Avoiding Cliches

Chapter 26: Momma's Coming

The awkward time spent under the tree at the bonfire was quickly forgotten by the pair thanks to their high alcohol intakes and even a little bit of cross fading. With help of the induced amnesia the pair was completely back to normal. No attempts of kissing. No awkward stares. Nothing.

They survived all the way to the holiday season. Christmas was fast approaching, in one day, in fact. The house had been buzzing with anxiety as they had to emotionally prep for the hurricane coming under the name of Amora. Better known as Pandora and Liz's mom.

Pandora was especially struggling as Zac had been trying to convince her that Christmas was the "perfect" time for her to introduce him to her family. She thought his pleas were the "perfect" time for her to avoid any conversation even pertaining to the holiday.

Pandora was reluctantly waken up from her peaceful sleep to a call from Zac. She blindly grabbed for her phone, knocking over a throw pillow in the process. When she finally grabbed it, she instantly silenced it, not without silently ranting to herself how dumb it was to not have her phone on vibrate like she usually does. She blindly trusts that she answered the call and moved it to her ear without even knowing who it was.

"Mmmm," she practically whined with an unpleasant crack in her voice.

"Sorry about waking you at 12 o'clock in the afternoon," Zac apologized, but Pandora could hear his smile.

"Did you call me to insult my sleep schedule?" she grumbled, finger already hovering over the bottom of the phone she knows where the trusty red button resides.

"I called to ask if I could come over, or we could go out," Zac told and she groaned as she flopped to lay on her back. She laid her arm over her eye, still trying to block the sun.

"Nah... I gotta clean up and cook and shit..." she sleepily droned and then huffed a loud yawn. "My parents're coming for the holidays and the house has been a cluster fuck." She was too tired to realize the land mine she stepped on.

"Speaking of-"

"Zac," she groaned.

"I'm letting you meet my parents," he knowingly interrupted Pandora slow coming rant.

"Zac, trust me when I say: it's different when it comes to my mom," she lowly urged, "We've only been together for like a month and change, my mom wouldn't understand that," she tried to tell Zac in another way he could possibly understand better. Pandora couldn't imagine the anxiety associated with even attempting to introduce a boy to her family so soon. When Liz announced she was going to live with Jay to the family after a solid six years of dating everyone still acted like it was the most outlandish thing they've ever heard of.

"Alright, you're probably right," he finally agreed, "I'll call you back whenever you get enough sleep, Baby Girl," he said softly.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later," she mumbled, her tiredness overshadowing her relief, before quickly ended the call. She sighed and flipped onto her stomach to go back to sleep to prolong her anxiety a little longer.

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Pandora abruptly got woken up by a slam to her side with her throw pillow she had left abandoned on the floor.

"Get up, we gotta clean the house up," Liz dryly demanded as her voice went into a decrescendo. Pandora lazily hummed, barely moving. "Get up or you'll get another hit," Liz warned and Pandora finally moved to flip her sister off.

She opened her eyes to a squint and looked at the time on her phone. The screen burned her eyes as the time shone 12:46 p.m. She groaned and lazily sat up easily resembling a mummy. She went to shuffle on to the bathroom to fulfill her usual morning routine.