Swan Song [boyxboy]

Swan Song {23} END

                I glanced at my mom’s face, but it was carefully composed, giving away nothing. I shook my leg anxiously and nodded at her.

                “Go ahead,” I said.

                She looked down at the table before looking up at me. Her composure fell and a grin stretched onto her face.

                “No,” I whispered in horror. “Mom, no. Don’t do this to me. I’m your son. Please don’t do this to me.”

                “It’s too late Jace,” she said, sounding overly pleased. “You made a mistake and now you’re going to pay for it.”

                “No!” I cried as she dropped what was in her hands to the table.

                “AHA! I WON!” she cheered.

                “My own mom just beat me at Phase 10,” I groaned, slumping back in my chair and throwing my cards to the table.

                “You’re lucky I’m not singing We Are The Champions,” she said smugly. “I’m going to hold this victory over your head for the rest of your life. That’s what you get for talking so tough before we started. What did you say? Something about embarrassing me?”

                I buried my face in my hands. “I just lost to my mom!”

                She laughed and I picked my head up, miserably helping her pick up the cards. We put them away and I stood up, stretching.

                “That was fun. I should beat you more often,” mom said.

                “Don’t get so smug. I’ll win next time,” I assured her.

                She kissed my cheek. “It’s adorable when you think you can beat me.”

                “Mom!” I whined.

                She laughed and hugged me. “Are you going to Mitch’s house today?”

                I glanced at the clock and nodded. “Yea, I’m probably going to head over, if you’re okay with that.”

                “I’m fine with that. I’m going out to dinner with friends tonight anyways,” she said with a smile.

                It had been a week since our date at the lake. In just a week, things had improved incredibly.

                I started spending more time home with my mom, taking her out to dinner and playing games with her at home. We had bonded a lot over the past week and I was beyond thrilled when I saw the worry in her eyes start to morph into happiness. She knew I was getting better.

                Mitch and Shane had been keeping good control over how much alcohol I was allowed to drink, and had begun the process of slowly working me off of it. Anytime I started to crave alcohol and get irritable, Mitch would…well, he would distract me in ways that I didn’t complain about.

                “I’ll be back home tomorrow,” I promised mom. “We can go get lunch!”

                “That sounds fun! Maybe we can also go see a movie and get ice cream after,” she said with a smile.

                “Anything you want,” I said, returning the smile. I hugged her. “I’m going to head out now. I’ll see you tomorrow mom.”