His Safety Net

Chapter 42

Chapter 42

       As I was eating breakfast at the kitchen counter, Mom came down the stairs in her vet scrubs, about to head down to the clinic to start work. Since we had the day of school, I was going to do something else that could help me get a lot better.

       "Hey, Mom?" I asked. "Who's working at the counter today?"

       "Alan," Mom said. "Though he's whining about it. Said he would rather sleep in on a day off than work. Why?"

       "I... kind of want to try working at the desk," I said. "Learn how to greet people I don't know without acting all awkward."

       Mom smiled softly. "If that's something you want to do, then just tell Alan you're going to work at the desk. But also tell him to be on standby just in case it gets too much to you."

       "I'll go do that now," I said, quickly finishing what was left of my breakfast before heading upstairs. 

       I knocked on the door, and Alan groaning immediately followed after. By the sound of it, it seemed like he was still in bed, not even trying to get up to get ready for work. It was nice to have a family business because Mom and Dad were always downstairs if we needed them, but at the same time, it was hard for my siblings to get a day off unless they made plans weeks ago.

       They couldn't even fake being sick because Mom and Dad were experts at finding out if they were lying.

       I never really had to deal with the stress of being scheduled at the clinic. By the time I reached the working age, I was already struggling with my depression, anxiety, and self harm, so Mom and Dad never scheduled me in. They just told me I could help them out whenever I was feeling okay to do so.

       "I just want to sleeeeeeep," Alan said in a whiny voice.

       I opened the door and sure enough, Alan was still in bed, hiding under his blanket. "You can," I said. "Kind of. I want to try working at the desk today, and Mom is fine with it. She just said you have to be on standby just in case I get overwhelmed."

       Alan lifted the blanket off of his face so he could look at me. "So what I'm hearing is I can sleep in."

       "If you're prepared to know you might have to go work at the front dest at any time," I said.

       "Good enough for me," Alan said, pulling his blanket back up to him and settling comfortably in his bed.

       I wish I could be that comfortable right now, but I was trying my hardest to stay healthy, which means actually waking up early enough to have breakfast instead of just sleeping in until noon on the weekends or days I didn't have school.

       It was a huge problem for me when I was doing online school. I was able to learn easily, but that still wasn't a good thing for me to sleep in until noon, sometimes later, every single day.

       I left Alan's room and went to mine to get changed into my vet scrubs. I haven't worn them for a long time because they were short sleeved and I hated wearing things that didn't fully cover my arms. Now, I was a bit more confident doing so.

       Jerome was still asleep when I got into my bedroom. He... ended up going out drinking the night before and didn't come back until late at night, and he was extremely drunk when he did. Thankfully, my parents were very understanding about his situation and weren't mad or anything.

       As I was getting changed into my vet scrubs, Jerome ended up waking up, immediately saying in a groggy voice, "You look hot in whatever clothes those are."