Love is just a formula

Chapter Nine

"Well, we'll just have to change that," she says, her mood lifting back into a playful and flirtatious one. I smile one lasts time and hop in my car, Storm waving as I pull out her drive way.

Sunday morning I wake to my buzzer for my door going off. I groan and rub the sleep out of my eyes while I sluggishly sitting up and throw my blanket off. I look at the time through narrow eyes at the alarm clock next to my bed, and it reads 6:45 am. Who on earth wakes up at that time on a Sunday? And who on earth is at my house at this time? I sure as hell didn't make plans with anyone, and all of my friends would've at least called first. Plus I can guarantee non of them would get up for anything at this time on a Sunday. A freaking Sunday.

I reach the bottom of my stairs and the buzzer goes off again.

"I'm coming I'm coming!!" I yell, not even sure if they can hear me. I scramble around for my keys for a few seconds and then stagger to the door. I swing it open as soon as I unlock it and I'm slapped in the face (metaphorically) by the person standing in front of me.

"Mother?" I ask, shocked and confused.

"Yes Thalia, it's your mother," she mocks, examining me standing there in a baggy sleeveless top and a pair of boxers with my hair in a messy sleeping bun.

"What on earth are you doing here?" I ask the obvious question, confused. She walks past me without an invitation to step inside and starts looking around as she walks, examining the house.

"Well I have a meeting in Toronto tomorrow, discussing a new leap in neuroscience that could help with my line of medicine, so I decided to stop by and see how my daughter is doing." She says as she wonders into the kitchen, not looking at me. Something flares up in me at her words, and I shut the door and speed walk after her. I feel slightly annoyed, angry. Which isn't rare when it comes to my parents. I always seem to feel those emotions when it comes to them.

"I haven't seen you in 4 months mom, and I've what, gotten 3 calls and 4 emails at most? You only care to actually VISIT your own daughter if it's convenient for you??" I say in exasperation. She glances up at me and looks me properly in the eyes, and it's hard to judge her emotions. She's definitely not mad or angry, or pissed. But she doesn't look guilty or like she feels bad either.

"I'm a very successful and busy women Thalia.. We've been through this. Plus, you're at that age when you don't need your parents around that much anymore." She says, as always, dismissing my emotions. She turns back to shuffling through my kitchen, her computer bag and purse on the counter. I roll my eyes and sit down. I've tried so many times to break through to my mom, tell her that I need a mother. But she doesn't seem to see it, she seems to think its all fine.

"That's the thing.. According to you I've never had an age where I needed a mother.." I say, quietly.

"What?" My mother says, turning around from making coffee. I know she heard what I said, and if I repeat myself I know all that will happen is that I'll get emotional and angry and she'll then get pissed at me for being 'over emotional' and 'ungrateful', and then my father will tell me to apologize and I will because there's no other way. My mother never apologizes. Well, she's never apologized to me.

So instead of turning things into a fight that we've been through so many times before, I say a simple "Nevermind mom," with a sigh.

She makes us breakfast and coffee and asks me about school and if I'm enjoying it. She knows my grades are good, because she always has the schools I'm attending to emailing her every single grade I get. She asks me about my friends that I've made, and I tell her a little bit about Cade, Elsa, Trystan, Cameron, Storm and Julia. She also asks me if I'm dating anyone or interested in anyone, and I tell her that both Cameron and Trystan have crushes on me, but I'm not sure if I feel the same way. I leave out Storm and Ava, not that my mother is homophobic. I'm well aware she experimented when she was younger, and my fathers twin sister is gay, so my dad is fine with it too, but I don't feel the need to share that information with my mom.