Bitter (wlw) (teacherxstudent)

sixty-four

"Eleonor! Hi!" my mom hugged me as soon as I walked into the house, the familiar smell of dried flowers and old newspaper invading my nostrils.

"Hi mom" I hugged her back, internally cringing at her calling me that.

"How's my beautiful daughter?" she asked, keeping her hands on my shoulders.

"I'm good. A bit tired but good. How are you? Where's dad?" I did my best to sound believable.

"Definitely good now that you're here. He'll be back from work in two hours. Oh, I'm so happy to see you" she finally let go of me, a huge smile still planted on her face. "I'll let you settle in your room upstairs, we can catch up on everything later. Do you want me to make you some food?"

"I'm good, but thanks" I chuckled. "And yeah, I need to rest for a while. I'll tell you everything when dad's here too" I added, knowing the answers to the majority of their questions were going to be lies.

"Did you have your hair cut, honey? I thought you were going to grow it out, for once"

"I- Yeah. I like it better this way" I just said as I walked up the stairs.

I threw myself on the bed as soon as I entered my room, feeling like I was so tired I could have fallen asleep at that moment, despite it being just four in the afternoon. The sight of the room I'd spent so much time in made me feel weird, and not in a good way, just like the other times I'd gone back home after a while.The only thing that could make me feel better in that moment was probably hearing from Sam.

you: been here for five minutes and already received a comment about my appearance

sam<3: Oh no
sam<3: I'm sorry baby. I can call you as soon as I get out of work if you want
sam<3: Also, hope your journey was okay

you: it's alright, my hair is apparently just too short for my mom's liking
you: thank god i remembered to tuck my piercing in
you: i'm hopefully seeing vic this evening, but you can call me whenever, she won't mind

sam<3: Well, I think your hair looks amazing. But you'd look amazing with anything, honestly
sam<3: I've got to go now, hear from you later then. I love you. So so much :)

you: i love you <3

My parents were not happy about me telling them I'd be going out with Vic that same evening, even though they tried to hide it. But at that point I really couldn't care less, I'd come to terms with their dislike for my best friends ages before.

"So, how have the past months in a city like New York been?" my dad asked as I sat at the dinner table, probably to change the subject.

"Great, really great" I said, at least not having to lie about that. "It's all completely different from here, but I love it. I haven't enjoyed myself as much as in the past months"

"That's amazing" he went on. "And what about university? You said your exams all went well, right? Are you satisfied with your course after your first year?"

"Yeah, I did pretty well, I guess. And yes, I'm really happy. I couldn't be happier about my course" I smiled.

"We're so proud of you, honey" he nodded. "Maybe you weren't cut out for what I wanted you to do after all" he chuckled, completely ruining the moment. He'd always wished I'd followed the finance route, like him, and wasn't too happy about my passion for literature.

"Also, I hate to be that kind of mom, but have you met any interesting boys?" my mom added with a raise of brows.

"I, uhm, I- I've been concentrating on university more than other stuff" I stumbled on my words, hopefully sounding convincing enough while I almost choked on my food.