Before You Loved Me

08

Isa

Layla keeps fidgeting with the radio of my car, and I am trying very hard to remain calm

''just choose a radio station'' I say, getting annoyed that she keeps on hitting the buttons with such vigor, it's not like I have another car

''There's nothing good on the radio'' she whined

''By the way you are hitting the buttons you are going to wear out the buttons'' I say

She ignores me and continues to hit the buttons with seemingly more ferocity

I swat her hand away, annoyed

Out of spite, she lifts her hand again, to fidget with the buttons

''can you stop acting like such a child'' I say

She rolls her eyes

''This is why I didn't want to take my car'' I say looking to my mom in the backseat through the rearview mirror

''but your car is nicer'' she reasons

''not for long, by the way Layla is going on''

I am not a prude when it comes to things I just look after my things

''Layla-'' she says

''This stupid car doesn't want my phone to connect to the Bluetooth!'' she exclaims ''it says mom phone is connected''

''Here, - then take my phone'' mom says, reaching in-between the space between Layla and I to produce her phone to Layla

''you don't have anything good on your phone to listen to or spotify let alone apple music'' Layla complains

I sigh, and fidget, straightening my leg to be able to pull out my phone from my pocket and drop it into Layla's lap

Layla unlocks my phone immediately already typing in the search bar for Spotify. Not a word of thanks or nothing

It seemed Layla had chosen the most depressing playlist to play until we got to our destination

The moment the GPS sounds out that we have arrived at our destination, I cannot seem to get out of the car fast enough

This morning mom had said she needed to go to this upholstery shop for a new fabric for the couch she wants to be covered.

It turns out the store that we visited did not have the fabric in the color that mom wanted let alone a sample. And mom was hell-bent on finding the right shade of teal to match the artwork that she had bought four years ago at an art expo that hung on our wall. So here I was driving mom to every material shop in a 20 mile radius

We had come back from the second shop when Layla had requested that we stop at Starbucks before heading onto the next shop, and mom had taken the liberty of entering the address into the car GPS System which is how we landed at our current location

Finally my attention fleets towards the store ''this isn't Starbucks'' I say looking at what seems to be a coffee shop, just not the specific coffee shop with the distinctive green logo

''Starbucks is out of our way, we have things to do today and there's a fabric store I want to check out in this road. Plus all coffee tastes the same'' mom points out

''Mom that's not true, not all coffee tasted the same, and I have a specific drink order from Starbucks'' Layla voices

Mom is not having it, and Layla looks to me as if I'm supposed to do something about the matter

''can we just get this done with?"

Both Mom and Layla ignore me, already bickering about something else that I can't be bothered to know what