Always

Chapter 16

When I woke in the morning, I immediately wished I had made some kind of plan with Harry. It hadn't even occurred to me last night to try and arrange something, but now it was glaringly obvious. I wanted to see him again, as soon as possible. Determined to make that happen today, for however long, I dragged myself out of bed to take a shower. I pondered while I showered what I could do to see him again, debating if I should text, call, or just walk over to his house.

Deciding just showing up at his house could be a bit aggressive, I settled on calling him, wanting to hear his voice. I was just psyching myself up about what to say as I walked out of my bathroom to discover my mother sitting on my bed. Seeing her there made me jump, not expecting her to be home.

"Mom, what are you doing?" I asked, grasping my towel closer to my body.

"Where were you last night?" she responded, the reason for her visit clear now.

"Um... " I started, not ready to share with her what was going on yet. "I was here," I tried, shuffling over to my dresser so I wouldn't have to look at her. Technically not a lie, I just wasn't here until shortly after 2:00 am.

"No, I got home from work around midnight and you were most definitely not here," she said sternly. I huffed out a sigh. Better to tell her the truth than to have her assume I was off at a party somewhere.

"I was hanging out with Harry," I admitted.

"Harry? That nice boy from dinner?" she asked. I didn't know what other Harry she could possibly mean.

"Yes."

"Why were you so late? He hardly seems the type to stay out until such a time," she insisted, probably not fully believing me.

"We were watching a movie and we fell asleep," I answered honestly, leaving out the other bits.

"Where at?" she pressed.

"His house! Mom what's with the third degree?" I asked exasperatedly. "I thought you liked him?"

"I do, I just don't know how I feel about you staying out so late," she said, insisting on being difficult.

"I've stayed out later than that before," I informed her. It was true- with my friends, with Colt, on all occasions doing far less respectable things than I had been doing last night.

My mother pursed her lips, thinking about this before saying, "Fine. As long as you're being good. I don't want to get a phone call someday saying you're in a ditch somewhere."

I rolled my eyes. "Good thing we're not being dramatic or anything." I clutched my clothes in my hand. "Now will you get out so I can get dressed?"

She stood up from my bed before shooting me one more reprimanding look. "Yeah, yeah. Want to go get lunch soon?" she asked, mood suddenly shifting now that she had gotten my scolding out of the way. I hesitated, wanting to try and see Harry. On the other hand, I had hardly seen my mom all week and didn't want to upset her and lose her fairly slack parenting rules.

"Yeah, sure," I replied. "Just let me get dressed quick then I'll come down."

"Okay," she replied happily, leaving the room.

***

Lunch consisted of my mother grilling me about Harry and me trying to answer her as vaguely as possible. Never satisfied with my answers, she pressed even further before I had to nearly shout that I hardly knew what was going on, much less able to explain it to her. Huffing disappointedly at me, she finally accepted my answers and started blabbering about work and the latest crisis she had had to deal with. Not surprised that she had turned the topic to work after she could no longer harass me about Harry, I happily listened, glad to no longer be the target of her interrogation.