WHEN I MET YOU

My name is Abby, I am a mixed race girl, my hair is a bit strange, it is neither straight nor curly dark brown, brown eyes and I am 1.56cm, I am simple, I do not usually wear makeup and I do not wear expensive brand clothes , I like to be original and simple.

 I got up very early as usual, well, I had to go to work, since studying at the university became very expensive, with so many projects that I do every semester I decided that on vacation I would go to work, since I was already older than My age and my parents had helped me enough throughout my life and it did not seem fair that growing up they continued to do the same, I could now look for a job to pay my expenses; I went to the bathroom to take a shower, I went out and dressed in tight pants, a fuchsia blouse and black converse shoes, I braided my long hair, which had some champagne highlights, once ready I went out to the kitchen and made a coffee and made a sandwich; I ate my breakfast and left my apartment, down the stairs because, These buildings do not have an elevator because they are very old, I rush to the bus stop to take one to the city center, I work in a restaurant called Tu Gourmet, it is very well known and is mostly visited by clients with a lot of money ; I arrive and go straight to change my clothes since we have to wear a uniform, which consists of a black dress up to the knees and a white apron, that's why I always use my black converse, to coincide with the uniform, I greet all my classmates I work and my best friend Alejandra with a big bear hug. Ale is a girl with brown skin and curly hair, slim and about 1.50cm tall. It is well known and is mostly visited by clients with a lot of money; I arrive and go straight to change my clothes since we have to wear a uniform, which consists of a black dress up to the knees and a white apron, that's why I always use my black converse, to coincide with the uniform, I greet all my classmates I work and my best friend Alejandra with a big bear hug. Ale is a girl with brown skin and curly hair, slim and about 1.50cm tall. It is well known and is mostly visited by clients with a lot of money; I arrive and go straight to change my clothes since we have to wear a uniform, which consists of a black dress up to the knees and a white apron, that's why I always use my black converse, to coincide with the uniform, I greet all my classmates I work and my best friend Alejandra with a big bear hug. Ale is a girl with brown skin and curly hair, slim and about 1.50cm tall.

-Hello Friend how are you? I ask Alejandra with a smile.

"Good friend, and you?" She answers when she turns to see me.

—Well, last night I came home exhausted, I didn't even eat, what I did was take a bath and lay down on my bed, I didn't even know when I fell asleep.

—Ay Abby, that's how it almost happened to me, but when I took a bath I lost sleep and I started writing to Carlos who began to write to me —Carlos is a boy that Ale met in the restaurant yesterday, she is usually like that, every boy Who knows gives him his phone number, they write for a few days and they are already dating, although they never last long, and there I am, lending him my shoulder to cry - we have an appointment for this Saturday, I am very excited, I hope everything goes well . He says with a huge smile, like a child excited when he has a new toy.

"Ay Ale, you as always" I roll my eyes and cross my arms "there you are going to fall in love again with a boy you just met, you kind of don't learn" I shake my head.

"Oh my friend, now you're going to see that everything is going to be fine." He winks at me.

—It's that you worry me friend, they always break your heart, that's why I don't want to fall in love, I see that this becomes very complicated as time goes by.

—I know you always worry about my Abby, but I can't help it, when I see a handsome boy my heart makes my heart glad — his eyes shine in a way that leaves me blind— besides, you have to start looking for yourself. a handsome boy to go out with, look, we're already twenty-three years old and I haven't met a boyfriend, what's wrong girl? Or is it that you are a lesbian?

"You really are crazy Ale, me a lesbian?" I say laughing and placing her hand on my chest pointing at me "nothing to see, just that I haven't found the boy I like yet."

—You'll see what I mean when you fall in love, girl, and this one that's here is going to see you to tell you to your face, and remind you of the reproaches you have given me when I meet someone and I fall in love.

"Yes, of course," I roll my eyes, "we'd better go to work because it's time. Look, if the boss comes in and finds us here talking, she's going to set up Trojan."

