the not so romantic / simon minter

12

The landscape blurs green as she watches from the window on the train. It goes so fast that it feels like the scenery has gone on a loop. By half an hour in, her eyes feel heavy. Her phone vibrates twice, and without second though, powers it down.

She sleeps all the way home; or at least until an employee asks to see her train ticket, and notifies her when she's arrived to her destination. And by the time she gets through the doors to her childhood home, she realizes that everything has changed, and nothing has stayed the same. The rosebush out front is now a lilac bush. The couch that had been red and lumpy, was now black and new.

"Mum!?" She calls out, setting her bags down. "Mum, are you here?!" Looking at the clock, she notices that it's past 7:30 in the evening; and has yet to turn her phone back on.

Settling in the kitchen, she grabs a glass of milk and cups a few chocolate chip cookies from the cookie jar. Turning her phone back on, she grimaces at (48) unread messages / 4 missed calls. She doesn't listen to the messages, and she doesn't respond to Dominic, but instead; she reads Simon's messages.

Simon Minter
you left so quickly
and without explanation
i hope mr waters isn't too angry w/you

Maggie Sommers
yeah, sorry about that.
there's a family emergency and i didn't think i owed anyone an explanation

Simon Minter
hey
i was just checking up
never said you owed me an explanation.

Maggie Sommers
don't know why i said it like that.
guess i got really defensive really quick

Simon Minter
you're entitled to your feelings
i know i would of done the same
family is a really important aspect

Maggie Sommers
btw  i don't know if dom is angry with me or not
i haven't told him where i went
so, there's that

Simon Minter
wait
(...)
(...)
(...)
(...)
be safe, maggie may x

Brushing her thumb across her lip, she smiles whilst clicking her screen off. When she looks up she catches her mum with tired eyes.

"Hi, baba." Mumma Sommers walks into the kitchen, and sits by her daughter, snagging a cookie and taking the bits of chocolate chips out. Maggie watches her collect them into a small little pile before she dips her cookie into the single glass of milk. "Who's got you smiling?"

"Who says I'm smiling?" Maggie quirks, smiling anyways.

"Have you and Dom made up?"

Maggie shakes her heads. "No, not really. I think it's been hard on him these past few months. Stress and all that."

"Don't make excuses for him, Maggie. He's a grown man."

"..., are you trying to say something?"

Her mum shakes her head. "I'm not saying anything, honey. I just want you to be happy."

"I am happy." She thinks.

By then, her mum has let the conversation go. Maggie watches her diddle-daddle in the kitchen, cleaning what has already been cleaned, fixing things that hadn't need fixing, and by the end of her anxious shuffling; prepares a tea for the two of them and sits back down.

"Are you okay, mum?" Maggie asks after a prolonged silence. "Because you can tell me."

Maggie's mum gives her a small smile. It's faint and looks forced. But anything to protect her daughter from having her heartbroken.

"Just thinking about Granddad, mostly. Almost the same amount as I think of you." She pauses, and with her eyes shut, and her thumbs running over the handle of her tea cup. She questions. "Are you sure everything is okay back home?"

"This is my home." Maggie clarifies, trying to find something in her mother's posture that would give way any signs of distress.

Shaking her head, her mum finally looks at her. Dead in the eye, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "No, you haven't. You haven't been home in years. And when you do plan on coming, there's always a last minute call that plans changed, you can't make it. It breaks your father's heart."

"It's not me." Maggie whines, her heart heavy, and her tongue in her throat. She feels sick. "It's Dom. He's... it's his schedule. He hasn't been home for a Christmas since University. I can't help it."

"I thought you wanted Prince Charming?"

Maggie laughs. "Prince Charming doesn't exist, mum. I'm not ten anymore. This..., what me and Dom have. It's real. It's back and forth, and sometimes it's too much--sometimes it's more than too much--but I don't... I don't think, I see my life without him. Isn't that what love and commitment is?"

"It's funny, my girl. The way he's twisted how you view your relationship. Especially your stance on love."