Intertwined souls ; a.irwin

"We will stumble through heaven"

"Ava, I don't think you should do this".
"Mom, I want to save up money for college, you know how expensive it is and I'm sure it'll help us out", I protested.
"Ava, I feel like you should really be focusing on your exams right now, getting a job is just another distraction you certainly don't need at the moment. Plus, you're graduating next year, maybe we'll have enough money by then to send you off to New York", my mom said trying to prove her point.
"Be realistic for a second and tell me the truth, would me getting a job help us pay for my education and therefore make it easier for you to pay rent and taxes with the income we already have? Be honest".

My mother zoned out for a minute or two. Exhaustion covering her features, it being the most noticeable thing she showed the outside world. The dark circles taking over the area below her tired eyes proved my point. She gave me a look in which she hid any possible emotion she could have been feeling and then shot me a smile. It wasn't warm nor kind, it was emotionless.

"Fine, go find a job. You'll quit a week later anyways".

She then proceeded to walk over to her room whilst humming a tune she had heard in the radio earlier that day and slammed her door loud enough for me to sense she was mad. Her last reaction obviously led me to think she wasn't liking the idea of me working at 16 but I knew it'd be extremely beneficial for both of us so I pretended like I hadn't heard her and went about my day.

I was holding my cup of green tea on my left hand whilst getting a hold of the local newspaper on my right one when an ad caught my attention. The coffee shop down the road named "Wanderlust" was looking for new employees who would be willing to work as both, baristas and cashiers (for the bookstore part of the shop). They were in urgent need of staff and the job seemed perfect for me.

I kept staring at the page even when my mom walked in on me and started reading behind my back.

"Should I go for it?", I asked as I was turning to look at her.

"Ava...", she irritatedly responded.

"It's just perfect for me; I get to prepare coffee and recommend books to people, that's like the definition of my dream job...", I said whilst ignoring her comment.

"It does sound fun", she paused for a moment to look at the ad more in depth and released her final statement: "The timetable is great, you'd get a reasonable salary...sure, go for it honey".

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, why not?"

Pleasantly surprised by her unexpected kindness I ran up to hug her as I whispered in her ear I would make the most of this wonderful opportunity. She hurried me to go upstairs and change so she could drive me to my potential work place.