 We got ready to work, I take care of the tables from one to six and Ale from seven to twelve, then a boy arrives with a baby in his arms, I thought it was very sweet that a man came out with his baby loaded. I was waiting for his wife to come in to see her but I was surprised that no one came, well since he sat at table five I had to attend to him, he placed the baby in a baby seat that he had in one of his hands and the He put in one of the chairs that was around the table, I went over to take the order.

—Good morning sir, welcome to the Tu Gourmet Restaurant —he greeted with a smile— here the menu card, —I give him the card, he takes it and I wait for his order, I take my notebook from my uniform pocket and my pencil— ¿¿¿ want a coffee before choosing what to eat? —The boy stares at the card without giving me an answer, he looks somewhat tired and his eyes look as if he had been awake all night— well, if you need something, call me —I say when I see his lost gaze, when he was about to When I left he looked up and gave me a forced smile.

"Good morning miss," he greeted, "I'm sorry, I'm not in a good time right now, thanks for offering me the coffee, you can bring it to me while I decide what to eat because I haven't decided yet."

"Ok" I answered and I go out to get his coffee, I go to the kitchen and there is Ale with a smile from ear to ear.

- AND? he is handsome right? Ale says raising his eyebrows.

- Oh yeah? "I pretend to be oblivious." I hadn't noticed.

—Yes, and I believed you, you're going to say that you see a boy and you're not going to notice if he's handsome or not, I really don't believe you, no wonder you haven't had a boyfriend yet.

"Ay ya Ale, save your things for later, I'm going to take him this coffee and see if he's already decided what he's going to want." I turn around and leave the kitchen.

 I get to where the boy is and I see that he is looking at the baby and then he raises his hands to his head, he moves it in denial while rubbing his face in frustration, when lowering them I see that his eyes are about to spill Tears, when he looks up he watches me, I go over and hand him his coffee.

"Here's your coffee." I place the cup on the table. "Are you going to want anything else?"

"Thank you very much, the truth is that I am not in the mood for anything," he says with a trembling voice, "I need to seek help," he said in a very low voice that I could hardly hear him.

- Excuse me what did you say? I couldn't hear it, ”I ask him.

—Ah… no, nothing, I was just thinking out loud, I don't think I'm going to want anything else, just with the coffee, okay, how much is the bill?

I gave him the price of the coffee, he paid me and I gave him the receipt with the change

—Have a good day sir —when I was about to retire, he told me to keep the change, but I didn't want to accept it because it was too much, he insisted so much that I had to take it, you could see he was a guy with money and that's why he didn't It took a lot of importance before I left, he called me again.

"Excuse me miss," I turned around, "do you work here every day?"

"Umm ... yes sir, Monday through Friday is my schedule, why?" I ask somewhat confused.

"I'm not just asking." She got up and took her baby and left.

 It left me wondering, why did he want to know if I worked there every day? It is not something that is asked for its own sake. Well, I didn't take too much importance on it and I continued with my work; Thank God that day there was a lot of movement and there was no chance that Alejandra would approach me and ask me stupid questions, because while I was attending to the boy I could see that she is leaning out seeing everything he was doing and I knew that from one moment to another I I was going to ask what that young man had told me. Seven o'clock arrived at night, it was a busy day, but when I went to change there was Alejandra with your typical smile, I knew that an interrogation worse than the one that detectives do for a murder was going to begin.

- You thought you were going to escape right? Ale says to me with his arms crossed

- Run away? Of what or what? I say as I take off my apron.

"About me, you know I have a lot of questions to ask you! Don't be silly."

—Ay Ale, I came to change to go home, I'm dead alive, you know, I'm very tired, I also have to go to the market to buy something to eat at home, if I cook, because I'm very tired, do not come now with your interrogations that are worse than the detectives do, please - I say in the form of supplication - I really have to go.

