Just Like This (Lloyd Garmadon x Reader)

Episode 3

After the fight that I got caught up in, things stayed mostly quiet, which while appreciated, meant life was back to the same old boring grind every day. My hand started to feel better about 3 days later, and now, 3 weeks since the fight, it was almost completely better. It didn't hurt anymore, but my body still had to finish clearing the bruise out. 

Still, even with it, things were business as usual. Get the kids to school, sleep, pick kids up, work, repeat. Nothing had changed. 

Actually, that wasn't quite true. 

Ever since I ran into him at the store, Lloyd and I had been texting back and forth quite a bit. It was a bit sporadic, since his schedule seemed to be about as crazy as mine. Apparently he worked as on call security . I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but I assumed he basically worked at different places as needed. Either way, we both were awake and asleep at weird times of the day, so it worked out. 

Strange, how I managed to run into someone my age who had just a small understanding of what it was like to live the way I did. Sure he wasn't raising three kids, but that was a bit usual for ANYONE, let alone an 18 or 19 year old. 

He kept checking up on my hand, and I guessed it must have bothered him a lot more than he'd let on, so I made sure to let him know it was alright. 

We hadn't gotten to meet up in person, since we both had busy schedules, but it was nice to at least have something that felt like a friend. It put a smile on my face. 

It was around 1 am on Friday Night, and as always, I was at work at the bar. I only worked at the bar on Fridays usually, so I was there a little later, but I got to get a few minutes more sleep on Saturday, though I also had to get up earlier. 

I could feel my throat getting tired after nearly 2 hours of non-stop performing, so I waved to the boss and pointed to the back. He just nodded and I went to take a break. I needed some water, and a moment to rest my vocal chords. It had nothing to do with the fact that I felt my phone vibrate a couple of times. Nope. 

~hows wrk?

I smiled, not even realizing it, and began typing. I let him know how the night was going, and that I hoped his work was going good as well. It was boring according to him. We went on a little longer than we probably should have, but it was nice. 

~we should hang out sometime when u have time off 

I paused, a vacant expression taking over as I tried to figure out what to say. I literally never stop working. I don't take nights off. Ever. I don't like asking, because my bosses know how much I need money, and if I take off time, it might look like I don't need it anymore. 

But if I didn't get to actually talk to people my age more, I might lose my mind. 

"[Y/N]." My skin crawled as I heard my boss call my name, having slipped into the back room without me noticing. "You okay?" 

I closed my phone, not wanting him to see my messages. It wasn't like I wasn't allowed to be on my phone while I took a break, but I hadn't exactly told anyone about Lloyd. Not even my siblings. "Oh I'm fine." "You sure? You seem out of it. The kids okay?" 

"They're fine Mr. Tsuki. I'm just....trying to figure out what to say to a friend." He peaked an eyebrow at me, clearly intrigued. "Friend huh? You always tell me you don't have any friends." I just shrugged, not sure of what to say. "Well? What are you trying to tell them?" What was I supposed to tell him? I mean technically I could just make up some basic excuse not to tell him, but Mr. Tsuki had been so good to me over the past two years. He was like family. 

"They wanted to hang out, but I'm not quite sure how to explain my schedule....situation." He knew exactly what I meant and sat down next to me. "So you've made a new friend, but haven't explained that you're basically a single mother of four." His side eyes said it all. He knew what was up. He knew how I felt about asking for time off.