Mateo

4

"And make sure he doesn't get into the candy jar. He absolutely loves to watch Cocomellon, and—"

"Miss Brown, what exactly are you doing?"

I slowly turned around to lock eyes with my raging boss. "I was on the phone with the babysitter for my—"

"You're fired." He spun on his heel and was off.

"W—wait what," I stammered as I ran after him. "Avery, please. I just got the adoption papers signed and finalized for my baby boy yesterday. I really need this job so I can be the best mother for him that I can be."

"Well, you should've thought of that before you decided to talk on the phone during your job."

"But, sir, I—"

Avery held up his hand to silence me. "I've given you way too many chances, Cleo. I've put up with that smart-ass mouth of yours, you showing up late every day, and not doing your job efficiently. I'm sorry, Miss Brown, but there's nothing I can do." He looked at me with fake sympathy in his eyes.

"You son of a—" I stopped myself mid-sentence when Avery raised his eyebrows to test me. I sucked in some air. "I'll do better, I promise."

"That phrase sounds familiar." Avery tapped his chin. "Ah, you've told me that the last times you were late. Now, I'm done having this conversation. Get out of my building."

"Avery—"

"Out." He pointed to the door.

I shot Rainy a panicked look, begging her to plead my case. She responded with a there's-nothing-I-can-do look.

I grabbed my purse on the way out, wondering how in the hell I was going to survive. Mateo was about to be old enough to attend regular school. I know, you might be thinking, 'But Cleo, I don't see anything wrong with that.'

And you couldn't be farther from the truth, my friend.

Along with school comes field trip money, the crap that the teachers always want parents to donate, school supplies, school clothes, and lunch food that needed to be fixed all the five days Mateo went to school.

I sighed, letting my headrest on the steering wheel. What about the rent? Car bills? Water bills? What if the adoption agency found out I didn't have an income to provide for my precious baby boy anymore?

What about my parents? I've always tried to be the most successful out of my three siblings since I was the oldest, but right now I was majorly failing.

As you all know, being the oldest can be. . . tough. You're the parents to the younger ones, always have to set the younger ones straight when they think they can one-up you, and you have to deal with the younger ones stealing your clothing, giving you zero privacy, etc.

For me, I had to be the example. For instance, what my grades are, were what they expected the younger ones to do as well. Sometimes this backfired—like that one time I got an F in Chemistry, so my siblings didn't really have to work too hard for that one. My parents expected me to go to Harvard and become a doctor—you know, every parent's dream for their child. I obviously tried going to Harvard so I could be the perfect daughter they wanted, but I ended up flunking out.

Ever since then, my parents have disowned me, then had the audacity to wonder why I haven't been to any of the family reunions.

"Mommy," Mateo shrieked, running over to wrap his arms around my calves.

"Hey, my baby." I lifted him up and rested him on my hip. "Thanks for watching after him, Mindy, but I've got it from here." I dug through my purse for my checkbook. I wrote the number of zeroes quickly so I wouldn't have too much to worry about later on, then handed it to her.

Mindy smiled once she eyed the check. "No, thank you. Have a great day, Miss Brown." She was out of the door before I could even reply.

"You got off work eawly?" Mateo flapped his arms up and down.

"Something like that." I bounced him as I made my way to the kitchen.

"Ooo! Mommy and me day?" Mateo giggled.

"Sure, little man." I tickled his stomach a little.

He threw his head back in fits of laughter. I still couldn't wrap my head around him being mine.

All mine.

Most people said those words in romance novels or movies, but for me, this little boy was my world; he was my first love, not some raggedy man that would mess around and cheat on me someday with the same girl he told me not to worry about.

"I love you, Mayo." I kissed his forehead.

"I wove you too, Momma." He motioned for me to lower my head to his level, then I felt his small lips on my forehead. When I opened my eyes, he smiled with nothing but joy filling those sparkling grey gems.

•

I've been trying to find a job for days and have come up with nothing. Rainy has helped with paying the rent a little and she watched after Mateo when I had interviews.

"Thank you, we'll keep in touch." I shook hands with the manager of Chick-Fil-A.

I wasn't really fond of working at a fast-food restaurant for the rest of my life, but if that's what needed to happen to give Mateo the life he deserved, that was what I was going to do.

"Cleo! Cleo!" Rainy ran at me with a paper flowing in her hands as I entered my home. "Come look at this shit!"

"Shit," Mateo repeated as he picked with his navy blue socks from where he sat on the floor with his Legos.

I shot Rainy a glare. "Don't say that word, Mayo."

"But Auntie Wainy say it."

"And your Auntie Rainy isn't supposed to say it either."

"Okay, sorry, whatever. Look at this." Rainy rolled open the flyer.

I looked from the flyer that had auditions for a movie in the state back to her, confusion evident on my features.

Rainy shook me by my shoulders. "You see?"

"No."

"Ugh." Rainy rolled her eyes. "You love acting, remember? But your parents said that acting isn't a career, it was a hobby." I nodded my head slowly as I took in every word. "Yeahhh. . . so here's your big break! Auditions are in two days!"

"Ohhh!" I paused, allowing my brain to process this. "Nooo. Nononono. I—I don't even have an agent o—or any type of acting experience."

"Liar. You told me you were in theater from the sixth grade up to twelfth." Rainy crossed her arms stubbornly. "You're going to do what makes you happy, and I'm going to make sure of it. Fuck what you think."

"Fuck." Mateo giggled.

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