Senior Year

♡ seventeen ♡

"Hey Kennedy! How are you doing today?" Lilah asked as I opened the door at work, the noise the bell lingering longer than it felt like it should have.

"I'm doing alright," I sighed, dropping my bag behind the checkout counter.

Lilah frowned, "What's going on? You seem more than just tired today."

"The past week has been an absolute whirlwind with both Noah and school, Noah isn't sleeping well and is extra fussy and we think he might have started teething and on top of that kids and teachers at school have been less than pleasant to me, but I'm trying to not let it get to be and focus on the positives in life for myself and my family," I informed her, leaning my backside against the counter.

"I know what that's like," she comforted me, "everyone treats you like you're below them, but they treat your boyfriend like he's on top of the world."

I nodded in agreement, "Exactly! I'm glad somebody understands!"

She gave me a soft smile and rubbed my arm, "I promise you that it gets better, it truly does. It may take some time, but eventually they'll realize that they're in the wrong."

"I doesn't feel like it's going to get better though," I confessed.

She frowned and pulled me into a hug, "I know everything is all still so new to you in this whole crazy world of parenting, but eventually people stop caring and staring and they let you live your life in peace. At the beginning it feels like it will be neverending, but from personal experience, I can confirm it gets better."

I gave her a squeeze before pulling away from her embrace, "That is something that I really needed to hear right now, thank you, Lilah."

She nodded before stepping away to grab something from under the counter. "I'll cover the counter, why don't you clear your mind and take inventory of the stuff on this list?" She asked.

I took the list from her as I nodded and I headed off into the store to do some inventory. Counting the different number of baby booties and bibs helped to take my mind off of school, and helped me begin to allow my mind to process the events and think of solutions to the problems.

"Excuse me?" A younger lady asked, looking directly at me.

I shook my head to pull myself out of my thoughts, "Hi, sorry, how can I help you?" I asked.

"I was just wondering if you had this onesie in a three to six month size somewhere?" The lady asked me, holding up an adorable onesie with a monkey on it.

"Yeah, I can go check for you!" I informed her before heading to the back. I was able to locate the onesie she was looking for and grabbed a few in that size since there were none left on the shelf. I headed back out to the floor and found the lady exactly where I had left her.

"Here you go," I smiled, handing one of the outfits in my hand over to her.

"Thank you so much! It's just so sweet and I had to get it for my son, he's almost three months old, but he's been fitting into this size for a few weeks now," She chuckled.

"I completely understand, my son is the same, he's a chunky little dude. We always joke that it's because he was overdue," I informed her.

"How sweet! How old is he?" She asked.

"He's almost four months old."

"Not to sound weird or anything, but you should join this group I'm in for new moms that are young, we get together every month and bring our kids," She offered.

"Thank you, but I'm sure I'm far younger than most of the other people there," I told her.

"Girlie, I'm twenty, and a couple of the girls are eighteen, trust me, you're not too young," She promised me as she fished around in her purse for something, "Here is my number in case you're interested, I'm Mariah."