Baby Bird

            Her grandmother’s recipe for krempita was unparalleled. The cream was gooey and luscious, velvety and fluffy. It was incredibly sweet from the sugar and the vanilla. Then, as an aftertaste, a hint of lemon would dance along her tongue. She sucked on the silver spoon before going in for another bite. The square dessert sat before her on one of the pieces of good china. The entire plate, krempita included, was covered in powdered sugar. Niki wanted a piece even though it was only one in the afternoon, and her father gave her one. He was in the back with her brother and sister, working on prep. They were cutting the vegetables and baking the breads. Her mother was sitting across from her with a cup of tea. She was saying something, but Niki wasn’t really listening. Jake, one of the handsomest boys she’d ever met, had asked her out, and their date was in a few hours. He hadn’t wanted a late dinner, so Niki wasn’t sure what to wear. How much cleavage and makeup could she pull off at six o’clock on a Tuesday?

            “Nikolina?” her mother practically shouted, making her drop her spoon and look up.

            “What?” she snarled back.

            Her mother’s weary, lined face fell apart and she started sobbing. Niki raised her eyebrows and looked around. Their restaurant was empty, which was typical for a Tuesday afternoon. Her mother, on the other hand, never behaved this way in public. Sometimes Niki heard her crying in her bedroom, but that only happened when her father wasn’t home.

            “Mama?” She reached out to touch her arm.

            “What’s going on?” Her father stomped into the room covered in oils and flour. “I can hear you all the way in the back. You’re going to keep all the customers away!”

            “I’m sorry,” her mother sputtered and ran towards the bathroom.

            Niki picked up her spoon and glanced at her father. He made a wide gesture with his arms that meant she should go after her. She threw down the spoon and trudged into the bathroom.

            Vera was sitting on the closed toilet seat, dabbing at her eyes. She was trying not to ruin her make-up.

            “I’m sorry I wasn’t listening. What did you want from me?”

            “Oh, Nikolina. Your attitude needs to change. You graduated high school almost two years ago now and you’ve done nothing. Nothing!”

            “That’s not true!”

            “We work so hard and you just take, take, take. Your father’s back aches all day long, but he works! His blood pressure is out of control, but he works!”

            “Mom, I’ve told you, I’m going to go back to school. I need to save money.”

            “Whose money?” She squeezed the tissue in her hand so tight that her nails dug into her flesh. “If you worked, you could make your own money. If you even helped here, it would count as something.”

            “I’ve told you that I’m not going to embarrass myself by�"”

            Vera jumped up. “Do you know what my parents did to build this place?”

            Instead of shouting back, Niki rolled her eyes and said quietly. “Yes, Mama. You’ve told me dozens of times.”

            “You need to be more like your brother.” She said these words and pushed past her daughter, causing Niki to become unbalanced and fall toward the sink. She sneered at the dingy bathroom and pulled out her phone.

            “you dont have to pick me up ill meet you there” She sent the text to Jake and looked in the mirror. Her hair was thick and wavy, the color of good, black coffee. Her eyes were like dollops of honey. She looked like her mother, but far more attractive. Niki knew that Vera would never be young again, and she hated her daughter for this.

            Exiting the bathroom, she meant to eat the last of her krempita, but someone had cleared everything away. It looked like no one had ever been sitting at the table.

            Niki left the restaurant to walk home. She didn’t say goodbye to anyone. Everyone in her family was always at the restaurant, in the back and working, pleading to God for a customer to walk through the door. She hated being there. She thought the place smelled like greasy, burnt meat and looked old and tacky, almost like a funeral home from the eighties. Her opinions may have been influenced by her friends from school. After a couple of visits, Niki learned that such a restaurant was not a good place to hang out if she wanted to seem cool.

            Outside on the sidewalk, the April sun glared down at her. It wasn’t too hot, but it was bright. She had forgotten her sunglasses at home. They were her favorite pair. Givenchy. Black. Cat-eye. An old boyfriend bought them for her eight months ago. Digging in her pockets for her headphones, she overheard a blonde, tall woman in her late twenties talking on her phone. The blonde was also standing just outside the place, which Niki thought was odd, and she couldn’t help noticing the Versace aviators pushing her hair back.

            “How many should I get? ... I may have to wait a while. ... I don’t really care, they’re the best cream cakes I’ve ever had. ... Oh, I don’t care what they’re called. ... Zorka’s. ... Yeah, okay, bye.” The blonde put her phone away�"which was the latest iPhone�"and smiled at Niki as she went inside. Her lips were full and pink like a carnation. Niki suddenly felt like a flat tire. She gave up on looking for her headphones and stared at her own phone. It was a Moto G4 that her brother managed to buy from a friend when he was upgrading. There was a small crack on the left side of the screen. She pushed the thing into her back pocket and sighed.

