I met Ally on my first day of my sophomore year at Lairmont High School. I wasn’t looking to make friends, I just wanted to get through school so I could make a better life for Caleb. Better than the one I had so far. But Ally kept worming her way in, stopping by the hardware store that I worked at, talking with me between classes and making me sit with her at lunch. I finally blurted out to her one day that I had a baby to take care of so I did not have the time to socialize. She didn’t even blink an eye over that though, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder. “Well that’s cool, maybe we can hang out at the playground or get some ice cream then. Oh now I have an excuse to go to Chuck E Cheese.” She had said with a squeal.
I was taken aback right away that she didn’t even question me about having a baby at 16 and I quickly explained the situation to her and broke the news that Caleb wasn’t quite old enough to hit up Chuck E Cheese and we’ve been best friends ever since. She always found ways to include Caleb in whatever we were doing and the James clan quickly accepted the both of us.
“Let me just go over a few things with the sitter and then we can head out, ‘kay?”
Ally had taken awhile to convince me that going off to college would work out even though I was bringing Caleb with me. Grandma didn’t even question me when I shoved the paperwork at her to sign over guardianship for Caleb to me. Ally already had our lease signed and a few daycares to go check out before she finally convinced me that even though I had Caleb I still needed the college experience and she would help me anyway possible.
I had some money saved up and I quickly found a daycare on campus that would be convenient while I was at class and work. I had met with one of the teachers already and one of the helpers was actually who was watching Caleb tonight. I had never left him with a sitter before besides my grandma and that was only when I had to work and go to school. I felt guilty for leaving the little man when I would much rather stay home with him building leggos and drinking chocolate milk.
I walk out into our living room where Clarissa and Caleb were busily putting a puzzle together. The whole apartment was already scattered with signs of having a three year old living with us with toys almost covering every surface. “Lee Lee, look at my puzzle,” he shouts out bouncing up and down on his tiny toddler feet. “Awesome buddy.” I ruffled his brown curls and smooched him on the cheek. “You sure you okay with me leaving?”
“Yup I’m a big boy now, ‘member? Me and Rissa are gonna have fun. And Auntie Ally promised me cookies.” I look over my shoulder at Ally who was standing behind me trying to quiet Caleb down. I roll my eyes at her, she was always trying to spoil and bribe him, most of the time with cookies.
“’Kay well be a good boy and go to bed for Clarissa. Love you.” I turned towards Clarissa who was sitting on the floor with Caleb, looking completely in her element. I couldn’t imagine watching kids for a living, Caleb was about the only one I could handle. “I should be back around 11:00 hopefully. Make sure he gets to bed by 8:30, I’m sure he’ll try to talk you into later though.” She giggled before pulling Caleb into her lap and tickling his little belly. “I’m sure he’ll pass out anyways, were going have loads of fun huh little buddy? Stay out as late as you want Leah. Have fun.”
With one more kiss to Caleb and making sure Clarissa had my phone number, twice, Ally was able to shove me out the door.
“Alright, alright. You have your phone. Nothing’s going to happen. Fun. Now.”
Chapter 2
Leah
We pull onto the street that’s lined by fraternity and sorority houses, they're all so close together it’s like there’s one huge block party going on and everyone is in attendance. The whole car is rattling by the music flowing out of the open windows on the breezy August night.
We had both been accepted to Indiana University at the beginning of our senior year, Ally would still be within driving distance to her family. She was granted with parents who gave a damn about her and her two older brothers, Owen and Ben. They had a truly awesome relationship that I was often secretly jealous of but we were also included in a lot of their family activities and her brothers acted like I was another little sister to have around, which was sometimes a good thing, sometimes bad, depending on the situation.
Her dad also set us up with our new apartment instead of being stuck in the campus dorms eating ramen noodle soup and having to worry about catching athletes foot at the community showers. That was kind of a good thing too since I certainly wasn’t going to be allowed in a dorm with a three year old. I would still be able to visit with grandma too, but we never really developed a close knit relationship and I’m pretty sure she was more than happy to have us out of her hair.
Even before we had a single box unpacked in our new apartment, Ally was out scoping the sorority scene. It was something she had always talked about getting into and of course she had. Tonight was sort of a big hoo ha before the semester started, a time for all of the new and existing members to mingle, more like a drink fest, but that’s what college is all about, right?