My Not So Predictable Life

For me, my life is so predictable. I wake up every day, walk with my dog, eat breakfast, and watch Netflix or read all day. My life is so boring, and I think I was really destined to live a boring and predictable life. Today is the first day of summer, which means no school. I already planned for this, as it will be my last summer before I go to college after this school year. Leaving no choice, I got out of my bed and quickly tidied it before leaving my room. My breakfast that day was fried rice and hotdogs, paired with my homemade iced coffee. I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to drink coffee because of my acid reflux, but I was bored. I tend to eat and drink things I'm not supposed to when I'm bored. Not to mention, I was alone since everyone else had already finished breakfast and was off doing their own thing. After eating breakfast, I cleaned up the kitchen and took a shower. I'm looking forward to this day because there are a lot of movies I want to watch this summer. I finished two movies, then woke up to my dog Waffles in my room. I thought he needed to go outside, so I quickly got up and changed into my sweatpants and T-shirt to walk him to the park. I was walking my dog when, out of nowhere, Waffles suddenly approached a guy and started nuzzling his hand. It felt like they knew each other, even though they had never met. "Hi, little golden retriever," he shyly said to Waffles. I couldn’t help but think that the guy was so handsome and cute. His eyes were brown, he was taller than me, and he baby-talked my dog—literally my type of man. It's weird staring at him. I approached him and Waffles. "Waffles, why did you suddenly run?" I asked my dog, as if he would actually respond. "Are you the owner of this cute little guy?" he inquired, as if he didn’t believe me. I answered, "Yes, this is my dog—his name is Waffles." He gave me a look as if he didn’t believe me. "Are you sure you're not a dog napper?" he said. I laughed. I asked myself in my head, what's a dognapper? "Don't worry, I'm not a dognapper," I responded, trying to hold back my laughter. "Okay, so do you have proof that this dog is yours?" he asked. "Look at his collar. It says Waffles, and if you turn it around, it says 'H.I.'—those are my initials." He looked so shy, and his ears turned red when he said, "I'm sorry, miss. I'm just really protective of dogs because my dog was stolen from me last month." "Well, that's not a valid reason for accusing someone of being a thief," I ranted while putting Waffles' leash on. "Did I hit your angry mode?" I turned red when he asked me. Shocked, I thought, this guy is such a cutie. He cares about my emotions and is also a dog lover. I'm super delusional. "Don't worry, I'm fine," I said before walking away. "Are you from here?" he asked before I walked off. I turned to him and said, "Yeah, I live here." "I'll see you around then," he mumbled. I was already turning red, so I just said, "Yeah, bye," and walked in the other direction. I didn’t even know that guy. I’ve lived in this neighborhood for nearly a decade, and it was really my first time seeing a boy that handsome and cute. He looked so familiar, like I’d seen him before—but how could I have seen him and not remembered who he was? I stared at my phone while walking, like I was thinking about something I couldn’t quite figure out. Then my phone rang—it was my mom, asking me to buy flowers from the park for her vase. Suddenly, it hit me: I didn’t even know the boy’s name or his social media account. I felt dumber than ever. I turned toward the flower shop my Auntie Izzy owned. She wasn’t entirely related to me, but I call her Auntie—she and my mom have been best friends since kindergarten. I envied their closeness; the two of them never kept secrets from each other. She was the first to know about my mom’s pregnancy with me, even before my dad. In contrast, she also confessed to my mom that she was pregnant at the same time. Her daughter and I are also best friends because we were born in the same week, in the same hospital. When Auntie Izzy was packing her bags to leave the hospital, my mom was there helping her when, all of a sudden, her water broke—and I was born. "Hi, my little sunflower," Auntie said while looking at me. "Hi waffles", while looking at my dog "Oh, hello to my favorite Auntie/godmother," I responded. There’s always been that special bond between us. The nickname she gave me was sunflower. She told me that she was cutting sunflowers when my mom told her I’d be a girl. From that day on, she’s called me sunflower. "I'm here to pick up Mom's flowers," I pleaded. "They're on the table. Get them yourself," she replied while cutting the roses and arranging them. "What are you doing?" I giggled. "A customer jogging by stopped and said he wanted to order a bouquet of roses." "Ahh, okay," I said, feeling bored. "I've never seen that boy before. He looked like your age." My eyes sparkled. It could be that the boy who ordered the roses was the same cute boy I met. "Is he handsome?" I questioned. "My little sunflower is curious about a guy," she muttered. I was blushing. "Stop with the teasing. I should go; Mom's texting me already," I stated. "Wait, there's actually a gerbera and some peonies left in the bucket. Get them and put them in the vase in your room. I know you love those," she added. I smiled as I approached the bucket. Auntie always runs out of gerberas—those are my favorite flowers, right next to peonies. When I looked at the bucket, there was only one gerbera left. I felt sad. I had always wanted three, as they symbolize "I love you". Only one gerbera left," I scoffed. Even though I was happy, because Auntie only sells gerberas once or twice a month, and it was her best-selling flower. "You know that's the store's best-selling flower. A customer wanted to buy all of them, but I wanted to give you some, so he left one," Auntie explained. "I love them, you're really the best", I said while looking at her. "Look waffles I received my first ever gerbera", I said to Waffles. Auntie responded, "I hope the next time you receive gerberas, it's three gerberas from a special person." "I don't need a special person to give me gerberas because I already have the best aunt who gives me free flowers when I'm in her shop," I jokingly said before saying goodbye and opening the door to head outside. Outside, I was giggling and shouting, "I finally have a gerbera!" I felt like a kid who just bought a new toy. I didn’t care what people thought; I was just so excited to put it in the vase in my room.