Rough Patch

20

Tyler Joseph

Later on in the day, it was time to get Ellie from kindergarten. Jenna and I both got in the car and I drove off toward the school. I felt so good for the first time in years, I felt like myself. I was happily driving and enjoying the cool, winter air. 

We pull into the school and get into the car pool lane. I see the different teachers lined up along the sidewalk with walkie talkie's so they communicate with other teachers which student's parents were here. We pull up to the first teacher and Jenna rolls her window down. The teacher comes over and squats down. She looked like she was freezing even though she was wearing a thick coat, gloves, a scarf and hat. 

"Who are you here for?" She asks. 

"Ellie Joseph." I reply. The teacher clicks on her walkie talkie and says Ellie's name into it twice. 

"Thank you. Have a nice day." The teacher says. I give a small smile and pull forward. As I get closer I can see Ellie up ahead smiling when she saw me driving. I stop when I get up to the group of kids all standing together. Ellie knew the rule of not getting into the car until the teacher called her name so she stood there patiently smiling. 

"Who are you here for?" The teacher asks. 

"Ellie Joseph." I reply once again. The teacher turns around and says Ellie's name. Ellie smiles wide and comes running to the car with her back pack bouncing behind her. She opens the car door and jumps in. 

"Mommy! Daddy!" Ellie greets us. 

"Hi, El!" I say. 

"How was kindergarten today?" Jenna asks. 

"Good! We learned the letter's Q and U but I already know the alphabet." Ellie replied. 

"Well, you must be one smart little girl." I say.

"I am! My teacher told me!" 

"I'm so proud of you. And because I'm so proud, we are going to go to the coffee shop to get you a hot chocolate and a snack." I say. Jenna turns her head to me excitedly. She also loves the coffee shop we were going to. The one we all love is called Global Gallery Coffee Shop. It's a cute, small coffee shop that has really good drinks and food. 

I pull into a parking spot and Ellie gets out super excited and we walk inside to get a drink and snack. There was no line to order so we go right up to order.

"Hi! Welcome to Global Gallery what can I get you?" The cashier asks. 

"Hey, I will have the Homemade Chai and a blueberry scone." I order. 

"Hello! I'll take the Honey Bear Latte with a chocolate chip cookie." Jenna orders. Ellie walks up to the counter confidently to order her usual. 

"I will have a kids hot chocolate and a sugar cookie, please!" Ellie orders. The cashier gets our orders and I pay for our treats. We go and find a seat and wait for our order to be done. As we were sitting there, I heard someone behind me say my name. I turn around and there are two younger girls and they covered their mouths when I turned around. I gave a small wave and they waved back. I stood up and walked to them.

"I'm sorry. We didn't want to disturb you." One of the girls said.

"It's totally okay. What's your names?" I ask. 

"I'm Emily." The first girl says.

"I'm Sarah." The other girl said. 

"It's nice to meet you both." I smile. 

"It's nice to meet you too. We are both huge fans and went to so many of your concerts." Emily said. 

"Thank you for that. I appreciate it." 

"Well, we don't want to keep you from your family but before you go could we get a quick picture?" Emily asks.

"Of course. Jenna? Can you take our picture?" I ask. Jenna turns around and smiles. 

"Sure!" Jenna replied. She came over and greeted herself to the girls.

"It's so nice to meet you!" Both girls said. Jenna giggled. She loved getting noticed.

"Nice to meet you too!" Jenna blushed. Emily handed Jenna her phone and I posed with the two girls. It felt good to know that people still haven't forgotten about me which will make my writing process so much better. I said goodbye to the girls and gave them each a hug. They waved to Ellie and Ellie waved back. By the time the girls left our order was done so I grabbed it and went back to our table. 

"Who was that?" Ellie asked.

"Those were some girls who used to be a fan of my music." I reply. 

"They were nice." 

"Yes, they were." I couldn't stop smiling. I was more excited to write more music now. I just needed to contact my record label. My contract was still good with them so I can maybe have them help me get one of songs out there. I have one song almost completely done so maybe I can release the one song and see how people react. There was a lot to think about.

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We leave the coffee shop and head back home. Ellie was all hyped up on sugar and she was singing along to the radio. Jenna was laughing and recording Ellie on her phone. I looked over to Jenna and I looked in my rear view mirror to Ellie and I smiled. I really haven't felt think happy in so long and I'm so happy to have my life back. I just hope nothing sets me off track again.