"Okay, ok, but don't think you're going to be saved forever, you have to tell me what you and that handsome man talked about," she says as if there was a lot to tell, as if I had been on a date and I have many details to tell her. - Just for now I'm going to leave you alone, oh look Carlos just sent me a message, he says he wants it to be Saturday to go to our date, it's so sweet.

—Oh please Ale, I only advise you not to go too fast as with the other boyfriends you've had, you don't expect to get to know them well when they are already dating, that's why you don't last with a boy.

"Look who comes to advise me, the one who hasn't had a single boyfriend," she says, crossing her arms, "ah of course, that's why you haven't had it, because you wait a lot."

"Oh yeah, yeah yeah, I'm leaving now, bye, see you tomorrow."

 I said goodbye to my friend and I hurry to the supermarket that is a few blocks from the restaurant, but with the talk with Alejandra I was late and I almost couldn't get in.

"Please wait," I yell at the boy who is about to close, there are still some people inside buying but they close earlier to serve only the people who are inside to close completely.

"Hurry we're closing," the boy tells me.

 I arrive panting and enter the premises, grab a basket and go to the corridors to look for something to buy, when I go through the aisle of baby items, I observe that the boy I had attended that morning in the restaurant is there, I wanted to turn around to take another direction, but when I did it it was too late, the boy had seen me and called me.

—Hey girl — I turn around and he beckons me with one of his hands so that I get closer to where he is — sorry, I'm new to this and I don't know which one to buy — I see you're looking at the diapers, but the ones that I was holding they were a plus size - you are a woman and you know more about these things, can you help me?

"Ah ... sure, sure, well ... these are very big, how old is your baby?"

"Five months," he replied, still doubting if it was really his daughter's age, "that's it, let me do the math." He began to count on the fingers of his hand and looking up as if he had a calculator on the ceiling. , if it is five months.

—Ummm ok, good for your baby you have to buy these — I give him a medium-sized package— because if you buy them too large, the pee may come out of his legs, and from there he will see when he grows up if he has too much left. tight, you have to buy a large size, but why didn't the mother of the baby come with you or give you a list with the size and what you need? I ask him, because it caused me curiosity, it was the first time I had seen a man taking care of household purchases and especially babies.

 He was silent for a moment, and his eyes began to threaten to want to cry, he wiped away a tear that came out and said to me:

—She died when giving birth to our little girl because she had an accident before.

"I'm ... sorry," I opened my eyes in amazement, "it was very reckless of me to ask him that, it's none of my business, what I did was make him sad, I'd better leave before he commits another recklessness" I turned around but he stopped me.

"Don't worry, that happens to me often, maybe you didn't know, I'm Matthew." He held out his hand with a smile.

"Abby, nice to meet you," I smiled at her and shook her hand. "Well, I think I'm going."

—Wait, Abby, I need you to help me buy more things for my girl, I just don't know anything about babies, what my babysitter had bought for my daughter is already sold out, that's why now I'm here without knowing what I should buy, yes you would not have arrived, I took things that my daughter could not use, please, I need you to help me.

"Okay, I'll help him, and by the way, where is your daughter now?"

"It's in the car."

- In the car? And did you leave her there alone? You can't do that! She can suffocate if you leave her without an open window!

In that he runs to the door of the premises and I observe how he speaks desperately with the doorman of the premises, he leaves the establishment quickly and I see that he approaches a black car, opens the door of the back seat and takes out the baby covered with a blanket, then comes in again and approaches me

—Wau how fast you were, you can tell that you love her very much.

—Ufss, thanks for telling me that, it really didn't even cross my mind; And yes, of course I love her very much if that's all that I keep from Lisa, you know we had many plans together, when we received the news that she was pregnant we were very happy, but then she had a car accident on the way home, not that day I was able to go look for her because I had a lot of work, if that was known, I would have left everything and looked for her, it was all my fault - she started crying - when I received the call that she had had an accident and that she was in the hospital, I couldn't believe it, I hurried out of my office, and when I arrived the doctor told me that only the baby could be saved, that day I felt that the whole world was collapsing on top of me, that I no longer had anything to fight for, but when I saw this little face, this little angel, I took her in my arms and said yes,

"Well," I kept thinking, at the same time shocked and moved by Matthew's story, "I don't know what you have at home and what he needs."

