Afternoons

children magnet

Blue...yellow...green...orange? What color does this kid like? I haven't seen him in forever. I don't even know his size! I grab the first one that I see, it was red. Too bad if he doesn't like it, he can return it anytime.
When I arrive to the, kinda large, house I grab the gift and "hide" it behind my back.

It's pretty obvious I was holding onto something but an attempt wouldn't hurt. A 3 year old can sometimes be dumb.

The door swings open and I see my younger sister standing there in a tight dress. She has really grown. I can't believe it. It feels like just yesterday she was pregnant. Today is her son's birthday and I was invited to the party. What am I supposed to do at a kid's birthday party?

I see her son come up from behind her and he runs up to me. He hugs my legs tightly. I pat his back and I hand him the gift.

"Happy birthday, June."

He smiles up at me and takes the dress into his arms. I figured that he loves to wear dresses. Galiana told me so why not one for his birthday?
I walk inside and give my sister a hug. Yes, I've gotten better at showing affection. It's still taking me some time.

"Where is your man?" I ask as I look around the room.

Kids were running everywhere, most likely high on sugars. I still remember when mom would throw us "birthday parties." No soda allowed, no sugary drinks, no candy, the cake was the only exception. She would hate to see children running around in her house.
I do kind of understand why now. What a disaster.

"He's outside entertaining the kids. He thought that it would be a good idea to dress up as a clown. He's only scaring them," Galiana laughs as she looks out the back door.

Galiana found herself a boyfriend who I quite like. He took very good care of Galiana. He didn't mind that she had a child. He actually toom responsibility over the kid and accepted him as his own. They moved in together not so long ago.

"He's already a clown, there was no need to dress up," I joke.

Galiana smacks my arm with a playful glare. She signals me to follow her towards the kitchen. I hate that she did that. The kid's moms were there. I remember last time I came to June's birthday, all the mom's were over me. Especially the one's who were in their 40s.

"What about you? Where is your woman?" She slides a drink my way but I decline.

"I don't drink," I say. She gave me a weird look but shrugged anyway and chugged down the drink. Jesus...

"She is on her way," I continued.

"Hello, Alexina," I hear a voice say from behind me. I turn around to see some blonde chick, she was around her mid 20s.

"Hey?" I say more as a question. Like really, do I know you? No. Do I want to? Also no. I can't say that outloud though, that would just be rude...

"Here alone?" The woman asks as she leans a bit towards me.

I felt like pushing her just to see whag happened but I contained myself. Wouldn't that have been fun? To see everyone's reaction, gasps, laughter, maybe even screams, who knows.

"For now," I say clearly uninterested.

She definitely took my statement the wrong way. She probably thought that I was going to hook up with her or someone else. Why do I say this? Because she smirked and put a hand on my shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I ask as I eye her hand and the placement of it.

"I can be your company-"