Olivia

I lay on my back on my bed holding one of the million pamphlets up above me.

A girl with her hair in a ponytail stands on the cover with a huge fake smile and a thumbs up. Under her picture are the words Nursing Heals. I wish I had known that this pamphlet was cheesy when I picked it up. It's all about how nurses spend a bunch of time with sick almost dying people and how just spending time with them heals their disease. It's so fake.

I close it and throw it on the ground with the other discarded ones. All the ones I've gone through and thrown on the floor are all the same level of cheesiness. They don't teach anything about any of the jobs. They just show the benefits of working there. They don't show any of what the work is like or where to even start. How am I supposed to have an interest in these jobs if I don't have any information about the job itself?

I fish around my bed trying to find another pamphlet in the pile that I haven't gone through yet. But as my hand keeps moving around on my fuzzy blanket and not finding anything of the smooth texture of paper, I sit up. My hair falls into my face and I blow it out of the way. I look down at my bed where I had spread the pamphlets out and find only my gray blanket uncovered. I must have gone through all of them.

I look at my pillow where I had put all the ones that had caught my interest and that I want to show Charlie. There's about five sitting there. I already cringe as I turn and look at my floor that I know will be covered in ones that didn't catch any more of my attention. I sigh when I can't see any of my carpet. I roll off my bed and onto my floor and start picking them up one by one.

His fingers brush mine. I jerk back and hit my head on his.

I drop the papers as the memory flashes by. Why did I think of that now? I shake my head. It's nothing. Nothing at all. Just a random memory that's similar to what I'm doing now. Just, there's no Charlie this time. That's the only difference.

"Olivia?"

My head jerks up and I drop the few pamphlets I had picked up. "Mom? What are you doing home already?"

She blinks slowly like she doesn't understand what I just said. "Honey, it's already five."

I freeze. "It is?"

She sighs. "What have you been doing since you got home?"

I look around me at the mess on my floor. "Going through these."

Mom walks farther into my room. She bends down and picks one of them up. Just from the slogan on the back I can tell it's the dentist one. Smiles from you means smiles for them. I laughed for about ten minutes at that.

"What are these?" she asks. She bends down and picks up a few more.

"Pamphlets from different jobs."

"Where did you get them?" She looks up at me from over the papers.

"Charlie took me to a job fair yesterday."

"Charlie?"

I nod. "The boy who offered to help me find a career that I like."

Mom raises an eyebrow and purses her lips. "I thought we agreed you didn't need his help?"

I lean back until I'm sitting with my back against my bed. "That's what you said. I never agreed to that."

"But why look when you already have a career set up?"

I sigh. "Mom. I told you this. I don't want to work there for the rest of my life. I need something that's for me."

"Are you saying that the bakery isn't for you?" She places a hand on her hip. "Because last I checked I had opened that place for this family. Which includes you."

"We didn't ask you to," I mumble.

Her eyes widen. "Excuse me?"

I shake my head. "Nothing."

She huffs and throws my pamphlets down. "You can stay in here and mope all night if you're going to be ungrateful like that."

I roll my eyes. "Fine."

She crosses her arms and storms out of my room. She slams the door behind her. I stick out my tongue at her when she's gone.

God. Why can't she let it go? I'm not always going to see eye to eye with her and the one time it's about my future is when she gets all huffy and puffy about it.

I move onto my knees and pick up the ones that she threw on the floor. At this point it might not even be worth it to pick them up. I'm sure someone will come in and just make a mess of them again. My phone buzzes from where it sits on my nightstand. I finish picking the papers up and throw them into my mini recycling under my desk before seeing who it is.

The name Sasha flashes across my screen as I pick my phone up. Do you want me to bring your food up?

I text back yes.

Sasha seems to always hear about mine and moms fights seconds after they happen. I know it's probably just because we live in the same house and me and mom aren't quiet, but I'd rather believe it's this weird sixth sense that she has.

A loud bang sounds from my door. I jump up and rush to it. I hope it isn't mom coming back for round two. But when I open my door Sasha stands outside of it. She balances a plate on each of her arms while holding two glasses in one hand and forks and knives in the other. I reach out and grab the plates before she can drop them and bring them to my desk. She walks into my room, kicks the door closed behind her and sets the other items down. "That was hard," she says.

I chuckle. "You could have made more than one trip."

She snorts. "As if. If mom knew I was bringing you food she would have thrown a fit and I wouldn't be here with food for you."

I nod. "That's true." I pick one of the plates and drinks and bring them over to my bed. I set the glass down on my nightstand and place the plate on my bed before sitting crossed legged on my bed. Sasha pulls out my spinny chair from my desk and sits down on it. She folds her legs under her before setting the other plate on top of them.

"Thank you for bringing me food."

She nods. "Of course. I heard some of the fight..."

I sigh and roll my eyes. "It's the same old fight that it always is."

"I'm sorry."

I look over at her to see her looking down at her plate. Her fork scrapes it as she pushes the food around. "It isn't your fault," I tell her. "It's moms. She keeps bringing it up and doesn't care how I feel about the situation."

"But it's unfair of her to expect you to run the bakery."

I nod. "It is. But she's going to keep expecting me to. Which is why I'm determined to find a job and show her that you're willing to take over."

Sasha shakes her head. "I don't think she'll ever consider me."

"She'll have to once I'm not able to."

Sasha shrugs. "I guess we'll see."

I nod. "I'll make her see," I mumble.

Sasha grins. "That makes it sound like you plan to take revenge on her or kill her."

I laugh. "Maybe that's what I meant."

Sasha breaks into laughter. Her whole face brightens up as she does. I grin. I'm glad I got her out of that little slump she had.

"Thank you," I say again. "For everything."

She blushes. "There's no reason to thank me."

"There is though." I push myself off my bed and make my way over to her.

She looks up from her plate to me. "What's that then?"

"For being the best little sister." I wrap my arms around her before she can protest.

She snuggles her head into the side of my body. "You're welcome." Comes her muffled voice. "You'd be lost without me."

I shove away from her. "Pfft. As if."

She grins and before long we're breaking into laughter. The sound of it uplifts my mood and makes me forget about the fight.

I settle back onto my bed and start to eat the pasta and chicken she brought up. We eat in silence for a few minutes before she breaks it. "So, how are things with Nick going?"

I shrug. "They aren't. He just asked if I wanted to hang out sometime and we haven't talked about it since."

"So, a date?"

I shrug. "I have no idea."

"You should ask him."

I snort. "It's not that easy."

She raises an eyebrow.

"What? It isn't."

She shrugs. "If you say so."

"What's that-"

"How about Charlie?"

"What do you mean?"

She wiggles her eyebrows. "There's nothing there?"

I shake my head. "Why would there be?"

"Because you two have been spending time together?"

I laugh. "Not very much."

"Well, you will be? Right?"

I nod. "This whole week he has jobs to show me. Which reminds me. Can you cover for me at work?" I give her puppy dog eyes.

She sighs. "I guess."

I grin. "Best sister ever."