Idiot For Hire [On Hold]

8: It's Not Your Job to Care

A/N: I decided to start naming my chapters after seeing it somewhere and thinking it was totally cute and clever. Just letting you guys know in case you were curious about the names! Anways, hope you guys enjoy, and let me know what you think! Comments make my day! :)

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Idiot For Hire

Chapter 8: It's Not Your Job to Care 

I tried to play it cool, hoping my calm façade would rub off on my mother at least a little bit. It wasn’t a very good plan, but it was worth a shot. I had nothing else, and my mom looked like she was about to pee her pants. “Nothing,” I said, casually shrugging my shoulders. “You know, it’s actually time for me to go to bed since absolutely nothing is happening and I need my beauty sleep for tomorrow. Come on, Nathan.”

I grabbed Nathan by the hand and tugged him forward, but my mother’s angry tone made us both stop short. “Adriana, let go of that boy’s hand,” she demanded. “Now.”

I felt my hand twitch, almost giving into my mother’s request, but I stood strong and held onto Nathan. I felt a strange reassurance holding onto him, one I hadn’t felt in a long time. Actually, I couldn’t remember ever feeling it in the first place, which was kind of sad.

Her eyes narrowed at the sight of our hands. They weren’t intertwined like a couple’s would be, but just the fact that they were touching was disturbing enough for my mother to become furious. “What were you two doing in that cupboard?”

Don’t ask me how, but I could just sense some sort of inappropriate comment about to surface from Nathan’s mouth, and I subtly jabbed him in the side with my elbow, promptly shutting him up before he had the chance to speak. “We were, uh, checking the groceries,” I said, mentally slapping myself for the stupidity of my answer. So much for getting out of this alive. “To see what we need. For food.”

“Since when do you check the groceries?” she asked. “Since when do you check anything?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, praying this passive aggressive banter would continue, although I knew it wouldn’t. She’d get tired of it pretty quickly. “I’m always helpful around the house. Right, Trish?”

Trish snapped out of her awed trance and nodded emphatically; for once, she had nothing to say. I think she was more freaked out than I was.

My mother shook her head. “I don’t have time for this. I’ve had a long day, and I can’t believe this is what I get to come home to. This is insulting.”

“You look tired,” I went on, completely ignoring her. “You should go to bed and get your beauty sleep. In fact, that sounds like a grand, universal idea. I think—”

“Adriana,” my mother interrupted, her patience having worn thin. I knew it would happen eventually, so I wasn’t very surprised. “Quit playing games. This is so unlike you.”

“I’m not playing games. I’m trying to go to sleep.”

Nathan started shaking with silent laughter, a fact that I was immediately aware of since we were still holding hands. I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to stand up to my mother like that if I hadn’t had the reassurance of his hand. It was something so simple yet so influential. I didn’t really know how to describe it, but I did know I didn’t want to let go.  

My mother, however, was less than amused. “I’m not in the mood, Adriana. What is this boy doing in my house?” The way she looked at Nathan hadn’t changed from the first time she’d met him. She still looked at him like he was a squished bug on her severely overpriced (but totally cute) shoe, the same way she’d looked at my first boyfriend, the way I wished she’d look at Mitch.