Chapter 7: Late for Work

Aurora’s P.O.V

Every day, I would fetch my brother from school and drop him off at home, or with our next door neighbors, depending on how long my shift for the day was, before I headed to work.

But today, thanks to that whole situation with Mr. Hemming, I wasn’t able to pick Riley up on time, and so the only option that had been available to me…hadn't been the most favorable one.

“Sorry I’m late buddy,” I huffed, breathless after running toward the gate, where he was waiting patiently for me patiently, his big blue eyes wide with curiosity.

“It’s okay,” Riley smiled, peering up at me. “Did something happen?”

There was no way I was going to tell him about my math teacher, so I shook my head and gave him my best smile. “Nah,” I said, patting his head lightly. “I just had to finish some schoolwork, that’s all.”

“Oh,” Riley nodded, grabbing the straps of his back as he walked beside me slowly.

But when I glanced at the time on my phone, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to drop him off before I went to work.

“Riley,” I said, a bit hesitantly. “I’d have to take you to the restaurant with me, since I’m already late today. That okay with you, buddy?”

I thought that he’d want to go home immediately and rest after a long day, but his eyes sparkled with happiness instead.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “I want to go to the restaurant! Uncle Jerry is really nice and he gives me snacks too!”

I laughed a little, stroking his hair and then I took his hand as we began to walk towards the restaurant. “Is that so? That’s really nice of Uncle Jerry, so remember to thank him when he does.” I told him. “Now, tell me…how was your day? Didn’t you watch a movie today? Finding Nemo?”

Because of our father, Riley grew up to be timid and somewhat inexpressive. He learned the hard way to keep his emotions to himself for fear of being targeted by our father. But I had always done my best to keep him safe, and so he was a bit more comfortable sharing his thoughts with me.

Today, he let me in on his excitement. In his usual quiet voice, he launched into a spiral about how cool the movie with the talking fishes was.

“Not only that, there were also talking birds,” he added.

I happily listened to him talk, but there was a sharp pang of sadness in my chest. I hated that it was his first time seeing such a movie, when every other kid his age must have already seen hundreds.

“But my classmates weren’t so interested in the movie,” he mused, lightly kicking away the pebble in front of his foot as we walked. “Some of them were sleeping.”

The ache in my heart turned into a full-on throb. I couldn’t tell him that it was because they had probably already seen it a bunch of times; so instead, I tried to reassure him about it in a different way.

“They must have been really tired, if they slept through a movie full of talking fish!”

“Yeah,” he said, sounding a bit unsure. “Maybe.”

The rest of the walk to the diner was silent, and I hated knowing that it was because of our earlier conversation that resulted in his diminishing excitement.

What’s worse was that as soon as I entered the doors with Riley in tow, Jeremy, the manager and the owner, took one look at my brother and frowned at me. “And why is this little runt here today?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

Usually, Jeremy, or better known to Riley as Uncle Jerry, was a man of very little patience and colorful words, but he wasn’t a bad person. He just didn’t like to have a little kid at his restaurant while he practiced his Sailor’s tongue on his employees.

“I’m so sorry about this, Sir,” I said, forcing the corners of my lips upward in an attempt to smile. I was basically asking him for a favor; I was in no position to be unpleasant.

“And why is he here?” he demanded, placing his hands on his hips. “Is he going to work for me? I don’t remember expecting new recruits.”

“I didn’t have the time to bring him home before my shift, sir,” I said in what I hoped was a pleading voice. Please, please, let this pass. “Can he please stay here today? He’ll just sit by the corner quietly and won’t cause any trouble, I promise.”

“He will only be a distraction for you and everyone else working this shift,” he sighed.

“I’m sorry, sir,” I bowed my head, nervousness creeping into my gut. “I know it’s not appropriate but…I had no choice.”

Jeremy sighed, and from the look on his face, I thought he would forcibly remove my brother from the premises, but instead, he rolled his eyes and waved a dismissive hand. “I’ll let it pass. Only for today, you hear me? Just don’t make it a damn habit.”

Despite myself, I couldn’t contain my relieved smile. “Really? Oh, thank you, sir!” He merely waved again, so I took that as a sign that I was dismissed, so I went to the back, still holding Rylie’s hand, and set him down on a stool.

“Stay here,” I told him earnestly. “Careful; don’t touch anything.”

“Okay,” Riley said, swinging his feet back and forth from where he sat, as his eyes eagerly scanned the scene all around him.

After putting my own backpack away, I took off my hoodie and put on my apron, turning to my brother once last time before I started my shift.

“I’ll be back,” I told him, “be a good kid, alright?” I knew I didn’t really have to remind Riley, since he was timid and shy, but when Jeremy came towards him with a bowl, I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.

“You know how to peel peas, kid?” Jeremy asked in his stern voice, and when Riley nodded enthusiastically, Jeremy handed him the bowl with the peas and a side of a sandwich, and I was glad to see Riley immediately get to work.

Happy that Jeremy wasn’t scolding or getting annoyed by Riley, I went to work, serving customer after customer, being at their beck and call as they enjoyed their meal and cleaning up after they left. My shift went on without any incident, and as I expected, Riley was well-behaved and actually managed to peel a lot of the peas out of their pods.

It was almost eight in the evening and the diner was winding down as the usual customers left one by one. So far, I had only received three dollars as tip money and that too with all the tiny change that was thrown my way out of pity.

But it wasn’t nearly enough for me to take care of household expenses for the next two days. So I hoped and prayed that I could at least get another ten or even a five, so that I could buy some produce to make breakfast and have lunch for the next two days.

As I wiped the tables clean, I still felt content that after a day’s hard work, at least dinner would be nice since I already saw that there was some leftover pasta in the fridge and it was very much possible that I would get to take it home with me tonight.

But it seems like I had spoken too soon, because just as I thought my shift was about to end nicely today…much to my horror, I noticed a group of familiar people outside the glass doors, walking toward the diner.

And it was none other than Caleb and his group of friends!