Prom Queen ⚢ [EDITING]

↻ ◁ thirty-two ▷ ↺

"but she'll trade it all
for a heart that's whole"

After spending some time with Camryn over the weekend, it started to become increasingly clear that my mother wanted to see me. I don't know what gave me the idea exactly—maybe the countless texts I received during the movie we were watching that were telling me to get home as soon as I could. That could've been it.

The entire drive home, I worried. I know we were dealing with the whole Mateo Mora situation, but other than that, I had no clue what could've had her so adamant about seeing me. And since we'd never texted much up until a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't tell whether she was seriously in trouble or just being a mother.

Although, when I walked through the door and she was sitting at the kitchen island comfortably with a smile on her face and an apple in her hand, I suppose I had my answer.

"Mom," I said as I closed the door behind me, essentially announcing to her and Francis that I was home. She turned to look at me, beaming.

"Ivy!" She pushed herself off of the barstool to meet me at the door and pull me into a hug—something I was still trying to get used to after going years without any kind of physical affection from her. "Where were you? Are you okay?"

I stared at her in confusion as she let me go. "Yeah, I'm fine; I was with Camryn. Are you okay?"

"What? Of course I am," she said with similar skepticism. "Why?"

"You texted me, like, eight times," I explained, "I was worried that you were in trouble or something."

She chuckled. "No, no, I just wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Well, I want you to free your schedule tomorrow."

I tilted my head to the side, sending her a puzzled glance. I was supposed to get lunch with the girls tomorrow, but if this was really important, I guess I could take a raincheck for once.

"For what?"

"I'm taking you dress shopping for prom."

A bubbly sensation settled in my stomach as I relished in her words—words I never thought I'd hear from my mother. Of course, things were still weird between us; I mean, how can you go from being practically estranged to a perfect mother-daughter relationship? But it was nice to hear that she was trying to be thoughtful.

"Are you sure?" I asked, not trying to get my hopes up in case she was making a promise she couldn't keep for some reason.

She nodded. "Absolutely. We can make it a cute little mother-daughter date and spend the day at the mall. How does that sound?"

Truly, it was like she was speaking a foreign language. A beautiful foreign language that you couldn't help but want to keep listening to. It almost sounded too good to be true.