Green Lantern's Protégée

38: "Where's my goodnight kiss?"

Alfredo's

December 16, 13:55 EDT

"How is this place empty?" Kailey Brion breathed, looking up at the sparkling chandelier that hovered over their two-person table.

The rest of the lights in the restaurant were off, just illuminating around where Cyra sat with her mother. There was a bowl of breadsticks in the center of the table and salads before them, but Cyra already ravaged hers and stole all the croutons from her mother's plate.

"I asked Alfredo to clear the place because you had that face on like you were going to kill me when you asked me to go out to dinner with you," Cyra said, her eyes wide like saucers as they analyzed her mom's every move.

"You can do that?" her mom's mouth fell open. "That's amazing! You must cost this place a fortune eating here."

"I saved the place, like, eight times, so it pays off." Cyra shifted in her seat. "So . . . are you going to yell at me?"

"Why would I do that?"

Cyra eyes blinked like an owl's and she immediately knew whatever answer she chose would land her in a trap. Her mother's voice was abnormally light, her smile not quite reaching her eyes as she tilted her head. It reminded Cyra of a snake asking a mouse rather it would like to be eaten or killed them eaten. It was like a scene out of Saw.

Cyra answered by shoving a breadstick down her mouth, shrugging apologetically as she couldn't answer.

Kailey Brion waited patiently for her daughter to finish, pulling the basket away before Cyra could save herself with more garlic bread. "You make it seem like you're hiding something, Cyra."

"Pfft," Cyra waved her off. "Hiding something? Me? Never. Unless you mean the whole superhero thing, which was one moment, but nope, besides that, I'm completely out of secrets. Why? Anything you want to tell me, Mom? That I'm your favorite? How nice of you to finally say, I knew it all along—"

"Cyra." The Green Lantern's heart spiked and she imagined it felt like what a heart attack would.

"Alexa's pregnant." Cyra winced, her head falling into her hands as she refused to look up from her palm. She grumbled, "I am the worst."

"I knew it!" Kailey pounded her fist on the table. "I can't believe that little turd thought she could hide it from me! Ugh!" Kailey fell back in her chair, angrily scratching her knife into the linen tablecloth. "What am I going to do about her?"

"Please don't tell her I told you," Cyra rubbed her eyes roughly, causing light to dance in her skull. "Well, she'll already know. She'll probably strangle me in my sleep and hanging from the tree in the front yard as a warning."

Her mom snorted, an ugly sound that scrunched up her whole face—just like Cyra. "You're overreacting. She'd want to kill you while you're awake so you know it's happening."

"Thanks," Cyra said, sounding anything but grateful.

"When does the spaghetti come out? I'm starving."

For a long time after that the mother and daughter Brion duo feasted upon sauce, noodles, and meatballs. By the time Kailey's second helping was cleared, she was sure she had gained at least another ten pounds. All the while, Cyra was calculating how long it would take for her to get to serving number four.

"Cyra, I would like to talk to you about something," Kailey hummed as she wrapped some pasta around her fork. No amount of weight gain could stop her now.

"If you're going to make me spill all my siblings secrets, it's a no."

"That's something I'll come back to later." A smirk that could only be described as predatory lit up her mother's eyes. Cyra had no clue who often wore that same expression. "Any boys you like? What about that Charlie? He looked acceptable."