—Well, what he no longer has definitively are diapers, if you want, let's go to my house and there you see that he needs it and tomorrow we can come again to buy what has to be bought.

 I was thoughtful, as I was going to go to the house of a stranger, I did not really know what his intentions were, having a baby did not mean anything, I did not know if it was just a decoy to take the girls and kidnap them, what do i know

—I see that you don't trust me, and I really understand you, for you I'm a complete stranger, look, I promise you that nothing bad will happen to you, just come on, see what I have and then I'll take you home.

 Reluctantly I accepted, I took some things and paid for them just like he took the diapers and paid for them, then he hands me the baby and opens the car door, closes it and then he gets in and starts the car and we let's go to his house, I was speechless when I saw the similar house where he lived, it was two-story white, with wooden doors and large glass windows, a beautiful garden with red and white roses, when we entered, I was even more surprised , in the center it had a spiral staircase and on the walls adorned with beautiful paintings, when I went up the stairs I saw that there were family photos on the walls, in one of them he was with a beautiful young blonde with blue eyes, in another just him, in another the same woman showing her already big belly, and in the last he kissing that girl's belly,When walking down the corridor there was a sequence of photographs where that young woman appeared but these were ordered by the progress of the pregnancy, the first was of her with the pregnancy test showing the "positive" and the others from the first month to the last I loved seeing that happiness reflected through images, in the last two frames there was no photograph, something that surprised me.

—There was going to go one of the waiting moment, of the day when I was going to give birth —he says suddenly next to me and pointing to the penultimate frame— and in that one with the three, my wife, Luisa and I, but unfortunately It couldn't be that way, ”he says with a wistful smile.

We entered a room at the end of the corridor, it was painted pink and white, it was the baby's room, there she had everything hers, diapers, food, clothes and much more.

"Well, here's everything about my daughter, can you see what I need?" please.

 I started to review the girl's things, from diapers to food, I could see that the food did not have much left, she no longer had wet wipes and diapers she did not have much left and she had only bought one package.

"Well, you're short of food, wet wipes and more diapers, that package," I pointed out the one I bought, "isn't going to last long."

—Ummm, ok, you see that you know a lot about children, how many children do you have?

- Kids? It's not okay, I don't have children - I said laughing - I haven't even gotten married.

"Oh I see, and how come you know so much about babies then?"

—Well it will be because I am a woman, and I also have two nieces, and when they were born I was very close with them, until I moved here, my parents are from the country and they told me to come to the city to study, after I finished my first Semester of studies I got ready to work, the truth is that I no longer want to go live in the country.

-Ah, how nice, well I thank you for helping me, really that if I had not met you I would not know what to do with my daughter -he observed her while she was still in my arms and she was beginning to worry, she was already hungry- I know woke up, I've been staying up late, gets up at all hours and I don't know what to do.

—It is that he gets up to eat, there is where is the kitchen to prepare something for him? —I give him the baby and he takes me to the kitchen, I had already taken the girl's food before, I prepared it in a bottle and gave it to him— here, feed him.

 He took it and began to give it, you could see that he knew how, and of course the girl was five months old, which is not, how did he learn if he was not supposed to know anything?

"Hey and ... how did you learn to feed him?"

—My wife and I had already practiced, she insisted that I should also learn because she told me that I had to help her —he looked at her daughter with a smile— and that I was going to imagine that I would end up raising my daughter alone —al The baby finished eating and fell asleep and I saw that he was going to put her to bed.

"Wait, you have to get her gas out after eating because if she's not going to get colic," he remained static without knowing what to do. "Look, I'll teach you." he burped - you see that's how it is.

"I really had no idea, come give it to me to go lay her down in her crib." also I was very tired.