            She didn’t want to go home, but there was nowhere else to go. Jake wasn’t going to meet her until six. He hadn’t texted back. Hopefully he wouldn’t show up at her family’s restaurant.

            She stuffed her hands in her pockets and walked the seven blocks north to her home. She moved around strangers who walked too slowly, and she was occasionally bumped into by those who wanted to walk faster.

            Zorka had been the name of her grandmother’s mother. She’d never met the woman since she’d died in Bosnia. Apparently, the mother-daughter relationship was a big deal in this family. Vera had been very close with her mother, and she had definitely made an effort to be close with Niki, but Niki honestly did not care. She wanted to get far away from her family, so she kept saving up her allowances. Whenever she needed to buy something�"like clothes, shoes, makeup, Starbucks, or whatever�"she begged her father for the money. He always gave in.

            Niki’s younger sister, Irena, was the prize of the family and got along much better with Vera. She’s the one who had made the krempita Niki enjoyed earlier. She scowled at the thought. She’d never been any good at cooking or baking.

            Or waitressing. Or hosting.

            So she’d given up, and was waiting it out. But her family was getting sick of her. Didn’t they understand that she just wanted to be American? Not Bosnian-American, but just a regular American girl. She really envied that towering woman’s blonde hair. Couldn’t her family support her? Didn’t they realize she didn’t even have a trace of an accent? It wouldn’t be long until she found the right kind of guy and became the right kind of wife.

            Getting to know Jake made her excited. He was a nice, giving man, and she thought he really liked her. He was 25 and had a great job with a local bank. Niki couldn’t remember what it was called, but she knew it was on the smaller side, not a chain like Bank of America. Still, she had the impression he made a good amount of money. She imagined the two of them moving in together within a few months’ time. She just had to make the right impression tonight.

            At the door to the apartment, she checked her phone and smiled. He had texted back a simple message: “ok np.”

            After spending about an hour or so lying in bed on her phone�"Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat�"Niki was thinking about taking a shower and getting ready for her date. The front door opened unexpectedly. She knew everybody was at the restaurant and would stay there all night until they closed at around 10 or 11, depending on if there were any customers.

            Niki stood up and walked towards the front room, and she ran right into Andrej, her brother.

            “Oh!” she said, and then started laughing. “You creeped me out.”

            He smiled a little, but his face remained serious. “Hi, Niko. Look, I need to talk to you.”

            “Okay, whatever.” Niki was still smiling as she sat on her bed. She shared the room with Irena, and they both slept on old, rigid, twin-size beds. Andrej sat on Irena’s bed, directly across from her.

            “So, I’m sure you’ve felt the tension lately.”

            “Yeah, I guess.” Her smile faded away.

            “Mom and Dad are not happy and there’s a lot of pressure because the business is... It’s not doing great.”

            “Obviously.” Niki smirked.

            Andrej paused and stared hard at her. She didn’t flinch under his gray eyes. “I’m here to give you a choice. She need to find a job or move out of the house. You have a month.”

            Her eyes bulged and she laughed. “Funny!”

            “I’m serious, Niko. They can’t afford this anymore. If you don’t pitch in�"”

            “I’ve tried to help at the restaurant and�"”

            “You barely tried! You texted all the time and were rude to customers.”

            They both scowled. “Finding a job is hard. I’ve tried. I need longer than a month.”

            “Not if you really try. You’ve gone on two interviews in the past three years.”

            “All these jobs want is experience, which I can’t get unless someone hires me!”

            Andrej stood up. “I’ve heard this all before, and I’m not going to be screamed at. You’re making excuses. It’s time to grow up.”

            “What about you? 26 and still living at home?”

            He stared hard at her again, his mouth so tight she thought he would swallow his lips, but then he left the room without saying anything. A moment later, Niki heard the front door open and close.

            She stared at the ceiling and shook her head. She knew she’d find a way around this, but the fact that they sent Andrej to talk to her meant something. Both of her parents were weak and couldn’t face her. Her father loved her and her mother didn’t like to argue. Andrej never fell into her traps.

            After checking the time, she rushed into the shower. She had to meet Jake soon. While shampooing her hair, she realized what she could say to him. She’d been kicked out. She needed a place to live. They’d known each other for about five weeks. This was their first official date, but they’d hung out with the same group of friends at least a dozen times. He knew her. He liked her, obviously. She thought he might let her stay at his place, at least for the night. And then again tomorrow night. And again the next night. Again and again.

 

Reviews

[Mr.Writer]

This is great! It's fun to read! I really like how you choose to portray Nikki and her parents. The way that they both think differently. Like how Nikki wants popularity and her parents just want some of her contribution but they won't get it as Nikki thinks that it'll ruin her looks.
Great job!!