The man with the gloves [bucky barnes ff]

3

Isla's POV

"No, mom, I promise I am fine. No, please don't cry.", I beg the hysterical woman on the other end of the phone. "We talked about this. I know this is hard for you but we all knew that me moving to New York was going to happen eventually. I promise, I am fine. I can take care of myself."

"I am just so worried. You're my little innocent baby and the world is full of evil people who want to hurt you.", she sobs. I really don't have time for this right now. There's so many things I have to take care of. I have to go to the NYU campus to register myself, talk to the landlord, go groceries shopping and buy bedsheets and some other necessities for my apartment. And an overprotective mother who's afraid of letting her daughter go is really not helping me.

"I'll be home before it gets dark. If I ever stay out longer than that, I'll take a cab home. I am going to lock the door every day, and I won't start random fights like I did back come, mother.", I assure her whilst simultaneously getting ready. When I get dressed, I put her on speaker. "I love you, mom, but I have bunch of things to do and you're kind of keeping me from it."

"It's your first day; you shouldn't be stressing yourself already."

"I know but I want everything to be taken care of when I start college next week. And the job at Aunt Dana's." My aunt lives outside of Brooklyn but she has a small café here and since living here is expensive I figured it might be for the best to work part-time. I have younger siblings as well so I can't ask them to pay for all my expenses.

"I still don't like the idea of you working at that woman's place."

My aunt left my mother and her mother when she turned eighteen to go to New York. My grandmother was really sick during that time and my mother never forgave Aunt Dana for leaving them alone. It later on turned out that Dana left because she got pregnant and her boyfriend's parents wanted her to abort the child but my mother doesn't care.

"That Woman is your sister and you're the one that always praises how important family is." I like the outfit I am wearing today. I doubt that once I start college and my job I will still have the motivation, time and money to dress up but might as well look a bit special for my first day in town. It's quite warm today so I decided to go for a black blazer with a dress which covers half my thighs.* Since it rained yesterday it's still windy so I will wear some tights with prints underneath it, and my black boots. It's really casual, classy but not too much. I highly doubt that people in a big town like New York even care about what you're wearing but it'll take me a while to get rid of that small town girl mentality.

"I've seen her once after she left, and that was on your grandmothers funeral so obviously I won't consider her family." My mother keeps complaining. "Tell Genevieve I said hello though."

Genevieve is Aunt Dana's daughter and she's my only cousin. Even though Aunt Dana never visited us, her daughter comes to North Carolina every year. She's a year older than me and she's actually the one who inspired me to study economics.

"I will. Listen, I'll hang up now, okay? Please stop calling me ten times a day and don't panic when I don't pick up right away. I'll call you when I have time, okay?" I grab a white purse and a small folder with some documents that NYU asked for. Did I forget anything? Keys, phone, purse, money, my ticket. That should be it.

"Okay, baby. I love you, please take care of yourself."

"Love you too, mom. Bye." I hang up the phone and rush out of the door. The admissions office closes in half an hour so I have to catch the first subway that comes. I lock the door behind me and stow my key and my phone in my purse.

"Wait!", I yell and run towards the elevator when the door is about to close. This elevator takes forever to move and I don't have the time for that. I luckily make it in time before the door closes. I press the button for the first floor and then take a deep breath. I should really start working out.

"Sorry, I am in bit of a rush.", I explain myself to the stranger standing next to me in the elevator. I can't even see his face. He's really tall, probably around 6ft. He's wearing a large black hoodie and simple black pants. And he's wearing... gloves? Why would someone wear gloves in august?

He ignores me. Rude.

"I am Isla." I take a step forward so I can see his face and stretch out my hand. He finally looks up and his blue eyes meet mine.

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*for reference: