Alo and Mini's future
Part 2
For those few days in hospital, all Mini and Alo seemed to know was their daughter. Everything else was secondary. Her eyes fixed on them with such intensity, they were convinced she had already lived a lifetime. She had a dusting of brown (Alo insisted ginger) hair on her head. Despite being such a small baby, she felt so solid and established. Pretty much within seconds of becoming parents, they realised they needed their child just as much as she needed them.
After a long day of debating, along with Rich and Liv's 'helpful' input, they decided on a name. Grace McGuiness-Creevey. This suited her so well that Alo stopped trying to sell the name 'Leia' to Mini, which reduced the level of profanity in the maternity ward significantly.
'If she's half as stubborn as my Gracie, your fucked,' Rich said, with a sad smile. They all remembered their sweet, clever, potty mouthed friend; they missed her every day.
'For fucks sake, don't set me off. Come on, let's have one of these cakes and cheer the fuck up.' Liv said, referring to the beautifully decorated cupcakes Franky's dad made.
Everyone pounced on the baked goods with vigour, but when Alo handed Mini one, she hesitated. She'd seen her reflection in the bathroom mirror that morning and could hardly recognise herself. All she could see was flesh creeping over her waistband, fat stretching the buttons of her nightie. Excess blubber hung repulsively off her face; her arms looked like ham on the bone. Not to mention the stretchmarks; like red train tracks covering her stomach. All the fucking maternity mags were full of 'get your pre-baby body back', and how to fit in exercises around breast-feeding. Mini thought she could maybe lose a few pounds, join the gym, lay off the salt and vinegar crisps. She put the cake to one side, saying she'd have it later.
Two months later
Life was starting to become unbearable. First of all, they were all cramped in Mini's room, which wasn't exactly spacious for one person. Add in a tall, gawky boy and a baby, it was like living in shoebox. Grace's cot, changing mat and infinite supply of teddies made the room even more crowded. Mini's house also couldn't withstand the amount of people; Eric and Shelly did their best to be accommodating- they couldn't exactly transform the house into a Tardis though. Alo's own family didn't want anything to do with him; his mother hadn't spoken to him since she'd found out Mini was pregnant. He hoped he'd see his dad someday, he wanted him to be apart of Grace's life.
Alo struggled to find a job- he wanted to be with Mini and his daughter, but they couldn't all rely on Shelly and Eric's tiny salaries. He didn't exactly have glowing A-Level grades, which put people off. Nowadays you also needed bullshit 'hobbies' and 'personal interests' on your CV, none of which Alo had. He wanted nothing more than to work in the local dog shelter, but that only began on a volunteer basis. Which defeated the purpose of looking for a job in the first place.
He ended up at a crappy greasy spoon in the rough side of town. The boss couldn't give a fuck about hobbies, they needed someone desperate enough to work in their crappy kitchen. Alo got up at six and biked down there every morning, his days were an abyss of frying, chopping and scrubbing. But he got used to the early mornings, drunks and the occasional rat. He liked chatting to the regulars- mainly old women who were so lonely that they would prolong ordering their bacon butties just so they could talk to someone. If there one thing Alo could do, that was talk the hind legs off a donkey.
One day, he arrived to see a vaguely familiar boy. Alo's boss, Sid, introduced him as 'Sam' and said he was going to be joining Alo in the kitchen from now on.
'No fucking about now lads. If I see either of you having a spliff for longer than five minutes, I won't be happy. Show him the ropes, Alo,' Sid said.
'Course Sid mate. Hope Cassie's feeling better,' Alo said.
Sid smiled; few people showed compassion to Cassie these days. She usually worked at the café, baking and chatting incessantly with the staff and customers, but she was hospitalised last week. Sid left the kitchen, missing her erratic presence more than ever.
'Don't remember me, do you? We went to Roundview together, I was in your English class. With that hippy bitch teacher,' Sam said.
'Oh yeah! You sat by the window near Liv, didn't you?' Alo said. He was shocked to see that once scrawny kid with some serious muscle; that's why he didn't recognise him.
'Yeah mate. So how's your slaggy girlfriend then? Has she had her kid yet? Don't know why you'd go near her mate, though I don't blame you, she had a nice arse and- '
Sam didn't get to finish his sentence. Alo was filled with such a burning fury that he bunched his fist and landed one right on the corner of the prick's sneering mouth. Before Alo could figure out his next move, Sam had swiftly wrestled him to the ground and proceeded to kick the shit out of him. It probably wasn't the best idea to go for a guy that was built like fucking mountain troll, Alo thought whilst his ribs were being pummelled with Doc Martens.
Sid overhead the commotion, and came rushing in. Fucking teenagers, he thought.
'For fucks sake! We've got customers you stupid twats!' Sid shouted. Alo had now sprung up from floor and put Sam in a headlock. He was going to kill this wanker.
Sid, being short and unintimidating, couldn't get them to stop. He tried shouting, but that didn't seem to have an effect on them. Alo was pretty sure his ribs were broken, but that didn't stop him- Sam also wasn't going to give up anytime soon. Sid tried looking for reinforcements in the café, but the pensioners probably weren't going to be able to tear the two boys apart.
The police ended up being called, then an ambulance. Alo spent his evening in A&E, only to be told he had indeed broken his ribs, and that they could only 'heal by themselves'. He was given painkillers and sent home. In the taxi home, he realised that it wasn't just what Sam said that made him so livid. It was the day to day problems, Mini's unhappiness, being cramped in that fucking house, in a job that he didn't love. He had broken in more ways than one today.
