It's a Small Town✔️

Chapter 28

"Hand me some quarters" I put my hand out and Lily cheerfully gives me the quarters before going back to the washer. I shoved them in my pocket, going to my basket of clothes.

The baby in the basket giggles and I pick her up before setting her back onto the ground. She wobbles over and grabs my leg and I rub her head lightly making sure it didn't hurt. She seemed to be getting better and wasn't as dazed.

I start to throw the clothes in the wash, checking the girl who was dancing around my leg. Once all the clothes were shoved in, I shut the door and paid my amount in quarters.

Lily was sitting on a bench her earbuds plugged in as she nodded her head to the tune. I grab my basket and hold the baby's hand walking over to Lily. We had a pretty long wait, but it needed to be done.

I sit her down on the bench and plug my own earbuds in, before hanging them over her ears. I turn the volume up quite a lot before going to YouTube, playing Yo Gabba Gabba one of her favorites at the moment.

She gasps as I stand back up and look around the room. The laundry mat was the last building in town right before the next town over or the freeway. So there was always the chance to find and scout out new people that didn't actually suck.

Before I knew it, Lily was people watching with me. I had one if her earbuds in and we were listing to her punk rock as we watched the doors open and close, people entering and leaving.

I nudge Lily as a pretty brunette walks in. Her long hair was pulled back with two beige barrettes. She had big round glasses and overall I loved her soft style. She had a small bag with her which I'm assuming was her clothes.

Lily stared and her smile soon turned into a smirk. "Me likey" she whispers watching the girl walk over to a washer. "Go get some" I whisper and she shakes her head. "I'll watch, for now, wait for the perfect moment" she hums and I nod letting Lily do her thing.

I looked back to my sister who was halfway through her episode smiling wide. I go back to watching the girl as she flattens her skirt before squatting down to grab her bag again.

She throws her clothes into the washer and I suddenly felt bad and looked away as I realized it was mostly undergarments. Lily on the other hand was leaning closer and biting her lip. "You're awful" I roll my eyes and she nods.

"I'm so getting some of that" she groans watching the girl dig into her sweater pocket. She inserts three quarters before stopping. She searches the ground and pockets before rubbing her temple irritated.

"It's my time to shine" Lily hums standing from her spot and walking over to the machine. Her platforms really gave her the extra height and she had the literal opposite aesthetic. Black, skulls, vibrant dyed hair. I mean she was beautiful and she made it work.

Lily reaches over the girl and puts one of our quarters in making the machine startup. I wrap my arm around my sister to make sure she's still there as I watch the soft girl turn back to Lily.

"Thank you miss" she smiles widely and Lily nods looking down at her with a smirk. "You're welcome cutie" I roll my eyes at her flirting. It seemed to work somehow though because the girl's cheeks were red as she pulled at a strand of her hair.

I think Lily could tell she didn't know what to say so she started talking again. "My name is Lily, care to tell me yours?" She asks her eyes looking the girl up and down. "Shea" she answers pretty confident.

"Well Shea, I haven't seen you around, so either you're new in town or don't live in town" she assumes, wanting to know how far away the girl lived.

"I live a few minutes from here- in the town over" Shea admits shyly and I purse my lips at the news. Looks like Lily's getting some action. "Well does a pretty girl like yourself have a partner?" Lily starts back up again and I stop staring, just listening.

"Oh- um no" she giggles and I look up to see my best friend's reaction. I swear the girl was practically on her. Her hand was on the girl's arm, and her other one was playing with her long hair. Lily goes down to her ear and starts to whisper something and I watch the girl's face go bright red. She nods shyly and my flirty friend puts a hand on her waist before taking out her phone.

They quickly exchange numbers before she walks back over to me. "So that was interesting" I laugh and she nods biting her lip. "She'll be over when she's done" she whispers and I go wide-eyed. "I can't wait to-" I quickly cover her mouth with my hand.

"Baby sister here" I remind her putting the next episode of Yo Gabba Gabba on. "So... Evelyn and I are going to go to the park" I give her a thumbs up. "I mean we could just stay quiet" she suggests and I quickly disagree with that.

"We're good" I hum looking over to the girl. She was staring back and quickly looked away when I caught her staring. "I think she likes you" I whisper not looking at Lily. "Well yeah, she agreed to come over and let me-" I once again cover her perverted mouth.

"No, I think you should actually go for it- like a date?" I laugh and she looks at me nervously. "You know I don't do relationships" she grumbles and I sigh. "Well, this one could be different" I suggest. She bites her lip thinking about it.

"I don't like getting hurt- so if I don't let them in they can't hurt me" she shrugs but her eyes flicker over to the girl. I smile when they both make eye contact. Lily winks and the girl whips her head back around.

"Please, if it doesn't end well I'll pay for the therapy" I joke... kinda. The baby crawls into my lap and I wrap my arm around her, rubbing her little tummy. "I'll think about it, I know there isn't going to be any other good guys or gals here" she laughs and I nod quickly.

"So do you seriously want me to drop you guys off at the park?" She asks and I nod. "Yeah, why not, I'm sure Evie would enjoy it" I chuckle and she nods before the buzzing of the washer startles her.

She quickly stands and starts to unload them as I get ready to move my clothes as well. I had only done mine a few minutes after. I clutch the baby to me before letting her slide down my body as the buzzer for the machine ring.

I start moving clothes over to the dryer doing the same thing all over again using the rest of the quarters given to me. Taking the baby with me I go back to our little bench holding her in my lap.

She shouldn't need any more medicine for a few more hours and Lily won't last that long... hopefully. I look over to Lily and don't find her so I immediately go over to... Shea, I think that was her name.

Lily had already made her way over there again. Flirting with the girl, keeping her excited. I think she might have been taking my advice seriously because she was actually listening to what Shea said in return instead of immediately getting into the sex talk.

"Pay? Pay?" Evelyn asked grabbing my shirt. I rub my hand over her hair lightly. I didn't know when I could stop being so careful with her head. I did know I would be scared of hurting her for a long while.

"We got another forty minutes, but then we're out of here!" I coo and she smiles laying against me. "Do you want to watch something?" I ask and she stands in my lap. "No please" she whispers turning her head to rest her cheek on my shoulder.

"You want to rest before we play?" I question her and she nods gripping onto my shirt with her tiny hands. She just wanted to be held and she knew sleeping made things go by faster.

So I stand putting my phone with the earbuds back into my pocket. Bouncing her lightly I put an arm under her butt and the other on her back keeping her on my chest.

"Goodnight love," I say soft words trying to ease her back to sleep. I walked around the nearly empty laundry mat just rocking us back and forth.

"I'll be here when you wake up"