[Note: This is just the first part. I felt like posting something!]
Mom told me that since dad died that I would have to go stay at my uncle’s bakery while she was at work. At first, I didn’t want to do this. Honestly, who stays at a bakery all day? Sure, free pie and stuff but other than that, wouldn’t I get bored? Besides, I’m on summer break! I should be out playing kick ball with my friends, going to movies, swimming, you know summer like activities.
Mom’s not the type of person to argue with, so I held my objections in and gave her a smile and a slightly suspicious “Sure thing Mom!”
Uncle’s bakery is not all that famous. He barely opened it about a year ago. Sure, it has customers that come on almost a weekly basis and even those who come on more than one day a week. I don’t see how someone could stand to eat sweets as much as some of my Uncle’s customers did! I mean, I’d get sick. My stomach can’t handle sweets all that well. I never had a taste for sweets. Most people tell me that I am weird. I like to respond “Maybe you’re the weird one” and then both of us end up laughing. In the end, I’d admit to being weird because most eighteen year olds liked sweets and disliked being outdoors as much as I wanted to be outdoors.
“Hi Ashley!” My Uncle ran up with a smile, “Are you ready to see what being a baker is like?”
I wanted to say ‘not really’ but I had a feeling that would ruin my Uncle’s mood “Sure thing Uncle Mat!” His name’s pretty ironic. My Uncle wasn’t one to say no to a person, so people tended to walk all over him. It’s sad really, but my Uncle still smiles no matter what. I admire that and actually see my uncle as somewhat of a role model. My mom thinks this is stupid. She finds my uncle (he’s my uncle from my father’s side) to be a dreamer who doesn’t put his dreams into work. I disagree with her because this bakery is actually the result of one of his bigger dreams.
Uncle Mat took me to the back of the bakery to show me around. The first thing I noticed was how crowded the back was. I remember seeing on TV that bakery’s usually had really big ovens and tables with plenty of room to work. Almost like one of those fancy sit down restaurants, but uncle’s bakery had a very crowded back with filing cabinets and a large table.
“Silly, this isn’t where I make the bread and stuff! That’s all done upstairs.” My uncle had a habit of making me laugh just by the expressions on his face, “This is actually where I interview potential workers and the local teens hang out. Actually, I should say the teens that have nothing to do. This isn’t very many.”
“Those teens must be very bored.” I laughed trying to pretend I wasn’t going to end up as one of these teens despite a gut feeling I would.
“Speak for yourself,” I heard someone laugh, “I just like to come here to use the free Wi-Fi.” I heard a small slamming noise. When I turned around I was greeted by a smile from a brown haired guy who looked not that much older than me, “So you’re this Ashley I was told would be coming here for a while. I’m Michael, but most people call me Mike or Al. I prefer Mike, Al makes me feel old.”
“Ashley, Mike usually works for me when I need the help. He likes to say this is the only reason he comes here as much as he does. It’s not the Wi-Fi.” Uncle whispered in my ear. “Well, there’s not much more to show you and I have to start baking. You two don’t do anything stupid behind my back!”
I watched as Uncle walked off. For some reason, I got nervous after he left. Weird, I know!
“So,” Mike began, “You’re Mat’s niece, must be nice having such an awesome uncle as him.”
“He doesn’t really feel like my uncle, to be honest. My mom’s not a big fan of his, so when my dad was…” my eyes started to get a little watery, but I tried to hide this, “Alive and wanted to go see his brother my mom would come up with some excuse for us to not go see him.”
“That’s weird,” Mike laughed, “Most people love Mat! He’s like a father to me. I usually have nowhere to go after school since my dad has work so late, so Mat said I could hang out here. I like to say ‘good thing I have this laptop then!’”
Mike gave me a really big smile at this point. My heart skipped a little and I could feel my face getting a little hot. I quickly turned around hoping that Mike didn’t see my face get a stupid shade of red. How can this be happening? I just met Mike, and he’s already making me want to smile like a silly child. I’m supposed to be all depressed about being here and dad being gone, but I can’t seem to stay that way.
“You ok?” Mike asked a little while after I turned around, “Need me to go get Mat?”
“No, I’m fine.” I sat down telling myself don’t blush. “So, how often do you come here?”
“Not as often as you may think. He probably told you that teens like to hang out here, but that’s really not true. I actually only come here a few days out of the week because other days I usually stay at school for some club or something else. Even during summer breaks like today I find something to do. By the way, what school do you go to?”
“I just graduated a few weeks ago.”
“Oh, you don’t look old enough to be a high school graduate. What are you, 16?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Mike had a super serious face on like he was sure I was 16 years old. I almost didn’t have the heart to say “No, I’m 18!” but I couldn’t lead him on that I was some 16 year old.
“Wow, really.” Mike laughed, “Well… I’m graduating this next year. I’m really ready to be out of high school and on my own. It looks like a wonderful life not having parents worrying about you, but the only down side is having to work. Do you work?”
“Used to, but Mom got paranoid about where I was working and told me to quit.”
“Where were you working? That’s a little strange though.”
“I was working at a gas station. My mom got paranoid because a different gas station got robbed and she thought that the one I was working at would be next. I guess she has good reason to worry, but she also doesn’t want me to work at all right now. That makes getting my own place difficult.”
“Maybe Mat will hire you… never mind. I have a feeling your mom would object to you working here more than any place. Hmm… but I wonder why she’d let you stay here while she’s at work. Couldn’t you just stay at home or something? It’s not like you’re some kid who needs to be babysat.”
“It’s not really about being ‘babysat’ but more so protected.” It was hard saying ‘protected’.
“Oh…” Mike got a bit quiet, “I have a feeling I’m getting into something you don’t want to tell a stranger.”
“Nah, it’s fine,” He was being considerate I thought, “My Dad was killed by some drive by shooting at our house. My mom is currently looking for a house in a gated community.”
Mike and I didn’t exchange many more words after that. It was as if “drive by shooting” was a catalyst for not talking. The rest of that day Mike showed me some of his favorite YouTube videos and even some of his favorite anime.
I know!? I found out Mike liked anime just like I did. That was a super cool discovery and one of the few things I learned about Mike that day.
A few days passed with no Mike. It was very lonely feelings despite my only having seen Mike once. Maybe I felt this lonely because I was the only one in that back room. It gave me plenty of time to go back into my depressed shell, and to even think about Dad.
I remember there was this one day at the park that had some big impact on my feelings towards my Dad that made me like him more than my mom. Mom wasn’t one to let me do crazy things kids had the need to do, but dad always let me. If I wanted to crawl a top monkey bars, he’d let me even if it looked like I would fall.
“Careful Ashley!” My dad shouted as he walked over to the monkey bars, “We don’t want to go home with evidence that you were doing this now do we?”
I giggled at my dad’s silly face, but then I noticed I was losing my balance. Dad lifted his arms out to catch me. The impact of my fall knocked us both to the ground. We laid in the grass giggling for a small while.
I don’t think I ever laughed that hard with Mom, nor the kids on the block. Not even my own friends. Dad became my best friend that day. If I had the choice to spend time with him, my friends or my mom, Dad was usually the one I choose.
I bet you can imagine how hard it is for me to look at anyone with a dad now, but for some reason I could easily look and laugh with Mike almost as much as I could with my own dad. I found this very suspicious and weird.
I better not be some heart stricken maiden now. That’s too creepy and icky!
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