missing | gilinsky

47

Jack Johnson

I'm standing here in a lion suit, sweating my ass off, staring at my mom - who looks just as confused as I'd imagine she would. I stiffen the second she lays her eyes on me. I'm surprised she was able to pry her eyes away from Gilinsky and Nadia, who have broken apart due to Mom's presence. 

She doesn't know it's me inside, and I can see the wheels in her head turning trying to figure it all out. 

"Mom!" Nadia finds her voice. "You're home early."

Mom adverts her eyes from me, turning to her daughter, and for a moment I'm hurt, but then I remember she has no idea the son she has been looking for is right in front of her. 

"Boss cut loose my shackles," she smiles, finally breaking out of her trance. She shuffles over to her and Jack and engulfs her in a huge. I swallow hard. She leans over and hugs Jack too, her smile replaced with a smug grin. "Looks like you two got to know each other well in New York."

The two turn red, and Nadia stares down at the ground. I'm surprised that instead of  doing the same, Gilinsky actually wraps an around around Nadia's shoulder. 

"Yeah, she's pretty cool," he gushes, which makes Nadia turn a shade darker. 

"Not as cool as me!" Hannah sing-songs, taking the attention off the two love-birds. Mom does a little squeal and hugs Hannah just as tight as she hugged Nadia. She's like her second daughter. Except not blood related - because that would be kind of awkward considering I find her extremely attractive when she shimmies away from Mom and plops down next to Sam. 

"Don't I get a hug?" He pouts. 

"I saw you a couple of hours ago, Sammy, don't push it."

We all laugh, and that's when she looks back over at me. I swallow hard again, not knowing what to do. 

"Uh, Mom," Nadia whispers. 

"Is that...." She won't even let herself finish the sentence. My heart's in my throat. 

"Yes. That's Jack." 

"Hey -" I croak, cutting myself off before I can fuck up even more. Clearing my throat, I stare at her through my lion helmet. I have no idea what I'm even supposed to say. Is 'I'm sorry' suffice enough? Do I tell her I missed her? I did like crazy. 

"Let me see you," she pleads, taking slow steps toward me. It's a little hard considering the helmet is heavy as hell, but eventually I get the thing off my head and by the time I do Mom's two feet away from me, I could reach out my hand and touch her. 

"Hey," I repeat, not able to find her eyes. What if she looks disappointed in me? I don't think I could handle that. If seeing Nadia look at me like that hurt, I can't imagine how bad it would feel to have my mom do the same. 

"Look at me, baby, don't be scared," she says. I will myself to look up to see a soft smile on her face. She looks the same. Her eyes are still the brightest blue I've ever seen, although her hair has began to grow lighter. "I missed you." 

I clench my jaw and smile back. Everything hurts but I'm not sure why. When I first walked into the house I went into panic mode because all I could think of was Dad and how he wasn't here, but then Nadia hugged me and took away a little of the pain. 

But right now I was all on my own, or so I thought until Mom tugged me into a hug, sweaty lion suit and all. I immediately reciprocated, breathing in her peachy scent. "I missed you back," I mumble into her shoulder. 

"Don't you ever do that to me again," she orders, backing away from the hug and slapping my chest, hard. I flinch a little, not answering. She searches my eyes and closes hers for a moment.