One Step Closer

OSC/ Seven

One Step Closer/ Seven

                               Criss cruised down the Riverside Freeway; with the morning breeze in her hair…this would be her first day visiting her mother, since her parents had returned from their trip to Hawaii. Her mother worked with the trauma care unit at Corona Regional Medical Center…her father was a compu-wiz himself, which rubbed off on her. Criss’s sunglasses rested on her eyes, as Santeria by Sublime played on her stereo, courtesy of her iPod. She pulled into the nice, quiet community in the Norco Hills- her neighborhood where she grew up…it was still pretty much the same. She pulled into the large home...it had been about a year since she had lived there. Her mother’s Lexus RX 11 sat in the driveway- if there was such an event as a recession, it definitely wasn’t affecting the Morrisons.

                               Criss walked to the door, as her mother stepped outside.

                              “Crissette!”                                                           

                              “Moooom! Call me Criss,” she whined, walking into her mother’s loving embrace. She responded, giving her mother a tight squeeze. “How was Hawaii? Did you and Dad enjoy it?”

                               “Hawaii was…fine,” said her mother…Criss could feel a distance in her mother’s answering tone. She followed her mother into the house closing the door. “Have you had breakfast yet?”

                               “Um…no. I really don’t exactly eat breakfast,” answered Criss. Her mother looked to her with a cross expression. “Well that is no way to begin your morning, Crissette. You need a healthy breakfast to sustain the body’s peak energy level for the day,”

                                “So where’s Dad?”

                                 Her mother became silent for a minute, and Criss noticed the tightening of her lips at the question. Her mother then returned to her normal demeanor. “You know your father does his golfing on Sunday. He wont be home until about four-ish, and then we’ll be heading out to dinner with the Reischeks,”

                               Silence resonated for a few minutes.

                              “Mom…are you okay?”

                              “I’m fine, darling…why do you ask?”

                              “You seem really…tense,” observed Criss. “Did you and Daddy have a fight in Hawaii?”

                               “No dear…we didn’t fight in Hawaii. In fact, we had a great time in Hawaii,” answered her mother. “I…I just don’t quite know how to put this, Crissette,”

                               “I’m sure whatever it is, we can deal with it, Mom. I’m here for you,” said Criss. “So is Austyn,”

                               “Ah, Austyn…how is she doing with the modeling thing?” asked her mother. “I haven’t seen a single catalogue or an ad as so much,”

                              “Austyn is fine…she is seeing someone right now…a guy in my class. He is a gentleman- I made sure of that,” explained Criss, remembering how Austyn did come home last night- and brought Hadrian with her. Criss also reminisced on how she didn’t sleep well with all the moaning and screaming coming from Austyn’s room…usually Austyn was good about keeping her sex action quiet, but it seemed that, this time, she wanted Criss to hear her and Hadrian. Criss remember tussling and tumbling in her bed, as her ears caught most of the general action.