Teach Her | Cillian Murphy x Reader

22. Motel

October 31

9:43 AM

"Talking to a boy last night?" my mother suddenly asked me, causing me to almost cut myself with the knife that I was using to cut up fruit for breakfast.

"What are you talking about?" I asked keeping my head down as I tried to focus on cutting the strawberries in front of me, not the fact my mother had probably overheard Cillian and I's whole conversation last night.

"Are you going out with him tonight?" she asked as she turned off the oven, the sound of sizzling eggs quickly stopping, making the kitchen go silent. I swallowed, glancing up at my mother who was focused on making up the plates for us, probably not even entirely tuned in on the conversation we were having.

I shook my head, deciding to act stupid. "I'm going out with Julia, actually. Probably soon."

My mother raised an eyebrow as she dumped eggs onto only two plates, distributing them evenly.

"You're leaving this early to hang out with Julia on Halloween?"

"Yep." I said sharply, dumping the fresh fruit into a bowl before placing it on the dining table, trying my hardest to escape the conversation my mom was attempting to have with me.

"If it's a boy you can tell me, Jeane." she egged on, following me into the dining room.

I sighed quietly, looking up at her. I could that she wanted to be excited over this, that was she wanted it to be a boy I was talking to. After barely having any friends, let alone any social interaction in high school, any thought of me having a boyfriend seemed like a miracle. But I couldn't even call Cillian my boyfriend, so it wasn't like I was lying to her either.

"Has dad left yet?" I asked, taking a seat in my usual chair at the opposite side of the table where my mother usually sat, tossing a piece of toast onto my plate.

"He left about two hours ago."

"What?" I asked looking up from my plate, furrowing my eyebrows in frustration, and confusion. "He didn't even say goodbye to me or anything."

"He seemed pretty upset with you last night," she mentioned, taking a sip of coffee as she began eating. "I'm not sure what you did, but he was just yelling. I'm surprised the neighbors didn't complain."

She laughed quietly to herself, trying to make it seem like a joke, like it wasn't her fault for spewing pure bullshit to my father about how university was going for me.

"Maybe it's because you lied to him?" I said looking back down at my plate, trying to avoid the usual glare and distaste my mother always seemed to have in eyes for me.

"I didn't lie to him, Jeane. Maybe you should be more grateful, yeah?" she hissed back, practically slamming the cup of coffee back onto the dining table, making me jump slightly.

"Whatever." I dismissed the conversation by standing up and walking into the kitchen, plate in my hand before dumping it in the sink to be washed. I couldn't be bothered to engage in further conversation with her.

I went upstairs and quickly locked myself in my bedroom. I walked over to my phone that sat on my nightstand, noticing a missed text from Cillian from twenty minutes ago, mentioning that he'd be here in around an hour. I smiled at the text, but also felt a wave of nerves ripple throughout my body. Knowing that he was about to show up at my house made me feel sick. If my mother caught me getting into his car I knew that I'd for sure be dead, more specifically because I was lying to her. I never liked lying to my mother, especially about where I was going to be, but I had to. It wasn't like she was going to find out.