GONER

27 • Drugs and Doctors

My eyes hardened at her words, and I kept the eye contact with her, despite the anger and harsh words I wanted to throw in her face. "And you wonder why I never talk to you? That's why."

She laughed, throwing her head back. "Great. It's official." She said, waving the device at me. "One week. See you downstairs," she smiled, going to walk away. She didn't get very far until the phone dinged with a new message, and there was only two people that ever actually bothered to message me, one of them being her, and I rolled my eyes as she looked at the screen eagerly.

"How sweet," she said, her voice dripping with faux cheeriness. I could imagine her tone melting and puddling around my half-dressed feet, and I kept my gaze. "He told you to have fun." She informed, putting a hand over her heart. The mockery in her voice literally made me sick to my stomach. "Once again, see you down stairs. And put your shoe on."

I had to stay calm. I needed to stay calm. I didn't want to get too worked up before I actually got there, because that would make a terrible and awkward time for everyone. And as much as I disliked my mom right now, I didn't want to make her look bad in front of her co-workers as much as I wanted to, want to.

~~~

Whenever my mom and I have to ride in a car together, it's always painfully tense. We can ever agree on what to keep on the radio, and her driving habits make me nervous. I haven't even seen her use a blinker in a long, long time, and I'm assuming it had something to do with my father. It made her careless and annoying, but, as far as I was concerned, that didn't warrant bad driving.

"You're going to behave." She hissed lightly, parking in a crowded driveway without even thinking about it. I don't know how the lot of us planned to leave whenever this was done, but I knew that this was a large house with a nice lawn, and skid marks were going to be less than appreciated if the time came. "You're going to behave, and be polite. And take that sweatshirt off. It's not even cold."

I looked down at what she was wearing, which was a light yellow shirt that didn't hug her body as much as she thought it did, along with white jeans I didn't know she owned, and I hated that my mom was pretty, because she was. And people told her that all the time, and it usually just filtered back to her asking herself why Dad left her if he was so gorgeous. It was pointless, and gave her an ego. Sure, it didn't last for long, but it was still terrible to listen to.

"Absolutely not." I stated, laughing. "I can wear whatever I want."

"Tyler, so help me-"

Before she could continue, I hopped out of her car, knowing she would eventually win, and that I would have to take it off. I really, really didn't want to do that, because just the thought made a lump grow in my throat. So I shut the car door behind me and walked up to the porch, my eyes cast to the too-green grass. I hated this place already, and I could hear the voices inside. Are these the people my mom spends time with?

"You want to get your ass kicked, don't you?" My mom asked from behind me, moving to grab my arm tightly. Somehow, her short nails reached through the heavy sweatshirt fabric, and I whipped my eyes to hers. "If you embarrass me, I'll ground you for the rest of your life."

I smiled at her, my free arm going to knock on the door. Her eyes blazed with something I couldn't even explain, and I knew I was going to in some serious crap when we got home. "I've got less than a year, and than I'll be out of your house. Okay?" I grinned. "If I can't wait, so can you."