Severing Ties (Book 2. Ties)

24. A Long Day

"Stop talking! We're never going to get this damn dance fixed if y'all keep gettin' distracted worse than my three year olds," I yelled at the top of my lungs.

Silence. It was Friday; I was tired, hungry, and frustrated. The level 5 teenagers were adjusting their dance that they would be taking to competition the following day, and they were fooling around. Once I gave them a piece of my mind, they shut up and helped me perfect the rest of the dance. We did not finish until 9:30 at night though. But, as soon as I finished teaching the dance, I left the space where they practiced and went to the office I shared with Eliana. I could feel the cheerleaders' eyes on my back as I walked away; they knew I was incredibly angry because I had left without saying my usual "good job, y'all." I did not care too much about what they had to say; I just wanted to get home to sleep before having to wake up for a strenuous Saturday.

The week had been trying at school. There were tests, research papers, and other homework assignments that took hours to finish. The sleep amount I had received that week had been minimal. To top it off, I had to make more food than usual because Lucius had been staying every day. If I was stressed out in one week, what would happen after the baby was born?

After Eliana reminded them the time we had to meet on Saturday morning, she had to leave right after practice, so I had to be the one to wait for the parents to pick up their children. Half of the class had their own cars, and the other ones were still too young to drive or their parents could not afford vehicles for them. The last person to be picked up left the gym at 10:05 p.m.

So there I was on the subway late at night listening to music on my phone with my head against the glass. There were not too many people in there, so we all sat scattered around in the empty seats. When my stop was nearing, I took off my earphones and placed them in the front pocket of my cross-body purse as I rose from my seat with one hand holding on to a metal bar. My body swayed with the abrupt stop of the car, then the doors opened, and I walked to the nearest ones. Before I could leave, there was a tap on my shoulder. It was a bit startling, since there was not a single person I knew personally that was riding the train that night.

I moved my head to get a better view of the person who had placed a hand on my shoulder. A man with a scruffy beard, a white shirt covered in paint, and a pair of jeans that matched the mess on his shirt held up a pair of earphones to me.

His brown eyes were framed with square, black glasses that were very contemporary. "These fell out of your purse," he said in his baritone voice, deep but not incredibly.

My hand reached inside the pocket I thought I had put the earphones in. "I guess I missed the pocket. Thank you." I reached for them and then exited the cart. The doors had almost shut before I was completely out. When I first began using the subway train for transportation, I did not know how quickly you had to get in or out. In response, one time I was too slow, ignorantly allowing a door to slide and bruise my arm. After that, I was never slow again.

There were people still walking around the streets of New York; the late hour did not matter. The further away I got from the stores and restaurants, the less and less amount of people there were. Yes, I was walking through a safe neighborhood, but it was 10:40, and I was a girl. I had power legs, but I could not ignore the fact that I was five feet and two inches and could easily get snatched. With my purse dangling on my side, I jogged the rest of the way home. It was a fifteen minute walk from the closest subway station to the residence I lived in. Moments like that urged the need to ask my mom for an automobile, but I did not want to ask for one.

I finally made it to my building and instantly relaxed once I was inside its walls. The elevator took me to my floor, and I was greeted with the sleeping forms of my mom in Lucius' arms laying on the couch. It was an oddly, nauseatingly, cute scene. Lucius stirred awake with the ding of the elevator. I was surprised he could wake up with such a distant noise.