let's light up the sky ☆

Chapter 14

I had another shift at the shop today, but this time I left early to take public transportation. Uncle Anthony would be picking me up at the end of my shift. Right now everyone was at the studio to make progress on their album while Dad was still in San Francisco. 

Aaron was nice enough to let me push back my start time so I wouldn't have to leave my house at 8 am just to be there. Rush hour bus traffic through downtown Glendale is never fun. At least it let me listen to as much music as I wanted and make up music video scenarios in my head.

A soft notification ding echoed through my headphones.

Cody 💙, 9:27 am: Good morning, beautiful 💘 have a good day down at the pier today.

I couldn't get over the little heart flutters I got whenever Cody would text me. It had only been two days since our first date. Although we haven't had time to hang out again, we've spent most of our time chatting over text and sending memes on Discord. It was pleasant how it was to have a conversation with him. He could start any conversation and make it fun.

Me, 9:28 am: I will, now that you said so 😘

Cody 💙, 9:29 am: What time do you start?

Me, 9:30 am: I was supposed to start at 10, but I have to take the bus today so Aaron was nice enough to let me start at 11:30 instead.

Cody 💙, 9:31 am: Aww, I wish I knew that! I would have come and picked you up.

Me, 9:33 am: fake frat boy voice Noooooo, don't take public transportation you're sooooo sexy ha ha ha.

Cody 💙, 9:34 am: You said it, not me lol

I had to put down our conversation to transfer to the metro e-line for the second leg of my trip. He excused himself because his mom called him down to do something for her anyway. I returned back to vibing with my music and continuing to watch the city go by.

As soon as I sat down on the metro for the 50 minute ride, I noticed a pair of beady eyes glaring at me. A baby, maybe not more than four months old, was staring me down from her stroller on the other side of the car. I'm never sure of what to do whenever there's a little kid staring at me. Do they think I'm pretty? Did I put on a weird color of lipstick? Do they want to fight?

"Hi," I cooed in a cutesy voice. Her mom noticed me trying to interact with her. She met me halfway by holding up her little arm and pretending to "wave" at me. At the feeling of her arm in the hair, we finally got a tiny giggle out of her. "See, I knew you weren't judging me."

They got off about two stops later. "Say 'bye bye,' Amelia," her mom said. The voice over the intercom announced that their station was coming.

"Amelia! My name is Anoush."

"Anoush, that's pretty. Have a good day, Anoush."

To be honest, I didn't think of myself as a "kid person" at all. When my uncles had their kids, I was still a kid myself so I was never put on babysitting duty. Sure, I thought they were cute and it was nice to have little interactions with them like that. But I couldn't imagine having one and not being able to give it back to someone. I like my alone time, you know? Maybe that'll change someday, but until then I'll just have fun making funny voices at babies out in public.

I got to the pier about fifteen minutes before my new shift time. "Hey," I mumbled to Aaron as I clocked in at the register when he had his back turned to me.

He flinched a bit. "Oh good, you're here. We were being killed earlier."

I looked around to the near-empty pier. "Sure you were."