder than it should ever be for an October in California, Jen had a daffodil-colored blanket wrapped around her shoulders, matching the flowers that dotted the ground three stories below. It was another nice sight to see in Angel’s opinion; it was somewhat symbolic to her of cold autumn days spent indoors watching scary movies. It gave her a sense of serenity. She was starting to notice a theme being put in place. 

Maybe life did move too fast for Angel, but at least she had little pleasures coupled with shades of yellow to keep her sane.