All the Goldfish

Sunflower

Do you ever wish you could start your morning like people in commercials? Looking ravishing, no bed head or that tired look. A crisp morning with perfectly cooked eggs and bacon, maybe a waffle if you're feelin' fruity. Not even a crew of the best makeup artists could fix the hellish look I wake up with. It's honestly pitiful and my morning breakfast is burnt toast with try hard butter. My life couldn't be a commercial or movie if it took twenty years of acting lessons and "fixed" itself.

I looked in the mirror and shrugged before brushing my teeth and struggling to find clothes. See, I wasn't the ugliest person ever, but I wasn't a pretty sight either. I was average height and skinny, short hair with bangs. All I wore was a baggy shirt tucked into jeans, not to mention I totally half-ass tucking in my shirt. I make myself look extremely lazy, not a good look, I walked into my first interview like this and got hired. A girls got skill, honestly I don't know how I got the job, I suck at being social outside of talking to my mom. I work at a coffee shop called "Barligeo's coffee," I've been working there for three years and still haven't talked to ninety percent of my coworkers.

My mom knows literally everyone at my job, every barista and manager, she comes in after work to get coffee and a muffin. She sits and reads by the fireplace, it's nice though, she drives me home and we get to sing annoying songs. On a rare occasion a song we like comes on and we do the most awkward karaoke you'll ever see. Right now we were just in the car, radio off, just enjoying eachothers company on the way to my job. She sipped water and let out an exaggerated sigh. "I thought I trademarked that." I said looking out my window at the morning sky.

"What?" She looked at me puzzled.

"That's my thing, I do the dramatic sigh,the overexaggeration, can't just jack my style like that!"

"Too bad, I didn't see a label on it."

"Doesn't matter, it's my thing."

"Not anymore," she laughed, I rolled my eyes.

"Ugh, mom, you're ruining my fricken life," I said in a terrible impersonation.

"We should start a band!" She said looking over at me again, this look of pure excitement washed over her. Oh no, I thought, this should be good.

"Excuse me? Mother, are you out of your mind?" I scoffed with a skeptical expression creeping its way onto my face.

"No, we should start a band, bring back the good music!"

"And what would this band be called?"

"I don't know, hmmm...Strawberry of the Sterling," she smiled, I laughed.

"That's terrible, what do we sing?"

"We're like knockoffs of the Beatles or something ya know? We do rock while absolutely rocking some bright green tube socks and red high heels with leather jeans and a hot pink shirt with a jean jacket." I died of laughter at the thought of my mom wearing that, I would definitely never partake in that.

"Mom, no, never, that's absolutely and astonishingly terrible." I giggled and looked at her.

"No, that's absolutely legendary! We're the spice girls if they sung rock songs and we're ten times hotter!"

"You must be joking," I looked at her as she pulled into the parking lot. She shook her head and looked back at me.

"Not at all, we will rock this small-town so hard Mei, you're missing out on FAME!" She giggled and nudged me. I shook my head and got out before leaning down to peer through the window.

"You're a weirdo." I mouthed out, she smiled at me and waved and I waved back. I've never met anyone weirder than my own mother, somehow she just makes me cringe by saying the silliest things. Now I'm forever burdened with the thought of wearing tube socks and covering "Happy Together" by the Turtles.

I walked into the shop, the scent of coffee beans and vanilla floated through the air. Along followed cinnamon and all the delicious baked goods, my mouth watered. I was starving, burnt toast just wouldn't cut it. Sadly, my manager doesn't let us eat on the job and he's always walking around. I walked in the back to the kitchen and checked the cinnamon rolls in the oven. Almost done, I washed my hands and leaned against the counter.

Hours at my job felt like a million years, it was six o'clock and my mom walked in and approached the counter. I grabbed her coffee and muffin and went to sit with her, I was the only one working at this point.