NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 16
I know I don't have the best relationship with my mother (I make it sooooo hard to figure out I know) but, a mom helping their daughter sneak her and her friends out as they so please!?! That was crazy.
If I think about it though the only other mother I knew was Marianne's mom. Even though she doted on Marianne and gave her far more freedom than me I really doubted she would do this. And she was an older, upper middle class, white woman! Pretty sure that's the highest tier when it comes to doting mothers.
Of course, I saw mom's on TV but I didn't pay any attention to them. Or at least I tried not to.
...Basically, I was surprised. Hope you got that.
"What's up, Sara. How's the office?" Yuka asked excitedly.
"Boring as usual." The office worker complained in a raspy voice that was surprisingly higher than Yuka's.
"Who's the guest? A new friend or...something else." Sara teased.
Does she know? (About Yuka being a lesbian, obviously.)
I corrected her. "I'm just Yuka's friend. My name's Jocelyn."
The sporty girl nodded in agreement.
"Nice to meet you, Jocelyn. I'm guessing Yuka didn't bring you here for tea."
"Nope. I want to sneak out." I decided to just be upfront about it.
Sara laughed. "I could've just been an office worker Yuka was acquainted with but you still went on and asked."
She looked me in the eyes. "You're an interesting girl."
"You're interesting yourself. With all these...figures." I said, successfully holding myself back from saying pieces of junk.
"You don't like my Star Wars Pop?" Sara asked, gesturing towards them.
"I just think Pop are nerdy. That's all."
"What's wrong with being a little nerdy?"
Knowing it was Yuka's mom I wanted to be nice initially but I was too deep into the conversation to filter myself. Plus I hated Pop Figures. "Well I just think your style is cool. It feels like a waste to pair that with such a nerdy hobby."
Sara raised her left eyebrow. She then looked at Yuka who had a surprised expression.
Oh god. It's like when I remet Emma. Yuka can't take me anywhere.
Yuka's mom then threw her head back and burst out laughing.
Huh?
Once she stopped laughing she looked at her daughter. "Goodness, you sure befriend some characters, Yuka. What a first impression."
"Well you know me..." Yuka said, sounding a little embarrassed.
The office worker looked at me. "I like bluntness. It makes things fun but, enough about introductions and Pops'. You wanted to leave right?"
"Yeah. I'm not going too far." I affirmed.
"Great. We need to hurry since a coworker will come in about 10 minutes to pick up her yogurt that she left the fridge." She explained as she grabbed a yellow slip from a drawer. Her mood seemed to change mid-sentence.
This coworker must comeback often.
The office worker set the slip in front of her on the desk. She grabbed a large stamp that was by her huge keyboard and stamped the slip. She then grabbed a pen from a cup and put the slip and the pen towards us.
"Here. Forge one of your parent's signatures in the box on the bottom."
"Oh...ok" I said surprised. I stepped towards her desk.
'This is something I'm an expert in.' I say as I push up my non-existent glasses...Just now realizing that barely anyone here wears glasses. If Hayley went here she would be lonely.
...Ugh.
I took the slip and started forging my mother's signature. While forging Sara gave me more instructions. "You're going to show that to the officer at the checkpoint a little down the road."
Once I finished. I looked up at her. "Got it."
"Now, hurry and go before Julie comes and catches you in here without your parent."
"Alright...thanks." I awkwardly said.
Sara smiled. "No problem."
"Bye, Sara." Yuka chirped from beside me.
"Not so fast. We need to talk about the dinner next weekend." Sara said as she crossed her arms.
"Right..." Yuka murmured.
"Well let me just walk Jocelyn out the building. I'll be back." The sporty girl promised.
"Alright. Be quick. Remember Julie." Yuka's mom said pointing at Yuka with her pen.
"Yep. Let's go, Jocelyn." Yuka as she turned her head towards me.
I nodded and looked at Sara sitting in front of us, her Pop figures positioned to galavantly protect her from a raise.
"Bye, Sara." I said.
"Bye." The office worker said and went back to her computer.
We turned around and made our way through the office. Halfway through I heard Sara murmur. "I am not in the mood to hear about her husband for the eighth time in a row."
We left the office and then the school. The sky was dark and grey but I was free...for how long?
"Hey, is there a certain time I'm supposed to be back?" I asked the sporty girl standing beside me. She didn't look as excited as when she entered the office.
Maybe the dinner?
She looked at me "Yeah. Just get back by 7pm since that's thirty minutes before she gets off."
"Will do."
I looked at the yellow slip that was in my left hand.
"I'm surprised it was so easy to get this."
"She says she doesn't get paid enough to care but, I think it's because she understands us. Sara didn't have a good relationship with her parents growing up thanks to her style and who she hung around." Yuka explained.
It was nice to know I wasn't the only one here with parental problems. Maybe Yuka's mom was trying to break the cycle with Yuka. Yuka seemed to admire her so it must've been working.
"Your moms a good person, Yuka." I decided.
The Adidas-loving girl now had her mischievous grin back on her face.
"She is and she's actually my aunt."