Nini Salazar-Roberts sighed in relief when she finally saw the child support check in her stack of mail. It isn't much, but every little bit helps. She's in between checks right now and Connor needed new shoes while Charlotte needed some new shirts. Nini let out a heavy sigh. She was so tired, and was basically at her breaking point. She works at her friend, Ashlyn's bakery three times a week and gives private music lessons at the local music shop when she has time. She's also in school, so to say her life is hectic was an understatement. She has a passion for music and is hoping to graduate with a degree in music and a concentration in songwriting.
Nini, however, was also the mother of two very adorable five year old twins. She glanced at the clock in the bakery and gasped. She was late picking them up from school, and she had a shift at the music store in an hour. Normally, when she works the evening shift at the music store, her friend Gina watches the kids, but all of Nini's friends chose tonight to be busy, leaving her with no choice but to bring them along. Lord knows what kind of damage they could do to the instruments.
She grabbed her keys and ran out of the bakery. Great, now she's forgetting her kids. Her moms were always willing to help out, but Nini is the type of person that hates relying on other people. It was her fault for marrying that dumbass at nineteen and her fault for getting pregnant a year later; not that she doesn't love her kids.
After picking the kids up from school, she drove to the music store and parked what felt like forty miles away, finally making the trek to the store.
"Something's going on..." she muttered to herself. The shopping center that the music store was in got crowded from time to time, but never like this. When she got closer to the store, she was shocked to see a line of people wrapped around the building and a crowd inside.
"What the..." she whispered.
She tried to get through the door but was stopped by a man who could be mistaken for a tank.
"Wait your turn, Miss." he growled.
"My what?! I work here. Let me through!" She yelled at him. Needless to say, it had already been a long day and she didn't have the energy to deal with all this nonsense.
"Nice try. You'll have to wait in the line with the others."
"Yeah!" She heard some teenage girl yell from behind her. Nini could tell the twins were getting nervous at the confrontation she was having and took a deep breath. "Look, sir. My name is Nini Salazar-Roberts, these are my kids, I'm a music teacher here, and I've had a really long day so please just let me through." She said, rifling through her purse to grab her ID. The tank man didn't care though and just kept shooing her away. "Back of the line, lady."
Nini felt like she wanted to scream.
"You're Nini Roberts?" A red head asked, walking up to the front of the store. "You teach piano lessons and songwriting here?"
"Yes!" She said, desperate for someone to believe her.
The man beamed and pulled on Nini's arm, dragging her and the kids into the store but Nini couldn't figure out why he seemed so happy.
"And you are?" She prompted, still feeling slightly annoyed.
This only made the man smile wider. "I'm Big Red. Come on, I'll get you in." He said, continuing to drag the family through the massive crowd.
"What's going on here, Red? Mr. David never mentioned any events happening here..." she asked. She couldn't help but like the guy with the strange name she was talking to.
"You don't know?"
Nini rolled her eyes. She wouldn't have asked if she knew.
"No, Red. I don't." Nini was so caught up in trying to figure out what was happening that she didn't realize the kids had let go of her hands and wandered off.
"It's Ricky Bowen! He's here signing CD's and putting on a small acoustic concert." Red exclaimed excitedly.
"Who?"
Big Red jerked to a halt, causing her to stumble and run into his back. She didn't know where he was dragging her to, and she really needed to get her kids settled into the empty office so she could get started on her lessons.
"You don't know Ricky Bowen?!" He asked, wide-eyed.
"No." She grit through her teeth; obviously one needed patience when dealing with this Big Red guy.
"Nini!"
She whipped around and saw Mr. David, the store owner walk up to her.
"Mr. David, what in the world is going on? I'm supposed to start my private lesson in fifteen minutes!" She exclaimed, frustratingly.
"We have an actual musician! At the Melody Mart! Can you believe it?!" He asked, still in partial shock. "By the way, your lessons were canceled today. I must've forgotten to tell you."
Nini couldn't help but smile at Mr. David. He has sort of become a father figure to her and has given the kids their own little "office" at the store, knowing that sometimes Nini struggles finding a sitter.
"I heard. Some 'Ricky Bowen' guy." She said dryly. It was then that she noticed her children weren't around. "Mr. David, did you see where the kids went?" She asked with worry.
"No, sweetie. I didn't. They were already gone when I saw you."
She groaned. "They could be anywhere in this mess and you know how Connor is- "
Just then, she heard a loud crash followed by some shouting.
Nini closed her eyes. "Oh no. Connor."
Connor was a bit accident prone. He broke and ran into everything. Nini elbowed her way through the crowd and nearly cried when she saw the mess her son had made. Her son had knocked over a large stack of CD's. The curly haired boy at the table glared at her with piercing blue eyes.
"Connor." Nini panted, pulling her son into a hug.
"You need to watch your kid better, Miss." the man said.
Nini felt her blood boil. Let him try being the single mother of twins.
"Next!" The man called, and then turned back to her. "Well, aren't you going to clean that up?"
Nini wanted to slap him and tell him to go to hell, but that wasn't her nature and it was her son that had made the mess.
"I'm sorry, mommy," Connor said tearfully as Nini began to pick up the discs.
She pulled him toward her comfortingly.
"I know, honey. Where is your sister?"
"In the play room." He sniffled. "Playing with her dolls."
Nini smiled. She knew Mr. David had surprised the kids with a bunch of their favorite toys last week.
"Can I help, mommy?"
"NO!"
Connor's lip trembled.
"I mean... I'll take care of it sweetie. Go play with your sister." Nini told him in a softer tone. "We'll go get ice cream in a little bit."
Connor smiled. "Okay!" He said happily.
It took a while, but Nini had finally managed to stack all of the CD's and stood up.
"You missed one." Ricky said, pointing to a CD partially under the table.
Nini grabbed it and pointedly placed it on top of the stack.
"There." She spat, walking away.
"Wait!"
"What?" She snapped, turning back to the annoying man.
"Don't you want an autograph?" He asked with a smirk.
She didn't know why she did it. Nini Salazar-Roberts doesn't do this sort of thing. Nini was kind, mature, and level-headed. Well, except right now.
She stepped up and slapped Ricky Bowen across the face. Cameras snapped and people gasped and chatted in awe. He gawked at her, bringing his hand to his quickly reddening cheek.
"Get my answer?" She asked, storming off.
She grabbed her kids and went out the back, still fuming. She was so glad tomorrow was Saturday. She needed to chill.
But actions have consequences, as Nini was soon to find out.
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**Pretty long and kinda choppy but oh well. I hope it's good and I hope you all enjoyed it :) let me know what you think.