At sundown, we walked to a diner close to our house and ate there. The waiter flirted incessantly with me and I rolled my eyes so much that night, I thought the irises would get stuck in the sockets. He was a good-looking dude- nice body, great smile and all- but those weren't the strongest winning points in my books. He didn't look a day above 18 and that was a no-no for me.
"Maybe I'll see you around later?" I raised my brows at his sudden bashfulness as I stood with Mikayla to leave. He'd been really brazen since I stepped into the diner. Another reason I didn't like boys. They never really know what they want.
I shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Though I'm leaning towards the latter heavily."
"Why? You think I'm too young for you?"
Mikayla excused herself to use the bathroom and I let her go. "Something like that. I think you should save your flirting for highschoolers. Not that you don't have game, it's just not for a grown woman like me."
He smirked and my brows furrowed in puzzlement. "I've fucked older woman."
For the millionth time, I rolled my eyes. I was pretty sure the organs were already exhausted from the exercise I was subjecting them to. "Great information, to be honest. You can fix it in your resumé or better yet, frame it and hang it beside the sports car poster on your bedroom wall. All teenage boys have that poster on their walls, don't they?" He scowled at my jab and I made a tsk sound. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, sweetheart. It's a phase every teenage boy has to pass through. Even ol' Brandon had it on his wall when I used to visit, it's a pity I can't remember the exact car it was. In my defence, it's been ages."
Mikayla came back and saved me from any more conversations with the mildly annoyed waiter. We got back home and headed straight to bed. I tried to call Nelly before I fell asleep but it was still switched off. I wasn't worried though, she probably drank her weight in alcohol and that wasn't a lot. If she didn't come early enough to stay with Mikayla the next day, I'd either drive her to her grandparents house or straight to school. With that line of thought, I gave in to the strong hands of slumber.
I woke up the next morning with a start. That was how I always woke up when I was work bound. It was almost like there was a ticking clock in my head that didn't let me oversleep on the days I went to work. I carefully moved away from the grasp of a sleeping Kayla and gave her a light peck on the forehead before racing to the bathroom. I handled my affairs like I always did- with lightening speed.
I chose a full suit to wear to work and I tried to not think about the troubles that probably awaited me at WeCare Inc. For the umpteenth time since Saturday, I checked my email to see if Amber eventually replied my message and sighed deeply when I saw no response. As I buttoned my white shirt, I fumed at the thought of the short, olive toned woman. She sure had a lot of audacity in her tiny frame.
"Short people and their attitude problems." I grumbled as I tucked my shirt in my black pencil skirt. It wasn't just Amber guilty of that, even Nelly was too. It was inherent in short people to act up. "God, why didn't you give me a tall supervisor?" I whined like a mistreated child and glanced at the wall clock. 6:32am. I had more than an hour to get there. My office was about an hour away or maybe less than 45 minutes when I drove like a lunatic. So I was still on time, all I had to do was wait for Nelly. I'd woken up to a text from her.
Hey. I'll be there by 7. Maybe.
That was all the text read. I walked back to Mikayla's room to give her one last peck before I left for work and that was the moment my conscience decided to work overtime. Her complaints about eating takeouts flooded my ears and I damn near growled. I was mad because I knew I wouldn't leave the house until I'd made something for her to eat in my absence. I cursed Nelly and her lack of decent cooking skills.
I checked the kitchen counters for Kraft Mac and cheese. That wouldn't take me more than 10 minutes to prepare. I grunted in frustration when I didn't find any and quickly put some macaroni to cook. Of course, I'd have to make enough for two people. My daughter and her babysitter that couldn't cook. I was whisking beaten eggs and the butter-flour sauce when I heard the unmistakable sound of a key being slot into a keyhole. Nelly had finally come around but I still wasn't ready to leave. For every heavy step she took, my hands worked a little faster.
She poked her head in the kitchen and scrunched her face in obvious confusion. I didn't even have enough time to laugh at her expression, I barely even had time to think as my hands mechanically performed the task of adding cheese and other spices. I knew if I spared a few seconds to really look at her, she'd be scratching the bridge of her nose. That was what she always did when she was confused. I finally looked at her when I had put the baking dish filled with cooked macaroni, cheese and the egg mixture. I quirked my brows in question at my petite friend.
"What are you doing, mi amiga?"
I dried my hands on the napkin and dusted my clothes. "Cooking."
She huffed and looked at me with a stupid expression. "I can see that. Very clearly." She sniffed the air once. "So I'll ask again, slowly this time. What. Are. You. Doing?"
I rolled my eyes. "You mean why am I still here in the kitchen instead of rushing to work?" Her blank look made me scoff. "It's your fault anyways."
She yawned and walked to the fridge. "It's fucking too early to be drunk. Besides you're going to work, why did you even drink?"
Trust Nelly to say the most annoying things without batting an eye. "Mikayla is tired of takeouts and sadly for her, aunt Lee doesn't know how to cook."
She shrugged nonchalantly. "So you're going to work late cos you're cooking for your daughter?" She nodded slowly and took a sip from the OJ she just opened. "Just two days with Kayla and you're already set to lose your job? That's disgustingly sweet."
I grimaced as I put my feet in my stiletto shoes. "I might have already lost it."
"Because you're going to come in late one day?" A sip. "I knew there was a reason I didn't want to work."
Fuck Nelly for always making me want to cough out my lungs in serious situations. "That's only cos you're lazy but that's not even the point. I didn't attend the swearing-in ceremony on Saturday. Actually, I didn't even remember. Like it totally escaped my mind. And the event was compulsory."
She chuckled at my anxious tone. "Shit, that's fucking crazy."
I was about to agree when something else came to mind that made me scowl. "I spent all weekend trying to stop Kayla from cursing cos someone won't stop teaching her."
She waved it off and crouched to look at the dish in the oven. "Oh, you're welcome. She's a really fast learner though, so I can't take all the credit."
I almost screamed in frustration. "I wasn't commending you for Christ's sake."
Nelly raised a brow. "You weren't?"
I glanced at my wristwatch and winced. 7:45am. There was no way I'd get to work by 8am. "Look, we're going to have a serious talk when I get back. For now, don't you dare curse around her." She gave me a bored look and I wanted to wring her neck. "I'll be back home early for dinner."
"Yeah, right. I've heard that particular line one too many times. You're definitely coming back by midnight."
I ran to the living room and grabbed my coat on the sofa. "Well, I'll surprise you tonight."
"I hate surprises." She called out from the kitchen and I replied just as I opened the door.
"Bummer."
I ran downstairs and drove like a psychopath. I raced past a couple red lights and was almost certain I'd get a ticket. That couldn't even bother me at the moment, not when I wasn't sure if I still had a job.
I was so screwed.