Trifecta Writing Challenge: LOADS TO DO

This post is in response to Trifecta's Weekly Challenge. They asked us to use the third definition of the given word and use it in a 33-333 word story. The word this week was: 

NEW (adjective)3: having been in a relationship or condition but a short time <new to the job> <a new wife>

Authors note: For the past three days I have been trying to think of an entry. I started three different stories and none of them fit or were worth finishing. Today, a fellow Trifectan we all know and love from Thin Spiral Notebook, Tara R., posted a picture on Twitter. I opened it and was struck with what to write. I sent her a message to ask if I could use her picture that inspired my story in my post. Thank you, Tara R., for the great picture and for helping me break through my writer's block. 

LOADS TO DO

She pulled her car begrudgingly into a spot in front of  the brightly lit glass store front. Block red letters shouted prices and specials at her. She sat for a moment observing the few people inside reading a book or wandering around aimlessly. Suddenly,  the car’s engine revved a bit, giving a shudder to the steering wheel her hands were gripping. It knocked her out of her trance and she reached down to the keys as she turned them and felt the car settle into silence. This was a new experience for her and the unknown always unnerved her. Why hadn’t she just gone to her parents’ house earlier rather than taking a nap? Time was wasting. She had no other choice.  Her cross-country meet was tomorrow and her uniform was still rank from the week before.

She had shrugged aside her responsibilities to spend  the week with him and now it was catching up with her. Papers were due, exams were approaching and her roommate wasted no time expressing her displeasure of the stale Raisin Bran she had to eat for breakfast that morning since “someone forgot to grocery shop this week”.  The hour and a half in the cold, stale laundromat was her penance.

Rows of tumbling, money hungry machines awaited her. She took a deep breath, grabbed the plastic bag of quarters, the pungent bag of laundry, a bottle of generic detergent, and her ‘Weather and Climate’ textbook. That final exam was in three days and it hung over her like a storm cloud. She walked in, absorbing the noise of the washers and dryers in different cycles. She walked sternly about halfway down the first row when a familiar voice caught her attention.

“Well, well, well, look who it is. Hey, Beautiful.”

A smile spread across her face as she slid her book under the bag. After all, she’d have two whole days to study this weekend.