Chapter 21: One, Two, Three, Four, There's A Stripper At The Door!
((Playlist: Crushcrushcrush by Paramore))
"Jeez, calm down, it's just your mom," Jackson said. "How bad could this be?"
Sophie's mom approached the car. Jackson rolled down the window and smiled. "Hi there. You're Mrs. Evans, I presume?"
"I am. And you would be?" Sophie's mom eyed Jackson with the suspicious gaze mothers give all teenage boys.
"Jackson Laine," he smiled. "Sophie and I are-"
"Friends," Sophie blurted out, blushing. "We're friends from school. I'm doing the project in music class with him, remember?"
A spark of recognition entered Sophie's mother's eyes. "Ah, I remember now! Sophie hasn't told me much about you." She looked accusingly at Sophie.
"Well, there's not much to tell," Jackson shrugged. "I have average grades, I have a car, and I'm in a band."
"A band? Is it the same one Jonah's in? That Albuquerque Junior Philharmonic?" Sophie's mom asked curiously.
"No, it's a rock band," he answered nonchalantly, which made Sophie quietly facepalm herself.
"Oh, that's... interesting," Sophie's mom said politely.
"Yep, it's all very interesting," Sophie said quickly, getting out of the car, "but Jackson has to be somewhere."
"Uh, yeah, I have a... dentist appointment," he shrugged, taking Sophie's hint. "It was nice meeting you. Bye, Sophie."
"Bye," Sophie waved, embarrassed. Jackson rolled up his window and drove off.
She felt her mother's eyes burning into the back of her skull. She groaned inwardly. "What?"
"I find it hard to believe that boy is going to the dentist at almost nine at night."
When Sophie turned around, her mother had her arms crossed over her chest. "Well, they have midnight church service, so why not midnight dentistry?" She suggested feebly.
She started walking into the house, her mother right on her heels. "Sophie, we have to talk about this!"
"There's nothing to talk about." She opened the door mechanically and stepped into the empty hallway.
"Nothing to talk about? Sophie, the boy is in a rock band, for Pete's sake."
She still didn't turn to face her. "That doesn't make him a bad person."
"I didn't say that-"
"No, but you thought it."
Her hand clamped on Sophie's shoulder from behind. "Sweetie, why didn't you just tell me you have a boyfriend, instead of lying?"
Crap. Sophie turned. She could already feel her cheeks turning a bright red. "Er, what?"
"Sophie, come on. I was a teenage girl once, too." Her mother's eyes stared into Sophie's with a 'don't play dumb with me' look.
Sophie sighed. "Okay, okay. He's my boyfriend. But only just. It only happened officially a few days ago. It's not a big deal."
"I just wish you had told me, rather than this running around behind mine and you father's backs," her mother continued.
"I didn't know what you'd think," Sophie shrugged sheepishly.
Her mother pursed her lips. "Well, he isn't exactly ideal..."
Sophie raised an eyebrow. "...but he does have good manners, at least," her mother sighed finally. "But we will have a talk about this with your father."
Sophie paused. "Wait... so, that's it? You're not going to ground me or yell at me or tell me I'm an irresponsible teenager?"
"Don't get ahead of yourself," her mom chided, cracking a small smile as they walked into the house. "I still don't approve of his look. What's with the all-black clothing and weird haircut? Is he trying to make a statement?"
Sophie groaned inwardly. "It's not-"
Sophie's mom suddenly gasped. "Oh, dear lord. He isn't one of those emos, is he?!"
"Geez, mom, no!" Not that I know what the qualifications to being 'emo' even are, she added in her head.
"Hmm." Sophie's mom didn't look satisfied, but seemed to decide to argue the point another time as she sat down on the couch and flicked the TV to the local news. Amy, who had been watching something more interesting seconds earlier, just frowned and left the room.
Sophie caught up with her in the kitchen, brooding over a mostly-empty container of ice cream. She plopped down beside her.
"Hey, Ames," she said. "What's up?"
Amy looked up at Sophie and forcing a smile. "Nothing much. I just told Mom and Dad that I invited Finley and her parents for dinner on Wednesday. They're going to be in the neighborhood."
"Really? That's great. Don't they have to drive a really long way to get here?"
She nodded. "They live in Spokane, but they're visiting family who live near Albuquerque."
"Are Mom and Dad okay with it?" Sophie asked, pressing her lips together.
"Not exactly, but I think they're coming to terms with me marrying a girl," she shrugged, "but enough about me. How was your date?"
"It went pretty good," she shrugged. "Well, except for the part where the Hussy's battery died and we got a jump from a sweaty fanboy - that was a little awkward."
Amy scowled. "What?"
Sophie laughed. Amy turned around, grabbed another spoon out of the drawer, and handed it to her. "Okay, tell the story again, in English this time, please."
Sophie took a bite from the ice cream before launching into a recount of the night. By the end of it, Amy had a real smile on her face.
"Okay, so let me get this straight." She pointed at her with a spoon. "You saw Harrison Ford and Chewbacca in an Albuquerque movie theater and you didn't even take a picture of them?"
Sophie threw her hands in the air, "Of all the details you could glean from my date, you're asking about a wookie?!"
"Sophie, I think I've made it infinitely clear that I'm not interested in teenage boys, no matter how hot and punk-rock-ish they are."
"It wasn't even them!"
"You'll never know, because you didn't ask. I mean, whenever Finley and I are on a date and we see a celebrity, we always take selfies."
"You've met celebrities?"
Amy grinned. "I never told you about the time me and Finley went to Comic-Con in San Diego, did I?"
"You went to Comic-Con without me?!" Sophie exclaimed. She would never admit it in public, but she was kind of a die-hard fan of the sort of things Comic Con catered to: superhero films, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter, to name a few (although her parents always thought Harry Potter was 'for those sinning Pagans and their blasphemous bastard children' and disapproved of their children reading and watching it, which only made Amy and Sophie more inclined to).
Amy shrugged. "Sorry. It was a spontaneous thing. Finley surprised me with tickets a few days before the convention."
Sophie crossed her arms and scowled at Amy, but couldn't help but smile. "Did you get me anything, at least?"
Amy grinned and ran upstairs. "Well, I was going to wait until Christmas, but..."
She leaped down the steps a minute later and tossed a bag to Sophie. "Screw that. Presents are good any day of the year."
Sophie ripped open the bag gleefully and pulled out a t-shirt. "Oh my gosh, this is so cool!" She held up the shirt against herself; the original Star Wars movie poster was printed onto it.
"There's more in there," Amy pointed with a laugh. Sophie immediately dug her hand back into the plastic.
She pulled out a small replica of the Master Sword from the Legend of Zelda and a mug with Captain America's shield on it. Sophie tackled her sister in a lung-crushing hug. "Thank you so much! You are the best. Literally."
Amy grinned lopsidedly. "I try."