Friendly Dating 2 - Ethan

Chapter 28 - Some Bonding Required

I check my phone to see that Kira hasn't read my message. She might not have looked at her phone yet. She doesn't generally ignore people, even when she wants to, but she often forgets that she owns a phone. Seriously! When did I turn into someone who checks his phone every five minutes for texts from a girl?! Still, I don't want things to fester and get worse, so I'll send one last message and then just leave her in peace. "Are you mad at me?"

While I wait for the coffee to brew, I raid the refrigerator for things that are already ready to eat, piling pieces of leftover roast and potato salad onto a plate. I've wolfed it all down by the time the coffee is ready, and I pour myself and my mother each a cup, grab the biscuit tin and join her at the table.

"What's eating at you, Ethe?" she asks, and I nearly lose half a biscuit in my coffee. How does she always do that? I didn't say a word; I didn't even make any weird sounds. I just sat here, dunking biscuits in my coffee, while she sat near me, sipping her coffee, watching me do it. Well, there's no point in pretending that I don't have anything on my mind; she can be as tenacious as Delia when she smells a story, and she's apparently clairvoyant.

"Kira said she hasn't been okay since she met me 12 years ago... that's bad, right?"

My mom blinks at me in surprise, and then she laughs, reaching out to squeeze my arm. "No, Honey. I would say that is very good. It means you've made an impact on her life."

"Not a good one," I point out logically. "Or she would've been more than okay now, not not okay."

"No, that would've been bad," she says, confusing me.

"It would?"

"Yes, if she were okay or better than okay since meeting you, it would've meant that you're filling some kind of necessary service for her, like a cleaner or a gardener. People don't generally marry their useful services... they just pay them. Women marry the guys who turn their lives upside down and cause them to be not okay."

I frown at the woman who gave birth to me and raised me, wondering what in life made her so warped. What on Earth is she on about?

"That's insane."

"I agree," she laughs, taking a biscuit from the tin. Oh, great, as long as we agree. "Besides, think about it," - oh, wonderful; there's more! - "Not okay, could potentially mean much better than just okay. Honey, from what I've seen, you definitely make Kira's life so much better than okay."

"So, I'm a useful service?" I want to get married to her one day, not get paid! Why did I think talking to my mother would help? Sure, she usually has good advice, but today she's completely off her game... and off her rocker.

"No, you don't; you turn her life upside down... in a good way."

"Sometimes, I mow their lawn and weed their flowerbeds," I point out reasonably, reaching down to scratch Lazy-Bones' ears when he wanders into the kitchen and plops himself down next to my chair, looking up at me with mournful eyes, trying to let me know that the world is about to end.

"That makes you Joe's useful service, Honey. That's okay; you don't want to marry Joe."

"Right... that was not confusing at all," I grunt, frowning at my mother. "Always fun chatting with you, Mom. I'm gonna go now and chat with Burlap so I can get my brain back."

"Oh, Honey," my mother laughs, grabbing my hand when I stand. "I think she meant that you stir her heart and her mind, which is a good thing. She is definitely not unaware of your existence."

"Well, I know she's not unaware of me... I'm just... I don't know..."

"She adores you. I'm your mother, I can tell."