Girlfriend [Completed]

[1] "I expected to fall in love by now."

[1] "I expected to fall in love by now."

"Are you ready to talk about it?"

Teddy recognized the soothing voice of his mother, Sydney. She stood in the doorway of his bedroom wrapped in a cotton bathrobe. He considered himself a lucky kid to have a loving mother like Sydney Coleman. The fact that she was still awake at 3am to check on him was a prime example of her amazing parental skills.

Teddy realized that she had a magical way of helping him cope with his problems. She was always supportive in his life no matter the situation, whenever he got a boo boo as a young child, she was there to kiss it. During the occasional times that his basketball team lost a game, she was persistent in her attempts to boost his morale. When the tragedy happened at his school, she came right away. She was always there for him.

He turned the television off and gave her his full attention. She took it as a invitation to step fully into the room.

"No," he replied as he sat up against the headboard. Pillows cushioned his back against the hard surface.

Sydney picked up some scarce clothing and placed it in his dirty clothes hamper before she
crawled into bed next to him. "It amazes me that time has passed so rapidly and you're no longer my little baby." He was large enough that he could carry her around now. She reached up rubbed his head. "I know it's hard but you can't hold your feelings in. Your dad and I are worried about you. It's best that you talk to someone," she encouraged.

Teddy took a deep breath as he dragged his hands across his face. He just experienced the worst time of his life. He had to watch someone he loves get shot. The sound of the gun was still bouncing off of his ears.

He had to shake his head back and forth to bring him back to the present moment. "I'm not ready to talk." He knew she was trying to help but he couldn't force the words to flow out of his mouth.

Sydney got off the bed and wandered back towards the door. The disappointment she felt was written across her face. She wanted to help him grieve. Her husband, Zeke had also tried and was met with negative results. She turned and looked at her son. "Things will get better. I know it doesn't seem that way but it will. I know it from experience."

That was hard for Teddy to believe. He didn't see anything improving. Instead of answering, he nodded his head slightly.

"Get some sleep, we have a lot of running around to do tomorrow. The police still need your statement. We'll then stop by the hospital."

"You know what's crazy?" he interrupted. "Just a few months ago we were all getting excited about graduating and now...." He shook head in grief.

Teddy didn't realize that his thoughts were producing tears. Sydney rushed over and held her son as he cried. "Let it out, it's okay."

Teddy stopped wiping away the moisture from his face and took his mother's advice and let the tears fall.

* - * - * - * -* - * - * - * -* - * - * - * -* - * - * - * -

5 months earlier - January 5

Monday morning

Teddy sat down in front of the camera ready to complete his part of the senior video. His younger cousin Jayda, who was the school's yearbook editor, came up with the idea. At first he wasn't really feeling the concept of completing videos but warmed up to the notion after seeing how geeked up Jayda was. She had a dream of working in the entertainment business and was already building her resume in high school. She stood behind the camera now directing.

"You ready?"

Teddy nodded his head. "As ready as I can be. What are you expecting?"

"Just be you, Theodore."