From Beginning to End

Chapter 5

"How are you doing, honey?" My mom's voice was distorted through the receiver, but in the background I could hear what sounded like the ocean and perhaps seagulls. It sounded so relaxing. I inwardly sighed, wondering for the five millionth time if I had made the right choice by not going with my parents on the cruise.

"I'm pretty good, Mom. How's the cruise?"

Taking the opportunity just as I thought she would, she launched into a detailed description of all of the wonderful things she had been doing for the last month. Apparently, they had docked for two weeks on an island resort of some sort and my mother said that she had spent the entire time shopping and sipping mimosas out of a coconut on the beach. She also told me about the accommodations on the cruise ship, including the five star meals, three swimming pools both indoor and outdoor, and the suite that she and my father were staying in which sounded like a penthouse the way she described it. By the time she finished gushing nearly twenty minutes later, I was convinced that she had gone back in time and was a passenger on the Titanic.

"Oh, honey, I wish you were here," she said wistfully. "You would have absolutely loved this."

I didn't doubt it. "No, you two should enjoy it. I'm good here." It was true; I was doing just fine as long as you didn't count my minor blunder at the beginning of the summer. Still, lounging on a tropical beach did sound pretty nice. But if I had gone with my parents, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to spend so much time with Jake.

Come to think of it, if I hadn't gone to that party and gotten absurdly drunk, getting to know Jake wouldn't have happened. It was weird to think that something that was turning out to be really promising came from something completely nightmarish. I couldn't decide if I would actually go back and change it so that night never happened because I was almost positive that if those two guys hadn't tried to hurt me, then Jake would have never even spoken to me for the entire summer and I would have never known what an amazing person I had missed out on all those years.

My mom's voice brought me out of my thoughts, "What have you been doing?"

I snorted quietly to myself. That was an interesting question. No matter what I said, there was no way I would get out of the conversation without a million more questions. Clearly telling her that I had gotten drunk and a boy had basically spent the night with me was not the best choice. However, neither was informing her that I had spent the vast majority of the month sitting on my ass and ingesting massive amounts of junk foods. Talking about Jake was completely out of the question. "Oh you know," I said slowly, "just relaxing."

"Relaxing doing what, Crystal?"

"Um, not much. Just teenager things."

My mother sighed and I knew right then that she was completely aware that I had done nothing. Rather than nag me about it though, she decided to stay silent which was surprising. My mother was probably one of the most active women in the entire universe. She couldn't stand to be still for more than a few seconds at a time. Still, I appreciated that she was going to let me use my summer the way that I wanted to rather than chastise me for it and make me feel guilty.

"Well I've got to go Crystal. We'll be home in another couple of weeks but I'll call again before then."

"Okay. Bye Mom, enjoy the rest of your cruise." Amazing; not even any last minute orders from her.

"Thank you honey. And don't forget about your doctor's appointment next week." Ah, there it was. I smiled to myself; of course she wouldn't be able to resist reminding me of at least one scheduled thing.

"I won't Mom; don't worry. Love you." She said her goodbyes and then I hung up the phone. For a moment, the silence was disconcerting. I still hadn't quite gotten used to being alone in my house for such a long period of time. Even though it was almost eleven in the morning already, I was still halfway expecting to hear my mother cooking a late breakfast like she always did on Saturdays.