The Dark Side of the Moon

T H I R T Y - E I G H T

"You'll find someone, Mom. I know you will. Any guy would be crazy not to want you." I smile at her only to see a light blush creep onto her face.

"Thanks, sweetie. Enough about me, though! I need you to make me a promise."

I nod at her and wait to hear what she has to say.

"Don't lie to me about where you are. You can see Grayson as much as you want. You can stay over, just let me know when so I can plan accordingly. I want you to be happy."

Her acceptance brings tears to my eyes. I know it may not seem like a big gesture, but I've never had this type of freedom before. I was never the type to hang out with friends every weekend in high school, and I was always too busy working or babysitting Evie to have my own life. 

"But what about Evie? Don't you need me to watch her?"

My mom instantly shakes her head and smiles widely. "I didn't get to tell you earlier because you were gone, but I got a huge promotion at work! I get the better routes now, and I get paid more to work less! It doesn't make any sense, but who am I to turn down free money!"

I laugh out loud and cheer at the top of my lungs. I start dancing and my mom joins me. We laugh as we do a happy dance at the news. I know we've been a little tight on money, so this news could not have come at a better time. With more money, Evie can join a day care while I can take fewer shifts at Java to focus on school. I won't need extra money to give to her if we're financially stable. 

Evie sees us dancing from the living room and she joins it. In her hands are the two drawings she made for us. She doesn't even know why we're happy dancing, but she want in on the fun. She shakes her butt and begins the chicken dance- I guess that's one of the only dances she knows. I laugh and do the chicken dance with her.

I look up when I hear a light pinging sound. My jaw drops  as my eyes widen in disbelief when I see my mom recording us! That little wench!

"Don't record me, Mom!" I scream as I run up to her phone and cover the lens.

"Oh, come on! You two are so cute. Do the chicken dance for me, please?"

"Pleaseeeee?" Evie begs as she jumps up and down in excitement. 

I shake my head as I release a big sigh. "You better not send this to anyone," I mumble.

~~

After the three of us eat dinner, I finally get to see Evie's drawings. The pony has rainbow hair and is lavender while the fairy woman has long black hair and a red dress. Not gonna lie, maybe Evie should be a fashion designer when she's older. Even though the drawing was obviously done by a six year old, the dress looked like something I would buy with a low v-neck and a slit up the right leg. I'd buy it.

The fairy was in a blue bubble, and Evie vividly explained how she floated through the air. I agreed that she must have flown down in a blue bubble like Glinda did from the Wizard of Oz. There's no point in my pointing out her imagination isn't real. I can't crush her dreams. 

Throughout dinner, I received texts from Grayson. I didn't answer the first two because I was listening to my mom talk about her new promotion, but after the third text said "text me back or else I'm coming over," I quickly replied that I was fine and eating dinner with my family.

I'm quickly getting used to Grayson's need to constantly stay in contact with me. If he ever decides to mark me, I'm guessing the need to text so often will lessen because he'll instantly know if something's wrong with me. 

Just the idea that we can connect on such a deep like that is astounding to me. Humans don't have anything of the sort, but I feel like I'm ready for something like that with Grayson. I'm constantly thinking of him, anyways- why not be able to tell when he's upset? I could call him and cheer him up when he's grumpy or tired or sad.