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After her shift, Aleyah ended up in an ice cream parlor. Alone and sad with an empty waffle cone. The girl couldn't even begin to fathom what she looked like to the workers. Slouched in her chair with forming eye bags and what could be assumed as a permanent frown, she could only imagine what they thought of her.
Nonetheless, she wasn't able to bring herself to fix her appearance. Her mind was still fixated on the interaction between her and the Bellingham boy, or rather, the lack of it.
During his time at the restaurant, he hadn't even seemed to care about their awkward interaction, the whole time enamored by his date, whose snide glances made Aleyah want to slap her all the times she attended to their table, barely even sparing a glance at her other than to order.
The disappointment clawed at her insides. The worst part was the fact that she couldn't tell where it was aimed at; Jude for giving up on his pursuit to gain her affection or herself for feeling so hung up on a guy she barely knows despite having so many more important issues to be worried about.
But the girl didn't fault herself for her feelings, though. It had been more than a while since she'd had some semblance of romance in her life, much less from someone like Jude. Aleyah did, however, blame herself for rejecting the boy's advances, lying to herself that she didn't want whatever he had to offer.
So with that in mind, the girl sat in the corner booth of the tiny shop, staring at her now soggy waffle cone, frowning at its poor attempt to cheer her up. Aleyah was there for a while, knowing that once she left the shop, she'd have to forget about this event and focus on her real-world problems.
Once she saw the only remaining employee begin the routine to close up, she knew her time to feel like a normal teenager had run out.
On her long walk home, she managed to push away all thoughts of the tall boy, welcoming back the worries of her life. Her newest challenge being August's birthday.
The young boy had recently managed to master the complexity of dates, and so he was aware of his upcoming day. A day that Aleyah both adored and dreaded. She loved that her brother was growing up, a result of her doing somewhat of a decent job at raising him, but she also hated the pending wave of disappointment that would bestow upon him when he realized the day wouldn't be as special as he'd imagined.
She mentally took notes of lost cost to free experiences she could take him on as she entered her small home. Lucas was more than comfortably asleep on the sofa as Aleyah passed through the living room to August's room.
Once she was sure the little boy was safe and sound asleep, she trudged back to the main room and headed for her corner of privacy, where she was quick to unwind and pass out.
